Layouts 65 and 66

Hi!

Apologies for the late posting of my layouts this weekend, the sunshiny weather has continued over the weekend, so we have been out riding bikes and enjoying the sunshine.  It's been a fabulous weekend!  So here they are now, better late than never, and with new layouts being planned in my head for the photos I took of us this weekend!

On our last night on Paris I took a few photos of our hotel room.  I'd booked it online and took a bit of a gamble that it was going to be OK.  It was actually better than OK!  We were given a room that was better than we'd booked (and paid for) so we were thrilled.  I'd done a lot of research before booking a room and had discovered that many rooms were absolutely tiny.  Some only had fold down beds - no thanks! It was still what you'd call a small room in Australia, but more than adequate for our needs.

When I booked the website said that the hotel had a laundry service, which was a huge bonus, but when I asked about it I was told to use the laundromat down the 'rue'.  That was an adventure in itself, as none of the instructions were in English and my French was clearly inadequate!  We eventually worked it all out, only to be accosted by a drunk, English speaking French man who was desperate to visit Australia and wanted to know all about it.  He kept asking us to tell him a joke!  It was such a strange experience, but very funny.

Sadly they next day we had to catch the Metro back to the airport.  We had all of our luggage with us and got a few dirty looks from the other travellers as we took up a lot of room.  It was a pretty uneventful trip back to Singapore except that we were unable to get much sleep and so we were very haggard by the time we touched down.  Our bodies were telling us it was the middle of the night, but it was morning in Singapore.  We found a couple of banana lounge type things and managed to get a few hours sleep, although it was hard to get much rest when we had to keep one eye on our carry on luggage.  Still, it was all an adventure!

Bye for now,

Tina

Layouts 61 and 62

Hi!

It's a picture-heavy post today as I bring you my next two Paris album layouts.  They are of the Catacombes of Paris and the Pantheon, both of which we found to be amazing places.

The Catacombes was one of the only places we had to wait in line to get in.  I think we waited around 30 minutes - luckily there was a crepe vendor nearby! There was a long climb down before we got to the tunnel entrance.  Rob was a bit creeped out by the dripping limestone, but it didn't worry me too much.

 

In case you weren't sure, the Catacombes are where the French government relocated the remains of millions of people were reburied after the cemeteries overflowed.  The tunnels were originally the quarries, and were starting to collapse under the city - so the government solved two problems at once! At first the bones were just thrown in, but then the workers began to arrange them into pretty patterns using the skulls and long bones.

According to the audio guide they even used to hold musical concerts in the part of the tunnels shown above!  We found it to be a very fascinating place, but we were very glad to be above ground again at the end of the tour.

Next stop was the Pantheon, which is this huge, magnificent building that now houses the remains of many of France's most notable citizens.

 

We toured the ground level first.  It was a huge, open area that had many sculptures and artworks.  My favourite was a scale model of the building with cut away sections to view the inside.  We then went underground to explore the crypt, where we viewed the resting places of people such as Voltaire, Dumas, Braille, Cure and Hugo.

Unfortunately the Dome was closed, so we were unable to take in the view from the top.  It was fun to do a little people watching from the steps at the front of the Pantheon.  It is located in a University Precinct so there are a lot of students in the area.  Many of them were enjoying the sunshine on the steps at the front of the building where you got a lovely view of the Eiffel Tower.

Bye for now,

Tina

Layouts 59 and 60

Hi!

As another weekend draws to a close I realise I have forgotten to do my 100 Layouts post.  For those of you new to my blog I have challenged myself to scrap 100 layouts this year and I'm posting them 2 at a time on the weekend.

LOL, I call this one my 'Pretty Woman' layout! Not because someone was rude to me in a shop, but because I was carrying so many bags by the end of my shopping trip.  Rob and I had a free afternoon so we decided to hit the Avenue des Champs Elysees for a spot of shopping.  Oh, who am I kidding?  I wanted to go shopping and Rob was happy to tag along and carry my bags for me!

I had lots of fun, especially choosing some things for the kids.  Ada's favourite was some Disney Princess perfume from the Disney shop.  I enjoyed the experience, but the strangest part for me was the communal change room in one shop.  I was in line waiting to try on a top and I was able to work out that the shop assistant was telling us that if we didn't mind an open change room we could jump to the front of the line. I said "oui" and went straight in!  It was women only, but a big open room.  A great idea to move things along a bit faster, but not so great for your self esteem if you happen to be next to a gorgeous, slim woman!

The next day we took the Metro out to Saint Denis to see the Cathedral out there.  It's kind of the 'sister' to Sacre-Coeur, as apparently St Denis had his head chopped off at Sacre-Coeur, picked it up and walked off to where the Cathedral at Saint Dennis now stands!

The Cathedral is where a lot of the French Royalty are buried, but it's a very long and turbulent history.  As fascinating place, but so very cold inside!  The guides all had very thick jackets and little heaters under the desks they sat at.

Bye for now,

Tina

Layouts 53 and 54

Hi!

In my last Paris post I showed the layouts about the Eiffel Tower and our behind the scenes tour.  I'd booked a late afternoon tour so that we could watch the sun set from the Tower. We also ascended to the top of the Tower to watch the light display.  Every hour, on the hour, for about 5 minutes the Tower sparkles as thousands of lights twinkle on and off.  It's so very pretty!

After watching it from the top of the Tower we descended and crossed the Seine to watch it again from the huge open space opposite the Tower.  While we settled in to wait we munched on crepes (what else!) and people watched.  It was about 11pm by this stage but the city was still bustling.

The next day we travelled out to Rouen to meet up with Rob's cousin.  Unfortunately the day was a shambles from start to nearly the finish!  We didn't realise it was the start/end (?) of Daylight Savings, so we slept in and only just made it to the train on time.  This was the only day I let Rob organise and he did a pretty poor job of it!  He hadn't managed to get in touch with his cousin before we got on the train, so we didn't even know if we'd meet him or not.  Rouen is a beautiful, old city and is the place where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake.  So much history that we totally missed because we were waiting around!

We did tour their Notre Dame Cathedral, but there was so much more we could have done.  You may notice that in all the photos of me I had my arms crossed and in some I'm even scowling.  I was so very cross at Rob that day!

In the end we did catch up with Rob's cousin and his gorgeous son for a lovely, but very quick, lunch.  We were strongly encouraged to try some of the more rustic local cuisine but after watching a lady on the next table eat her frog's legs I just couldn't face it!  We then had another dash (uphill!) to make the train back into Paris as we had tickets for the Moulin Rouge that night.  I think we got onto the train about 30 seconds before the doors closed!

I can laugh now, another memorable day and memory of Paris!

Bye for now,

Tina

Layouts 49 and 50

Bonjour!

I'm a little late today, but here's a little more of my Parisian trip.

The Invalides, as the name suggests, was built as a hospital for those who were injured at war to recuperate.  It's now a museum dedicated to war related stuff, but I believe there's still a small part of it still used for it's original purpose. The war stuff didn't greatly interest me, but Rob was keen to see it, so we spent some time here.

I must admit though, that I was fascinated by the Relief Map part of the museum.  It housed these incredibly vast small scale 3D maps of areas that related to battles.  It was astounding to think that they were transported to the battle sites to aid the Generals to plot their moves, especially in the digital age!  Most of the maps would have required a cart all to themselves.

We also visited the chapels at the Invalides.  One side was for the soldiers and the other was for Royalty, separated by a giant window.  The difference between the two chapels was incredible. The top left picture shows a stained glass window in the soldier's side - pretty, but very plain.  The Royalty side was very opulent.  It also contains Napolean's Tomb, which was very grand.

The tomb is located under this huge gold dome - there's 12kg of gold just in the decoration!  It really was an incredible place to visit.

Bye for now,

Tina

Layouts 46, 47 and 48

Hi!

It's been a really miserable week in Adelaide.  Perfect weather for staying inside and scrapping.  I was hoping to finish my Paris album this weekend, but we have a very busy weekend so it looks like it probably won't happen.  Oh well, there's only one more school week until the holidays, so hopefully I can get it finished then.  In the meantime, here's a few more pages.

The Grand and Petit Palaces are opposite each other on the banks of the Seine.  We had planned to tour both, but after lining up for a short time at the Grand Palais we realised that the line was for a fashion photography exhibition.  We were unable to tour the building itself, so we left and headed across the Rue to the Petit Palais where we were able to tour the building.  It houses an art museum that focuses on the Fine Arts.

It was a gorgeous building, with many beautiful works of art. For me though, the highlight was the courtyard in the middle.  Paris was emerging from Winter into Spring and so the trees were just starting to blossom.  So pretty!

Our next destination was the Invalides and to get there we had to cross the Seine.  We crossed le Pont Alexandre III several times, and each time we were impressed with the beauty of the bridge.  I just had to devote a whole page to it!  The photos were taken on different days, hence the sunny and cloudy skies in the photos!

I hope you find some time to do something creative this weekend.

Bye for now,

Tina

Layouts 43, 44 and 45

Hi!

Are you having a fabulous weekend?  I hope so.  I'm getting a bit of stamping time in, which is lots of fun.  I'm hoping to finish my Paris album soon - I got the last of my photos printed this week ready to scrap.  In the meantime, here's a few more layouts.

We'd done a lot of walking this day and visited a lot of different places, so by the time we got to Notre Dame we were pretty tired!  We decided to sit a people watch a while so that we could rest.  The front courtyard of Notre Dame is a perfect place for people watching!  We were also able to revisit our favourite crepe vendor, so we sat and munched on ham and cheese crepes while we watched the world go by and see how Notre Dame came to life with lights as dusk settled over the city.  We may have also snuck in some lemon and sugar crepes too.

We had been waiting for dark so that we could do the 'love locked' thing on the Pont des Arts.  What you do is buy a padlock, engrave it with your names, lock it to the bridge and throw the keys into the Seine.  The reason you do it is so that you are forever love locked.  How could we go to the world's most romantic city and not do it?

It was a lovely night on the bridge.  It's a pedestrian bridge, so there were many small groups of people picnicking on the bridge and just hanging out. We felt a little self conscious doing it, but no one paid us any attention.  I'm sure they are used to tourists doing it all the time!

Sadly, I saw on the news last week that they have had to cut all of the locks off the bridge as the weight of them had caused a section of the handrail to collapse, making the bridge unsafe.  Just another reason to try to get back to Paris to do it again!

The Pont des Arts is near to the Louvre (and the Metro station we needed to get to).  We had to cross the courtyard to get to the Metro and as we did the Eiffel Tower caught our eye - we saw the sparkling lights for the first time.  We decided to wait and watch it again, as is was so very pretty.  There is also plenty of people watching to do at the Louvre, so we found a quiet corner and settled in.  There are a heap of illegal souvenir sellers in the courtyard.  During the day they sell cheap Eiffel Towers, but at night they sell these little light up things that shoot off into the air. They were lots of fun to watch as we waited.

Thanks for coming on a little more of my Paris journey with me.

Bye for now,

Tina

Layouts 40, 41 and 42

Hi!

A little more of  my Paris trip for you today.

Our next stop on this day was the house of the author Victor Hugo.  I am a huge Les Miserables fan, so of course I had to visit one of the places where he lived.

The photo on the top left of the page above shows his writing desk.  I was fascinated to learn that he wrote while standing up.  We also walked a lap of the square his house faces onto - Places des Vosges.  It used to be a Royal Residence and gardens, but the inside is now this gorgeous park that is tucked away from the main road and quite lovely and peaceful.

After we left there we continued down Rue de Rivoli towards the site of the Bastille. I'm also a fan of the works of Alexandre Dumas, who references the Bastille in his Muskateer books.  The Bastile itself is long gone - it was torn down and the bricks reused to build Pont de la Concorde.  At the site is now the Colonne De Juillet, built to mark the July Revolution.

Apparently the bodies of the Revolutionaries are buried under the monument.  The base of the monument is quiet graffitied, mostly with social protest slogans.  The Column is still a site of protest - apparently protest marches follow the Rue es Rivoli and end at the Column.

Our next stop was the famed Berthillon. It's on Ile St-Louis, which is the island beside the one that Notre-Dame sits on.  According to the Lonely Planet Guide Berthillon makes the best icecream in all of Europe.  As we were in the area we decided to give it a go.  Rob was amazed that we had to line up for nearly half an hour to get our icecream, but I insisted.  I thought it was worth the wait, but Rob didn't enjoy his choices as much.  We both had 2 scoops.  I had Lemon and Raspberry gelato.  The server was very clever, putting the raspberry on the bottom and lemon on top.  The lemon was very tart and a big contrast to the sweet raspberry.  Rob ordered Coffee and Ginger and I think he found the ginger a bit too overwhelming.

See you next week with some more of my Paris album.

Bye for now,

Tina

Layouts 37, 38 and 39

Hi,

I think I skipped a week or two with my scrapbooking layouts, so I'm posting 3 today to try to catch up a little.

This first one is a bit of a mish mash of photos of a transport theme from around Paris. Top left is an electric car recharge station, which are parking bays that allow you to recharge your electric car - for a fee of course!  Bottom left is a petrol station that was just around the corner from our hotel.  It consisted of one bowser, a sign and a small shop front.  Drivers don't even pull off the road, they just stop on the side of the road, fill up and go!  On the right is a pic of one of the many, many hire bike stands around the city.  There are a countless number of them all over the city.

One of the things I was really interested in doing in Paris was visiting some of the cemeteries to see the graves of some famous people.  This was the main cemetery in Paris, where we saw the graves of Edith Piaf, Oscar Wilde, Chopin, Champollion (he discovered King Tut's tomb), and Jim Morrison.

The grave of Jim Morrison is blocked off as too many people were vandalising it.  Tradition dictated that visitors shared a beer with James, but now they can't get to the grave they stick their chewing gum to a nearby tree.  At Oscar Wilde's grave it seems the tradition is to kiss the perspex fence that surrounds the monument. No thanks!

The next stop was the Hotel de Ville. We only looked at the outside of the building though as the exhibition there didn't interest us very much.  I had planned that we would walk towards where the Bastille used to be, stopping at a few landmarks along the way.  In the above layout the bottom left picture is the street where Jim Morrison lived before he died.  We couldn't find the exact house though.  The middle picture is one of the oldest houses in Paris, called a half timber house.  The photo on the right is some very cool graffiti we saw around the corner from the half timbered house.

The bottom photo here is a closer look at the graffiti.  Someone has used a thin stream of paint to create head silhouettes on the ground.  Very funky!

Have a great weekend!

Bye for now,

Tina

Layouts 35 and 36

Hi!

I'm still at Convention in Melbourne and having the best time!  Today is the last day, which is a bit bittersweet.  I will miss my Stampin' Up! friends, but it's nearly time to come home to my beautiful family.

The layouts I have for you today are more of my Paris trip.  Are you sick of it yet?  I'm only half way through!  Yes, we took a lot of photos and have a lot of memories to record.

In my last post I showed you the layouts I had completed  about Versailles and the Gardens there.  In the gardens are the Palaces de Trianon, which were the summer houses of the Royalty.  These were certainly not a little shack at the beach!  While nowhere near as luxurious and extravagant as the Chateau, they were still astounding.  The French do luxury so well!

We had a lovely day for wandering around the buildings and gardens at Versailles, but I made the mistake of wearing thin ballet flats and my feet were killing me by the end!  Thankfully there was a little 'train' you could catch back to the Chateau from the Palaces, so we jumped on that for the ride back.

We had to change trains at the Metro station that is located underneath the Arc de Triomphe, so we decided to take the opportunity to go and see it while all lit it.  It really is a spectacular monument.  I forgot to look for the 'Diamonds and Rubies', which is the pretty sight the car head and tail lights make as they travel to and from the Monument.  I'm sure I was so tired by then I was just thinking of bed!  Oh well.

Bye for now,

Tina

Layouts 33 and 34

Hi!

Can you believe that it's Saturday and I've actually blogged all of my regular blogging days this week?  It's been a while since I've achieved that!  My secret is that I usually sit down of a Sunday evening and do the whole lot of posts for the week.  With school holidays and public holidays I've really been out of whack!  Hopefully I'm back on track now with my routines - they aren't just for children it seems!

I think this was about day 5 of our trip.  We spent most of the day visiting Versailles, which is such an incredibly luxurious, decadent place.  We had to catch about 3 different trains to get there, but I didn't mind as it gave us the opportunity to see some more of Paris.  Once you get to the outer edges you seem much different things.  One thing I noticed was all of the kitchen gardens at the back of the houses adjacent to the rail lines.  Nearly every house had one.  We were going to fast to see what they were growing though.

 

When we got off the train at Versailles we didn't need to ask for directions to get to the Chateau, we just followed the crowd heading there!  The Chateau was completely over the top with the decadence.  I felt like my jaw was on the ground the whole time!  After we walked around the Chateau we decided to have lunch before visiting the gardens.  We had the choice of a cafeteria or a restaurant for lunch, so we decided to treat ourselves to a nice lunch in the restaurant.

After lunch we headed out into the gardens.  In the photo below you can see how extensive they are!  From where we were standing it would take you an hour to walk to the far end of the garden, and they stretched out on either side nearly as far.

As it was the start of spring the gardens weren't in great shape.  They were still pretty bare after the harsh winter.  We didn't spend much time there, but you could tell that in full bloom they would be gorgeous!  While we strolled through the gardens we came across an Australian sports team there too.  I think they were a high school rugby team representing Australia.  Funny how you can go so far and still find pieces of home.

Bye for now,

Tina

Layouts 29 and 30

Hi!

I'm a day behind with my usual Saturday scrapbooking posts.  I'll blame the school holidays *grin*.

This first layout is about the final moments of Princess Diana in Paris.  It's such a sad story.  Most of these photos were taken on the Hop On Hop Off bus tour.  The Ritz Hotel where she was staying, the tunnel where her car crashed, and the Flame Of Liberty Sculpture - the replica of the Statue of Liberty flame that became an unofficial shrine after her death.

Our next stop was the Musee d'Orsay.  The museum is housed in a huge old train station that has some marvelous architectural features.  I was a tad devastated to find that we couldn't take any photos on the inside of the building, and I wasn't cheeky enough to try to take some sneaky photos.  I did see some others being cheeky though!  I had to be content with a postcard of the inside. There were lots of steel arches filled with glass, or simply as archways between different rooms in the museum.  I'm so glad they preserved the building rather than tear it down to build the museum.  The huge clocks on the front were windows that you could look out of.  Such an enjoyable building to look around!

I was more interested in the building than the artworks, but I did see a lot of art that I liked.  One in particular was a painting of a dance teacher and ballerinas.  I remember doing a jigsaw of the same picture when I was a little girl!

I managed to get a lot of scrapping done these school holidays, so now I am nearly finished my Paris album. It's become two albums though, as there were too many pages to fit into one.  I'll be sharing all of it over the next few months.  I hope you're liking it!

Bye for now,

Tina