Paris I. Sightseeing and visiting suburbs

The Parisian way... :)

Hello dears,

How did you start your spring? I started mine in Paris! I had an amazing weekend over there.

It started by taking an early train London-Paris. Train is so much easier and quicker than plane! No airport transfers, no security/check-in queues etc. Just two hours and you're there...

There I met a CSer, who was a very good host :)

We started from republique, went down to bastille, then Notre Dame and around.

Then I met a friend at Palais Royal, we went around the Louvre, Champs Elysees, Arc de Triomphe and finished at the Eiffel tower. Then we had a quick look at the opera and I took a train to suburbs where I visited my relatives and the beautiful Chantilly castle.

In the evening I had to take a train back to Paris but the trains were cancelled because of construction works. Some night buses were supposed to go instead. But no one new when or how long and where will they take me, and on top of it nobody spoke English! I ended up in the middle of nowhere, at night, waiting [2hrs] for another bus which was already taking us to Paris where the metro was not going anymore.... What a mess, it was like Spain all over again. I was not ready for that :)) well at least I got back safe and sound, but it took a loooot of time :)

Ok now its picture time, the Paris story to be continued in the next post :)

Le Louvre

Contemporary Art Centre

The queue to Notre Dame is quite small, comparing to the ones for the Louvre and Eifel :)))

The Eifel area is a quite nice place to walk around :)
The Arc :)

Chantilly castle is very lovely and it has a huge park with channels behind it. All surrounded by the nature :)

Academics' house near the castle.

Three Wheeled Robin Car

"What? Three wheeled car?" - might be what you are thinking... "Why? How come?" Just be patient and I will tell you a story about the Robin, that was very popular in UK in the 70's.

I first heard about Robin when I was watching Top Gear with the kids. I am not into cars at all, but that programme has some interesting stuff to share! And this one is so exciting, who could even imagine! Apparently Robin was first manufactured in 1973 and became very popular because it was categorized as a motorcycle. So the driver didn't need to get a car drivers licence and saved a lot on taxes. These were the main reasons why Robin became so popular. It was The Car in late 70s in some parts of the UK. Of course it could not go too fast and was not very stable [the top gear guy was constantly rolling over], but people still loved it! Internet sources say that blue robin appears pretty often on Mr Bean and on the whole is a frequent joke topic. I have seen it when I was in Brighton. It is narrower than a usual car, but it does look attractive!

You can smile or frown but you have to agree - that is sth interesting innovative and just ingenious!

Birmingham :)

Stratford upon Avon

Last weekend I went to Birmingham to visit my dear classmate :) We had a fun weekend!

On Saturday we went to Stratford upon Avon, a place where Shakespeare was born. The weather was so nice and the city is cozy. We visited butterfly farm which was delightful. Firstly, it was very warm in there, a true relief for the whole body. And then there was butterflies fluttering all around waving their little wings... beautiful. Not girly-glimmering-pink-butterfly-ish beautiful, but really delightfully heavenly beautiful.

Then we found a nice pub where Shakespeare was drinking and writing. We had nice lunch there and watched a bit of rugby, there was an important match and everybody around was so excited :) And I understood what is the game about :)))

In the evening we went Warwick and just walked around.

And we finished the day with a dub/ska/reggae concert, which was really nice :) it was different from the ones in Lithuania, though. Firstly, there were people of ALL AGES, and secondly, ppl were not reggae ppl. There were punks and ordinary ppl and some pink-blond kind of ladies :))

On Sunday we had a walk in Birmingham, but it was rainy and cold so we did not stay there for long...

Butterfly farm

Butterflies

Farm

Warwick castle

Shakespeare's house

Reggae concert place. Guess what time is it?

Birmingham

Brimingham

Birmingham :)

Spring is in the air!

Natural History Museum

Hey hello!

Maybe some of you, especially Lithuanians, will find it hard to believe what I say, but it is totally and surely spring in here! I felt it since i came back after xmas (6th of Jan), but I thought the feeling is due to the sudden temperature change. But soon I also felt that it really is spring, that violets and pussy-willow (kačiukai) would blossom if they were around. And really, I noticed buds on some trees and now they are opening! There are days when you would take your jacket off...

The other thing is that I started going to the museums. yes, you would not believe that, but these museums are nothing like what you would expect a museum to be... Not only big in size, beautiful, free, but so modern and interesting, they would grasp your attention by accurate images, hifi sounds, moving shapes, interactive pictures,... I went there on Fridays, with the little one she was very excited too :)

And a little everyday thing - we made chocolate muffins with the boy (he loves cooking). Except we didn't put eggs and it turned out brilliant!! He said they're the best muffins ever :)

NHM interior

Victoria and Albert Museum courtyard

Buds

The story of a six pence coin

During one active weekend we decided to eat in Camden. As we were enjoying the vegetarian chinese cuisine of a reasonable price and unlimited amounts, somebody came across a six pence coin. How curious is that! It is just slightly bigger than the teeny tiny five pence coin so I suspect that it is generally taken as a five pence.

Six pence, also known as tanner or half-shilling, was used in a pre-decimal system, along with florin (2 shillings) and shilling (12 pence), (the name of half-shilling becomes pretty clear now, doesn't it?). The first sixpences were struck in the reign of Edward VI in 1551 and continued until they were supposed to be demonetized upon decimalisation in 1971. However, they remained legal tender until 30 June 1980.

Some interesting traditions related to the tanner:

-Put in a Christmas pudding (the one to find it in his piece is lucky/will be wealthy/etc)

-Lucky charm for brides. There is an old rhyme which goes "Something old, something new / Something borrowed, something blue / And a sixpence for her (left) shoe."

-a good luck charm by Royal Air Force Aircrew who have them sewn behind their wings or brevets, dating back to the Second World War.

-can be found in that time's plays, songs, etc.

So that's the story for today! Going to Birmingham for the weekend, curious how is it gonna be!

A weekend out!

I had a very active weekend. Some friends were visiting London so I spent all the time walking and looking around. I saw tower bridge which looks nothing like in the classic-London-logo pictures :))) we also went to tate modern and admired the modern art and also made fun of it :) I actually enjoyed seeing an original of Monet water lillies and some installations...

Then there was chinatown. Fascinating. London has sooo many interesting places to see in and outside the centre... Both days were finished in Camden. Great place.

Brighton II: the return

One of the houses in the center

Hello dears,

I know I haven't written for a while but, sincerely, there was nothing to write about. The sweet 3 weeks of xmas holidays at home and then working again... And now I went to Brighton for a weekend. Yes it was my second time there. It is a very enjoyable place indeed. Highly recommended if you happen to be around.

This time I got to know the city a bit, which was really nice. It is a hip place - colorful houses, funky people, easy communication...

And then again - sea, cliffs, sheep,... let the pictures speak now :)

Street. Really alive on Saturday.

Beach houses facing the sea

Harbour

Paragliding place :)

Here come the Seven Sisters

Enjoying a walk on the edge of the cliff...

Sheep. There is sth strange about them