June 20 And just one more before we go!

OK so I’m still here! Last supper in Oban - a traditional Scottish meal. Haggis, tatties and neeps with whiskey sauce. It was really delicious! served with a good Aussie Shiraz followed by a shot of whiskey of course. With a background of soft rain. Quite lovely. Och aye the noo!

June 20 One last post from Scotland - for now!

I told a fib! Here’s just one more ...... 

It after 10pm and the sun is just thinking about setting. It’s light most of the night. 

Rocketing along from Edinburgh to Oban we seemed surrounded by sleepy green giants guarding the lochs and rivers. Deep river valleys, lush and moist. Dense green woods with mossy undergrowth and thickets of deep pink rhododendrons. Moss and lichens on all the trees and many of the rocks. Wild flowers everywhere bigger and bolder than elsewhere. Ferns and brackens. Trees slapping at our carriage as we whipped along the valleys. 

Small flocks of black-faced fat white sheep. Stone walls and forests of Christmas trees climb the huge monoliths. 

And that’s just one short train trip. Just wait till get on the road with our wee motor home! 

Edinburgh was a overnight stop but we will return. Oban (west coast) is a quaint port and we’re experiencing typical Scottish summer weather - showers and 13C today.  Brrr.... Yes it is summer and almost the summer equinox! 

Tomorrow we head out to sea to the Hebrides with their jagged peaks and heather-clad hills. That’s me - I’ll get a photo!  Then we make our way to the tiny island of Iona, birthplace of Christianity in Britain. Then over the sea to Skye ... da da ....  Sea stacks, whales, malt whiskey, Muckle Flugga, Iron Age towers, storm petrels, puffins and ...... Talk about contrasts - from the deserts of central Asian to the rocky cliffs of the Atlantic.  I’ll fill you in anon .......

Lindsay found a gorgeous path behind our B&B

A potters shed at the bottom of the garden

A Scottish blackberry - sweet and juicy. 

June 19 Passages and streets

This is the life!

Just one last posting on Paris before we set sail for the Atlantic Ocean!

This trip to Paris (what to us has always been the world’s most romantic city) was our third visit together. Always we love the street life - just wandering, buying our food from neighbourhood street markets, experiencing everyday life with the occasional tourist attraction thrown in. Just hanging out. This visit was no different. 

Some of what we’ve done you know already, but we’ve also just wandered along the banks of the Seine watching huge barges sliding up and down the river, and sneaking looks into long house boats (water caravans! converted barges mostly) moored mainly on left bank. The riverbanks seem to have been given a facelift with lots of sculptures and pockets of pretty gardens since we were here last and it looks lovely. But we also explored a different side of Paris. 

Getting lost in Paris is lots of fun, but the feet are not as accommodating as once they were. Nevertheless we still got lost trying to find some of Paris’s many hidden Passages. We stumbled on a few on our first visit and wanted to explore further. 

Fast rewind to the end of the 18th century when a labyrinth of hidden passages sprung up across Paris. Over the decades many fell into disrepair or were demolished, but if you’re lucky (or know where to look) you can still find some of them whether they be beautifully restored and the height of chic or run-down and quirky.  Some are grand and gorgeous like the Grand Cerf, others tiny passages between buildings such as Passage de Deux Pavilions. Others such as Passage de Petits-Peres where we happened on a community orchestra performing outside an old church, are like Melbourne’s laneways. All are intriguing and worth tracking down next time you visit. Go visit! 

We’ll be out of communication for the next couple of weeks, but will catch up when we reach port next month .... 

These are the only padlocks I saw in Paris but ....

Tourists can hire these cute autos - so very French

What would the banks of the Seine be without its many second hand 'stalls'

Yes we found this advertisement for Australian aboriginal art

Insect crackers - for human consumption! beats chips.

The passage opened up onto Galerie Beaujolais

And this!

June 16 Visite des Egouts de Paris!

The museum told the story of the development of Paris's water system 

You really should - the sewers are a tiny bit malodorous but it’s one of the best history lessons about the developing Paris. The Paris sewers have been a tourist attraction since the mid 1800s when tours were first offered - people walked, were taken in carts and even floated through on boats! 

The system grew like topsy over a millenia always lagging behind population growth. It is now a giant network containing water pipes (drinking and non drinking), compressed air, control and fibre optic cables and lots more. 

Over time the sewers have provided fertile material for a number of writers  - think Victor Hugo, Les Miserables and Fathom of the Opera. All based on knowledge of the actual sewers. 

Going way back to the earliest days of Paris, in C1st BC the Parisii (a Gallic people) lived on an island in the Seine - Ile de la Cite - and spread up the slopes of St Geneviève’s hill; the right bank was uninhabited marsh land. At that time and for centuries, people drew their water from the Seine and waste water was released into the surrounding fields or on its the streets to find its way back to the river. 

By the C14th, Paris had grown to be the largest city in Europe with a population of 200,000. And the first covered sewer (300m) was built by Hugues Aubriot - to protect the people from the pestilential odours! Yet still the waste went into the Seine. 

Over the centuries, as the population continued to expand, cholera and plague were deadly, consequent epidemics - not to mention deteriorating water quality. Then there was the unpleasant smell! The sewer system was finally completely covered in early 1900s - but the pollution problem was shifted downstream to Clichy. People along the river started moving out as the methane bubbles caused by the pollution reached 1 metre in diameter!! Sacre bleu. Solution - create a ‘Werribee’ to filter and purify the waste. 

Today Paris’s 2000 odd Km sewer system is evidently the only one of its kind in the world. Seems like it’s working pretty well, apart from the occasional unpleasant choking cloud of leaking sewer pipes! and while many of its wonderful water fountains still exist, one is still reluctant to drink the water!!

We got there by Batobus hopping off at Eiffel Tower wharf and walking back to Alma Bridge. Or you can take the Metro to the Alma-Marceau stop, cross the bridge to the left bank and look for the large blue sign on the left. You purchase your ticket at a small kiosk ~€4.50 and the entrance is right there. Enjoy!

This man was one of the design engineers

The entrance is near the Eiffel Tower

June 16 Lazy Sunday

June 16  Lazy Sunday

Gare de Lyon going retro

We didn’t come across a lot of buskers in the Metro tunnels - faux piped-music versions but here is a real live performer. He was playing Gounod’s Ave Marie - it was heavenly echoing trough the tunnels 

Walk! I reckon we’re doing an average of 10km per day. Probably not that much but it feels like it - at least a third of that is within the labyrinth of the Metro and we are starting to feel like burrowing moles. But what I was going to tell you .....today finally we had a lazy day. Found our way to the Place de Bastille on the Canal Saint Martin then sat down and watched the world go by - with a glass of wine of course. Eventually we roused ourselves to wander through the Sunday market in the Bastille just as they were packing up. Bought some dinner and wine and headed back to the Metro. 

A little aside .. . some of the Metro lines are computerised - driverless trains running on rubber wheels or some such material. Quiet as!! Marvellous really.

This is the site of the fortress Bastille Saint Antione. It’s worth googling the history if you’re interested.

Lindsay with a mouthful of cumin flavoured olives. Delicious!

French onion soup and quiche - great lunch!

Lots of roller blading. This woman (50s plus) arrived on a motor bike, donned her blades and took off.

These intrigued me but while I was looking they whisked them away - the market was closing.

Wouldn’t you love to own a boat and moor it here.

This like platform at Bastille a number of metro stations is fully automated