This weekend was out trip to Chester, Manchester and then Tatton Park Flower Show.  This was a coach trip with an overnight in Manchester.  We had to get up about.5.30am to catch a cab with Linda, Nan and Mum to the coach pick up point at West Ruislip Station.

We had a few other pick up points on the way after a rest stop or two our first stop was Chester which is a Chester  is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales....
Chester has a number of medieval buildings, but some of the black-and-white buildings within the city centre are actually Victorian  restorations. and  is one of the best preserved walled cities in the British Isles. Apart from a 100-metre (330 ft) section, the listed Grade I walls are almost complete.

We spend about 3 hours here shopping and looking around the old walls of the town.. Then it was on to Manchester Brittania hotel for the night.  We did have a bit of trouble finding the hotel – the Navman kept getting it wrong due to the many one way streets in  Manchester. The hotel was very old and we had about half an hour to change for dinner.

The Brittania Hotel was originallly a warehouse is a large, ornate Victorian Grade II* listed building which stands on Portland Street in the centre of Manchester.  It opened in 1856 as a textile warehouse for the wholesale drapery business S & J Watts, and at the time it was the largest single-occupancy textile warehouse in Manchester.


During the Second World War  the Watts Warehouse was hit by Luftwaffe  bombs, but it was saved from destruction when the fire was smothered by textiles.
Next morning an 8.30 start  for breakfast and then we were off again to Tatton Park Flower Show.  We started off  looking at the many displays of colourful flowers before moving   on to the various award wining flower designs. 

The Bandstand

We had a nice lunch near the bandstand and watched the band play traditional English type themed music. All up a wonderful day...



We left here about 4.30 and it was a long drive back on the coach trip to Northolt. If we had planned it better we should have hired  car to do the flower show and combined it with out oxford trip in a few days.  We eventually got back about 9.15 pm and back to the Harvester at 10.00pm..

Our morning today started by a little more laundry as we hadn't washed our clothes from our first week.  So this time it was much easier to get it done as the instructions were in English.

After this, we set off for Notting Hill Gate and Portobello Market which is in West London and is one of the most famous street markets in the world. Portobello Market takes up most of most of Portobello Road, it stretches for around two miles, and can take a while to walk from end to end. Depending on what your after there are Antiques, Fruit and Veg, New goods, Jewellery galore, Fashion and second hand goods.

The collection was massive and range from 1920 to current day brand and packaging items of all descriptions it was quite a wonderful collection. The Museum Features over 12,000 original items from the Robert Opie Collection.  No photos are allowed - I did take a few before I found this out but won't post them here.  I did upload this from the website.

This is an extract from the website.
"The history of consumer culture is revealed though household products and shopping basket favourites in our ‘time tunnel’, which charts a nostalgic journey from Victorian times to the present day. Discover how well-loved brands evolved through their creative use of packaging and advertising, and how we evolved with them".

It was getting late now and we hadn’t really had lunch so we decided to go back to the Harvester and have our meal there.  Then we called it a night as we were getting up early to head off to Tatton Park the next day.

 Last morning in France – spent packing and we checked out to catch a bus back to Garde de Nord station. We didn’t have long to wait before we caught our train and got some photos again of the Eurostar. The trip back seemed to take a lot longer than coming over and we got back to Kings Cross station a train back to Northolt and the Harvester Inn about 4.30 – we checked in. We were going to Linda’s for dinner tonight. To grab some more clothes from our bags, and now get ready for our trip up to North London for the Tatton Park Flower Show

We again were feeling the effects of our walking so much and with the Museum pass running out we had to go to Chateau Versailles today. We caught the train from St Lazare which is only 10 minutes on the bus from the motel. Trains seemed to run every 15 minutes or so.  We walked straight on to one after we brought our tickets. They are express trains and stopped at 3 major stations then only 4 minor ones on the way to Versailles.  It took about 30 minutes to get there.  We were once again confused by the lack of signage to the Chateau.  But that wasn't unusual.  You get to see the signs initially then they fade away into oblivion. It was very hot and after directions from people on the gate to the gardens we headed up the hill to the Chateau Versailles.  Already having our museum pass saved us one line, but as with most things in Paris the line to enter snaked up and down the forecourt twice.  For anyone who has been to the Chateau will know it is at least 150m, out in the noonday sun with no shade at all. Talk about mad dogs and English Men! BT and Julie waited in any little bit of shade for me to make it to the entrance gates, where they joined me in the line.

Gates of Versailles

Braedon sitting in the shade playing his DS game

Lonely little Parisian

 Of course BT was finding it difficult to understand the significance of such a place.  He did seem to enjoy some of the artifacts but not the crowds or the stairs, but I have to agree with him there.  Julie and I were both taken by the sheer opulence  of the Chateau, and after seeing most of it you can understand why it sent the country broke and the revolution took place.  It was built to house the entire French court of 6000 plus 5000 servants.  The King's and Queen's chambers being the focal point of the tour. You could imagine the servants attending to the King and Queen all those hundreds of years ago, it didn't seem all that distant when you are standing in those surrounds.

Queen's Chamber

 
We viewed some of the expansive gardens with hedges and lakes from the upper floor of the Chateau but it was too hot to go and explore today.  So we brought a few souvenirs and headed out of the Chateau to a restaurant for a well earned bit to eat and drink.  It was good to sit down under the awning but still pretty warm.  The service was 2nd rate to speak in glowing terms. We had almost finished our lunch when Julie finally got her Margarita drink.  They had brought a Pizza Margariette even though I pointed to the cocktail when I originally ordered.

We then headed back along a similar route that we had come towards Gare de Versailles-Rive Droite.   Julie did a little browsing in the clothes shops along the way back, just to allow me to keep up!  I did however venture into the chocolate shop with her just to look, there were some very mouth watering chocolates like chocolate - creme broullie mmmmm! But at 8 Euro $ per 100g we decided to just look.  I think Julie did manage to get snaps of something in the shop.  We trip back to Gare St Lazare was pretty uneventful but we did spy the Eiffel Tower on the way back which we had missed on the way out.

We step off our train and onto the one next to it to go back one station to Pont Cardinet which is opposite the Hotel.  A quick drink at the local watering hole and we went back to the room to freshen up with a shower and then sort out the washing. Yes domestic duties still had to be attended to event in Paris.  We took the washing to the local laundromat and after a game of charades with a local about the machine operating instructions we had an hour to kill before the laundry had to go into the dryers. We made good use of the time, it was Happy Hour at the local bar. We sat and played eye-spy with BT and had a couple of drinks while we waited.

I just have to post a photo of the Mona Lisa, what a crowd there was just to catch a glimpse of the painting.  We waited in the crowd to gradually make our way forward to the front. I finally got one reasonable photo. 

Well after the Louvre we walked down towards the Le Jardin-Des Tuileries.  The Jardin des Tuileries is one of Paris's most visited gardens and runs between the Louvre and Place de la Concordre We came across of fair with rides etc.  looked like a lot of fun....Braedon had his face painted by the 'Clown for the hospitasl"


A little walk (Not) up the Champs-Elysee to the Arc De Triomphe -The Champs-Elysee is a prestigious avenue in Paris lined with cinemas, cafes, luxury speciality shops and clipped chestnut trees. It is one of the
 most famous streets in the world. We finally made it to the Arch and we were exhausted- we made our way back to our hotel after this.. hot and tired..

This market was bursting with fresh produce, cheeses, meats and other delicious looking edibles and seasonal foods -clothes, jewellery and bags.
Our plan was to do a museum nearly everyday so next stop was the Museum Picasso which was shut for renovations. Darn it!.  Next stop was a little bit of shopping in the -Rue de Rivoli which is one of the most famous streets in Pairs, lots of shops bearing the most fashionable names in the world - of course I didn't buy anything here - but we did look.

We had some lunch along here in a patisserie - lots of yummy pastries, tarts and salad bagets, cakes and icecream. These are everywhere on every street, you will often see a Parisian enjoying snacking on a French Stick..

We walked towards the House of Victor Hugo which was also shut unexpectedly, so another Darn it... This was where we bumped into a Parisian cyclist who stopped and Showed Braedon a little peach face parrot or' love bird' and he told him he had go it from the bird market.  One mention of birds and of course Braedon wanted to head over there - it was quite a walk back through  to the Ill de la Cite' which had been to before during our walking. On Sundays, the year-round flower market on the Ile de la Cité is transformed into a bird market. There are cages of parakeets, canaries, and masses of other brilliantly coloured species, plus lots of cages for sale too for those who lose their heart to a twittering friend. Overlooking the bird market is the massive Notre Dame.
The day seemed to fly and we thought we would head back to the hotel to freshen up, rest before we went out again for dinner. 
 .

Today a late start, we slept in a little, had a late breakfast and headed off to see a few of the well known monuments such as the Catacombs, Acadame Nationale of Musique, the Pantheon and Notre Dame. While we were working out what sites to see we had talked about the Paris Catacombs, and Braedon had kept talking about seeing them.  So first stop was the Paris Catacombs.

On the way  Musique is an theatre for opera and is located right outside Opera station - this was on the way to the Catacombs, we took some pics but didn't go inside.  

The Paris catacombs were originally limestone quarries, mined for the construction of Paris' most famous buildings and bridges. From the late 1700s the quarries were used to house bodies moved here from the overcrowded cemeteries of Paris. The bones of exhumed bodies were stacked neatly in various rooms creating kilometers of walls composed entirely of human remains. Read more about the catacombs here

 After walking down a narrow staircase of 19 metres into the darkness  and after passing through a long and twisting hallway of mortared stone, we find ourselves  before a sculpture that existed from a time before this part of the mines became an ossuary, a model of France's Port-Mahon fortress created by a former Quarry Inspector.


We must have walked about a km - and all the way on both sides and lots of other tunnels off to different directions there were the BONES stacked on top of one another in almost symetrical order. So here are some pics


Hmm a very gruesome morning but Braedon enjoyed himself and we also found it quite interesting.  The hard part was climbing the 46 odd steps up the staircase to flat ground again.


The Pantheon was next, a building in the Latin Quarter - many distinguished French citizens are buried here. This is us outside the Pantheon.  Took lots of photos and to many to upload.   


We walked down the Boulevard Saint-Michel which is one of the two major streets in the Latin Quarter of Paris.As the central axis of the Latin Quarter, it has long been a hotbed of student life and activism, but tourism is also a major commercial focus of the street and designer shops have gradually replaced many small bookshops. This is where I did buy two dresses which were on sale. 

We were in time for the evening service and I recorded a few minutes of it on my iphone,  to be downloaded later.

Well that was about it for our day today - a meal in a little restaurant and we were ready to hit the sack.  .