First up today was one of the famous Museum's -  the Orangerie Museum, was originally a winter greenhouse for the orange trees of the Tuileries Garden. We also purchased a museum pass here which will get us into most of the monuments and museums around Paris.

The Museum faces the Place de la Concorde   and  was built in a classic architectural style, not your average looking greenhouse.

In 1918, Claude Monet wished to donate 2 of his "Les Nymphéas" (The Water Lilies) to the State, specifically in celebration of the end of World War I. He later gifted 8 grand works which measure 2 meters in height and a total length of 100 meters.

In the late 1950s, the Musee de l'Orangerie was given the art collections of Jean Walter and Paul Guillaume. To accomodate this acquisition of over 100 new works of art, architect Olivier Lahalle added a second level above the oval rooms housing "Les Nymphéas". The Walter and Guillaume collections include many works by Picasso, Renoir, Matisse and Derain with several works by Utrillo, Cezanne and others.  Here are some pictures we took of the paintings.



Next stop the Eiffel Tower - we could see it in the distance it didn't look so tall. In fact with Braedon's hand on top of it, it looks very tiny....

We caught the train down to the tower and joined a deceptively long line to go up. The line snaked back and forth under the tower and after nearly an hour we made it to the entry which informed us that there was 30 minutes wait from that point.  One of us doesn't due ques and waiting in line all that well.  Unfortunately, the line veered off in another direction and it was still 30 more minutes till we arrived back at the ticket booth.  The wind had blown up and we experienced a few drops of rain in the final 40 minutes. An announcement above the ticket office said that the lifts from the 2nd level to the top had been temporarily stopped. They said that we might be able to go up later and could buy an additional ticket on the second level if the service to the top was reopened.  I thought it might be a blessing in disguise.  Not good with heights, but I was out of luck. we walked around the second level taking in the breath taking views of Paris in all directions capturing them with the camera. We noticed the lifts to the top were again operational and joined the que to go up, all the while Julie and Braedon reassuring me that it was safe. After a slight hiccup and having to go back and get the ticket upgrade after some dubious advice to the contrary, we got the lift to the top. Braedon and Julie enjoying the view on the way, me with my eyes fixed on the horizon, an old Navy trick.  We got out up at the top and this is the view from the top.


Next stop was Montematre only two stops away past from where we were staying. 
Montmartre is a hill which is 130 meters high,  a part of the Right Bank. Many artists apparantley had studios or worked around the community of Montmartre such aa Monet, Picasso and Van Gogh.

Very hilly and lots of quaint little shops of all description.  We stopped here and had pizza. A little train carries people around the town due to its steep hills

Braedon was so hungry he ate more pizza than he ever had before.  We were so tired afterwards, we caught a taxi back to our hotel.

Our day started quite early as our train leaves from Kings Cross Station at 1000am.  We caught a train from Northolt station to Oxford Circus and then a train to Kings Cross Station.

We're lucky we gave ourselves plenty of time as their are queues to get through security checkpoints. We had about a 10 min wait  before we could board the Eurostar which is the longest passenger train in the World.  The train runs at about 300 miles per hour. From London to Paris is about 2 and half  hours.
 


The trip went quite quick  and we arrived at Gare du  Nord station at about 1.30pm  - this is the busiest station I have seen and very chaotic.  We need to get Metro train tickets ie like a weekly ticket so we could use unlimited bus, train  in and around Paris.  The wait was long however finally got them and caught a train a station called Rome which is close to where our hotel is.

The hotel is in Batignolles a neighborhood of Paris, part of the 17th arrondissement of the city. The neighborhood is bounded on the south by the Boulevard des Batignolles, on the east by the Rue Clichy and the Avenue Clichy, on the north by the Rue Cardinet, and on the west by the Rue de Rome.

Batignolles was an independent village outside Paris until 1860, when the emperor, Napoleon III, annexed it to the capital.

During the 19th century, Batignolles had an active cultural life, and it served as a base for the painter, Edouard Manet, and his friends, who became known as the "groupe des  "groupe des Batignolles". They painted many scenes of its café life.
These days Batignolles has a reputation for being a fashionable place to live


We arrived at our hotel at about 4.00 pm and checked in.  We had a rest for a while and then walked around the town for a little while, found a park where we had a bit of a rest and relax and then found our way to a little restaurant for dinner.  The evening finished off with our walk back to the hotel. 

We thought Braedon would be interested in this museum as it  has as a total collection of over a hundred full-size aircraft from across the world  which are displayed in various galleries on what is the historic site of the original London Aerodrome. There was a really good interactive area for the kids at the end.  We left about 2.00 pm as we needed to get pack to leave for France early the next morning.

After breakfast today we headed off to Shepherd's Bush shopping centre, which is the biggest one in London.  I also went there last trip with my mum and Braedon, but Braedon was not in a co-operative mood with shopping so I only looked at one level.

This time DH took kept Braedon busy while I looked around.  The cloths again are completely different to home.  Alot more different styles and dresses are in in in here.  So maybe summer this year we will see a comeback of the dress.   Lots of yellows and oranges too.

I also bought a pair of white jeans, a new cover for my iphone and a Beanie Boo Cleo The Ninja Monkey - cute huh...

Tonight we are meeting a friend and my cousin at the pub - these are a few pics of Nan and Braedon, Cousin Leroy and his girlfriend Sarah and my Aunt Linda with Nan

After the old operating theatre we end up in the spot that mum and I were at two years ago.
A little  Italian type bistro called Guiseppe's Italion .  You can read the old post here

We also found the Southwark Cathedral again and as last time went in and took a look.  There was a choir about to sing called "Clear Voices" - A world-renowned girls' choir from Belarus singing for Chernobyl Children's Lifeline
 Quote: "unforgettable singing that touches your heart". Winner at the International Eisteddfod and Silver Medallist at the World Choir Olympics.of young girls from Russia Chernobyl. -I recorded some of it on my phone. So will download it later and upload to this post.

Braedon lit a candle or two....


Next we found the Golden Hinde replica. The Golden Hind was an english galleon best know for its circumnavigation of the globe between 1577 and 1580 captained by Sir Francis Drake.  Read more here.


We were getting a bit worn out now. Combination of tired legs and jetlag.  Braedon got an icecream at this point and got into a right old mess with it.  At this stage my camera battery had gone so mum took some pics of him.

We headed up past St Pauls Cathedral and caught the train back to Northol, and Breadon fell asleep on the way back.  We had a quick meal at the pub and again we were in bed by 7.00 or so.  Something about jetlag I think.  It usually takes me about 3 to 4 days to recover.

So  now I am up at 4.00am blogging.  Braedon is up to playing my phone.  Really have to hang on until atleast 9.00pm tonight. 
That's all for now.... tomorrow (or today now) we are meeting a friend for lunch

What a day!
A train to Marylebone station then a train to Waterloo station to drop MIL off who was catching a train to Bournemouth near Dorset.  She is going to stay with one of her old friends for a week or so.



I took this photo of this old building. Don't know what it was or is, but it looked very old so thought I would take a pic.





Next we walked past the Hop Exchange which served the centre for hop trading for the brewing industry.
Now its just an office building.  There were quite a few of these buildings in London which served as exchange buildings. Most of them were destroyed during the war and this is the only one that remains.



 We were on our way to the old Operating theatre at Southwark. I thought it would be really interesting and it was quite fascinating. The Operating Theatre (operating or emergency room) is found in the roof space of an English Baroque Church. Read more here.I took lots of photos as you can see I have added quite a few below.

This was a late flight - about 1100pm so 1.00am aus time, which were more or less still running by.  We were really tired - the overnight stopover is good but only if you stay atleast two nights.  Not really worth one night stop over.

Anyway we boarded and BT wanted to watch Ben Ten,  ho hum... trying to tell him we should sleep... Anyway he fell asleep even before we took off.  I don't remember the take off either so I think I fell asleep too.  We woke about 5.00am and then Braedon did watch Ben Ten and I watched Book of Eli which was really quite good.  Then guess what BT wanted to watch...... Yep  How to Tame a Dragon....  I watched Dear John, which was also quite good.

We went back to sleep after this and I was losing track of time, it was still dark outside as we were traveling into the night...not day. anyway I think I got another 2 hours or so... So tha'ts the most time I have ever slept on a plane.

Arrival

Touchdown Heathrow at 5.20am and again quickly got through Customs to be met by my mum, and both Aunts.  We caught a cab back to Northolt, about 20 mins outside London

Had some breakfast and a good cuppa tea. We couldn't check into the Harvester Inn keepers cottage which was just down the road until 3.00pm so we just had a catch up at Lindas (Aunt) until about 1.00pm and then went to the hotel and had a quick lunch,  We new this would be our dinner too. I think we finished about 3.00pm and checked into our rooms.

Showers, BT was still awake watching Garfield.  When it finished we crashed about 4.30 or so - its very hot here and the rooms are quite stuffy not air cons... We slept until 5.00am.. So now we're all up and I'm catching up on Bloggin.