Day 7 - Paris

Chateau de Versailles ...

Today's outing was to visit the Palace of Versailles. It was a 40 min train trip out of the city. We had a lovely wander along the streets of Versailles (found a fabulous shoe shop) and then sat down to a coffee and petit dejeuner before making out way to the Palace.

I can't even capture the size of the Palace, it was huge! So here are the gates ...

We could not believe the opulence, each part of the palace you entered was breathtaking.

Each room you walked into was more regal and decorated than the next ...

And the garden surrounding the palace was just as outrageous ...

I wonder what it would be like for the people who grow up around all this opulence and excess. What is their understanding and value of beauty? Does this over abundance of art and buildings and sculpture blind you to the smaller things that may be left unnoticed in their shadow? 

Day 6 - Paris

There are not that many things left to cross off on our site seeing days. We started today with the Pantheon. it is a huge mausoleum with many of the famous important French people of history interred there. We caught the Metro out and wandered around the streets until we came across the Pantheon. The same thing happened that always happens for us in Paris - serendipity. We took a wrong turn and ended up right near the hotel I stayed last time I was here, was fun to see it again, we also came across the square where I had breakfast and in my memory it was quaint and quiet, in reality in tourist season, it is still quaint, but not so quiet. Once we found the Pantheon we went inside and it was not at all what I expected.  

Inside it was massive with full sized canvases on the walls and ceilings. The building had been both a church and a mausoleum. We found the stairs down into the crypt and it got quiet and cold. 

For Brett here is the place where Voltaire rests, the second Frenchman to be interred. He is across the aisle from Rousseau so I suppose that makes for interesting late night conversations. 

We left the Pantheon and made our way to the Champs Alysee. We walked the strip up to the Arc de Triomphe where we climbed the spiral stairs to the very top.

There was a magnificent 360 degree view of Paris, with something impressive every where you looked. The Eiffel Tower, Sacre Coeur, some strange square modern looking thing near the high rise towers and the many gold adorned towers - in every direction.

We finished our day with a trip to the Musee L'Orangerie to see Monet's waterlilly series. That made us catch our breath. To imagine that he spent so long painting those and that he made them for the space made us sit down in admiration and contemplation. I watched the faces of quite a few people as they walked into the white room with a huge painting covering the entirety of each wall. I recognised the same look many times - "Oh my goodness, are we really here?"

Also in the same gallery we came across a room with Picasso paintings along one side and Matisse along the other. Random Renoir, Cezanne, and so many others stretching out before you. Talk about excess! Enough already it is just showing off! 

A leisurely wander home and now it is 6:30pm and we are pooped. We mentioned today that people are always talking about going tramping and how far they have walked - the Milford Track and so on. I don't think that has a patch on surviving site seeing in Paris!

Day 5 - Paris

Well today we went to Monet's garden. It was c'est magnifique.

We began by navigating the Metro to Gare Saint Lazare where we met our guide, Kit, and hopped on the bus for Vernon. We travelled out to Normandy and it was nice to leave the city and all those people who smoke constantly behind. Fresh air had never felt so good!

When we got to Vernon we got on our bikes and went into the village to buy supplies - bread, cheese, and fruit (oh, and some cider). It was such fun, I managed to buy my fruit without using any English. I wonder what they think of French in an Aussie/kiwi accent?

We ate our lunch by the banks of the Seine River. It was just so beautiful, the sky is pastel blue with fluffy white clouds. It is lovely and warm and a family of geese wandered past to see what we were doing. Jane and I toasted with wonder and our constant statement of "We're in France!"

We rode our bikes from Vernon to Giverny to visit Monet's garden. We had two hours wandering about admiring the place that inspired so much of Monet's work, and the place that he called home. 

We learned all about the difference between impressionists and what came before them and after. We were told that Monet was born around the time that photography was invented. This made sense to me, if photography could capture realism then artists were free to interpret what they saw rather than capture it for posterity. Apparently Monet was about capturing the subject, rather than painting a narrative (well, that is what I learnt after an hour on the tour, I'm sure there is more to it than that). 

We rode back to the train station and continued back to our apartment near Sentier Metro Station. We are getting quite good at being Kiwis/Aussies/ whatever I am in Paris. We plant our feet firmly, bend slightly at the knees, and when people push past us, we hold our ground - take that. It is a dog eat dog world here and we started out being polite but found that we needed to just get our hands dirty and get in the game or we would be at the back of the queue. 

We ended the evening with a cocktail at a cafe around the corner. Could life be any better than this?

Day 4 - Paris

We planned to take it easy today, somehow that didn't happen. We braved our first ever Metro ride and caught the train out to Sacre Coeur in the 18th arrondissement. It was a real treat to look around a different part of Paris. The Basilica was quite impressive sitting up on the highest point of Paris. You could see the whole of the city spread out before you.

Behind the Basilica there were some markets and cobble stone streets of gift shops and cafes. The day turned out to be rather warm as we wandered along and took in the sites and sounds.

We then caught the train back to the musee D'Orsay and spent a couple of hours soaking up the impressionists, and my favourite, Van Gogh. I can never tire of his paintings! But my feet were tiring by this time.

We walked through the gardens toward the Louvre on the way home and were captivated by the beauty of the spring flowers, luscious grass and people relaxing.

We wandered home looking in different shops as we went. We were so exhausted we didn't even bother with tea. We just bought some bread and cheese and went home. Where I can now tell you, the both of us will be snoring very soon indeed.

Day 3 - Paris

We had a wonderful day today. We had planned to do so much and ended up taking a lot of time to do a little in the day time and covered a lot at night.

We started out heading to Notre Dame. We had a lovely wander along the direction we thought we should go in, stopped for breakfast, checked the map - we had been walking in completely the wrong direction. So after a lovely croissant we turned around and continued the other way. Notre Dame was amazing however so crowded, but still peaceful.

We had all sorts of plans for other things to do, but that was about all we managed to fit in. Then on to the night's activities. We had a tour booked which started out at the Eiffel Tower for dinner, an hour boat cruise along the Seine and ending up at Moulin Rouge.

If you ever get the chance, you just have to go to the Moulin Rouge show! Talk about a spectacle. We didn't know what was going to happen next - dancing, snakes, Dr Suess esk costumes, acrobatics, ponies, juggling - we thought we had entered a strange new world where we didn't actually understand what was going on. It was truly amazing.

Day 2 - Paris

I'm sitting here and it is 8:15pm. It is still light and I am wondering how it is so late when I am still full of energy. Where did the day go! It was action packed.

We headed off towards the Louvre in the morning and stopped at a cafe for breakfast. Ordering completely in French we felt very clever (we had crepes and coffee).

We came across the Louvre and Jane had the same reaction to it as I did the first time I came across it. Completely breathtaking. It stops you in your tracks. Thank goodness for the Paris pass as there was already a long queue and we walked straight in! We spent about two hours in the Louvre and almost looked everywhere. There is just so much. We kept going until we got weary.

We then jumped on the hop on hop off bus for the 9 stop tour. It was a really good idea as it helped us to see what we wanted to go back to and explore further. We sat at the Arc de Triomphe for quite a while and marvelled at how the traffic works here. It seemed to our untrained eyes to be complete choas but somehow it worked.

Now it is time to go out again for dinner and I must admit I am pooped.

Day 1 - Paris

Part two of my adventure begins. 

I left San Francisco at 9:30pm at night and arrived ten hours later in Paris at 5:00pm the next day. Some how I lost an evening so by the time I eventually went to bed in Paris I had been awake for something like 30 hours. I can be forgiven for my mad eyes and giggles. Jane and I found each other very easily at the airport and after the appropriate squeals of actually being in Paris we caught the bus to the Opera in the city and then a taxi to our apartment. Jane found the apartment on airbnb and it is fabulous! Right in the 2nd arrondissement, near really vibrant cafe culture and very cute. 

As soon as we had settled our things in we went for a walk down the cobble stone streets. It is all so very beautiful around this part and we kept nudging each other with statements of - 'we're in Paris!'

We had dinner at the cafe on the corner of our street, goats cheese and salted caramelised butter sauce - my goodness! It was delicious. Washed down with the wine as suggested by our very helpful waiter. 

Last day in San francisco

I had a lovely relaxing last day in Sunny California. The weather has been fantastic and I even have a tan line to show off (on my feet!). There was a sandcastle competition over the road from where I was staying so we took the kids over to have a look. There was a wonderful feel about the whole occasion with adults and kids slaving away over their creations and people wandering up and down to have a look. It was more of a cove than a beach so the creations took advantage of the different colours of sand that could be found by digging down through the layers. I forever marvel at how creative some people can be.

There was a man in the middle of the mass of humanity with headphones on quietly painting the scene as it unfolded around him. In the middle of it all he seemed to be an island of serenity. Such a remarkable moment to contemplate.

Of all the creations this one took my fancy. It summed up my time here in San Francisco. My hosts were marvellous and will be the part of the holiday I value and miss the most. They gifted me with something that kept me company all the way to Paris on the plane - the strains of a song that played over and over in my head - "Firetruck, Firetruck, I want to ride on a firetruck".

Day 6 - San Francisco

Another full on day today. We started with a trip to Berkeley which is beautiful. Leafy streets and quirky shops (and an Apple store). I bought a new case for my ipad mini, of course. I had such a good time in Berkeley that it completely slipped my mind to take any photos.

We then went home and my task was to write a work milestone before I could have a treat of another outing. I buckled down and got it over and done with ...

So my treat was to have a look at all the America's cup happenings. The teams are working in a place that was once (I think) a military base and is now a very unloved and derelict area, in contrast to the high tech work going on inside all of the team sheds! 

For dinner we went to the Off the Grid event - a street of 10 or more food trucks with different types of foods to choose from. There was a fantastic festival atmosphere with loud music, children running around and the aromas of food. The thing I noticed was that there is not really a 'Californian look'. The street was teaming with so many different fashions and non fashions, people of all types, shapes, arrangements and a riot of colour. It was a treat to sit with my falafel sandwich and watch the world go by.

This boy obviously didn't enjoy the music as much as I did. Another fabulous day. Thank you so much to Guy and Carolyn for taking me out to the coolest places!

Day 5 - San Francisco

Today I spent the day in the city again. So I started off with a lovely ferry ride from Alameda to the Ferry Building.

I had to go on the famous cable cars so I took a ride from downtown up the very steep hill past China town and over Nob Hill. 

My next port of call was the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA). I wandered around the streets for quite a while soaking up the sights and sounds, stopping for a burrito on the way (which I only ate half of - they are huge! and spicy!), until I finally came across the museum.

 I was very lucky as the museum was only open for another four days and then it would be closing down for refurbishment until 2016! I took my time to soak up the Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol, Henri Matisse, Frida Kahlo ... and then to my excitement I came across ...

A photograph by Henri Cartier-Bresson. I have read so much about his work and finally I was standing in front of an original piece of work. A magic moment.

So with the day ending, I climbed aboard my ferry home. San Francisco is quite a nice city to wander around.

Day 4 - San Francisco

Well today was a bit of a geeky day. I have been listening to the podcast This Week in Tech since about 2006. It is my go to listening for when I go for a run. It is also the way I keep up to date with all the 'geek gossip' and news. I found out before coming to SF that the podcast is recorded in Petaluma which is an hour's drive out of SF so we decided to go for a road trip and listen to the recording.

We went on a tour around the studio and then I stayed for the recording of TWIG - this week in Google. Unfortunately I had to leave before the end, but it was great to see how they put the shows together.

Day 3 - San Francisco

Day 2 sort of disappeared with travel and jetlag, so here is day 3.

I had a fabulous day. I started with trip to Rene's school and had a look around in an American elementary year 1 classroom, it was pretty cool. They were doing the daily 5 cafe like a lot of my NZ teacher friends are doing at the moment. The students started the day coming together as a whole school community, pledging allegiance, and then having a talk about a 'life skill' very similar to our key competencies.

Next we went to a farmers market where I tried out a tamale which I quite like. So that is one food I can tick off my list.

I then caught the ferry from Alameda to San Francisco and went on a hop on hop off tour of the city. It was a fabulous way to get a feeling for the place. I got off at Union Square and went to the Apple store (off course) and Macys. My next stop was Haight Ashbury to check out Amoeba music and the alternative stores. I then got off at China town for a walk through. I was a little disappointed as it seemed to be just a street full of tourist shops and I thought it would have a more authentic feel. Golden Gate Bridge revealed itself in all its glory, the fog cleared just for me.

And to end the day I tried a pretzel. Not at all what I imagined. It is basically just a bread bun with rock salt on top. A lovely ride home on the ferry rounded off the trip.

Day 1: Auckland

Today I start my big overseas adventure. I had a lovely start with a day in Auckland. Christina met me at the airport and we went out to the Villa Maria winery for lunch. It was a lovely way to try and shake work out of my head and start getting excited about the adventures to come.

Next stop ... San Francisco.

Top of the mountain

We went to the top of the mountain up the Queenstown gondola.

Peregrine Winery

We went to the Peregrine Winery on the way home from Queenstown to Dunedin.

Chinese Gardens framed

On a recent visit to the Dunedin Chinese gardens with my friend Deb, we spotted these wonderful framed portals out into the outside world. I loved the contrast of the old buildings with the ornate frame.