The Bastille in Red

The Bastille - I aimed my camera, pressed the button and got a picture of red.

It was a passing bus, but quite appropriate for the Bastille because this was where the Bastille prison was until the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789. It was subsequently physically destroyed, with nothing remaining.

Instead there is the July Column which I had been trying to photograph.

July Column

The July Column was built in 1835-40 of 21 cast bronze drums with an interior staircase. On top stands the 'Spirit of Freedom', a large gilded figure you cannot overlook. He carries the torch of civilization and his broken chains.

'Spirit of Freedom'

'Spirit of Freedom', I don't suppose it ever looses its relevance. Perhaps they could erect another when Chelsea Manning, Julian Assauge and Edward Snowdon are released from their respective confinements.

Getting around Paris

Someone told me recently they had been to Paris 30 years ago and had
 decided then that they never wanted to return.

Looking back down the stairs
I have just climbed up .....

 Perhaps they tried taking their luggage on the Metro system, because that would put anyone off. The Paris Metro is a really good system of interconnection lines with excellent signage but there are a great many stairs to climb or descend and very few aids. Sometimes there are escalators but as often as not the are out of action.  It would be a nightmare with a pram and impossible with a wheelchair. It is also impossible with heavy bags and I saw a lot of tourists struggling with luggage on my way into the center of Paris from Gare de Lyon. Some were sitting defeated half way up or down long staircases. People with heavy luggage are advised to take a bus instead of train, but you have to do a bit of research to find that out.

For the fit and unencumbered the Metro is fantastic. It is on time, regular,  fast and efficient. It connects with the bus system and lets you use the same ticket for everything. You can even get off, run an errand then get back on again. I think tickets must work for a certain amount of time but I haven't figured out what the length of time is yet.

Where there is a junction in a corridor on the way to a particular Metro line and you have to decide which option to take there are lists of stations where each of the trains will stop, so you can check you are on the right path. (Despite all this assistance I have taken the train in the wrong direction several times. I tell myself it must have something to do with being in the wrong hemisphere!)
The stations distribute very handy free  maps showing all the transport options and marking significant landmarks. It's as good as a purchased guide book for helping you get where you want to go.

Goodbye Switzerland, hello France

My stay in Switzerland was a short one, just four days, but long enough to get over jet lag as well as hear two fantastic concerts. The weather was 17C one day and 30C the next, which was perhaps the reason so many people there seemed to have colds (including two staff at my hotel  - and now I have it as well).

Jurgen from the Rinderberg told me it had been a very hot summer and that the glaciers you could see from his restaurant had receded remarkably.

Typical Swiss house
drawn from the train

Farmers were working hard making hay during my stay. Where tractors would be used they were but as I swung up to the Rinderberg by gondola I noticed people mowing steeper slopes with hand held machines. There were also a lot of folk turning the grass by hand. That is hard work. In Switzerland you have the feeling that very little is wasted.  In some inaccessible wooded places along the rail track I noticed sticks sorted by size and neatly bundled.

Both trains down the mountain from Zweisimmen to Bern then along the flatlands between Bern and Basel were empty in comparison to the very fast train from Basel to Paris. I had 4 minutes to change trains. Unfortunately the Swiss don't have those information sheets every German station has that show where each carriage of the train stops but I was lucky and I still had one minute to run down the platform to my carriage. The train was so over-full that it would have been impossible to get through the carriages to my seat had I squeezed into any other carriage.

Luggage piled between seats

On the website they say seat reservations are obligatory but there seemed to be a lot of people without seats, or who had to vacate them when others with a reservation came to claim them. Luggage was piled high in the entry gangway, (not just a couple of bags, but lots of cases and boxes and bags stacked up to the roof) between seats and in the overhead racks. But whether we were sitting or standing, the train got us and all our luggage to Paris.

Port Navalo .... in 1981

 I have just found a couple of little sketches I made in 1981 in Port Navalo in France. We spent a very happy family holiday there.

The Region of Lot

This is the River Lot about an hour north of Toulouse.













I had never been to the south of France and I found it really charming. I can understand the English who are buying houses in the south of France and rennovating them. You hear English spoken alot in shops and cafes.The country roads were virtually empty as the region of Lot (around the River Lot) does not have beaches and is not overrun with tourists. The surrounding villages are also very quiet apart from on market day when local produce is sold from stalls. The local produce is wonderful. I have never tasted such delicious camenbert as is sold there. In fact all the food sold is exceptional. The French certainly live up to their reputation for good food.

This is the village of Le Vert, a collection of about 8 houses including a working farm.

Click here for paintings of the French countryside around Le Vert.