EUROPE 2013

May saw us taking off on a trip to France, Belgium, England, Italy, Switzerland and Germany.  You can read about this here.  There is a menu on the right hand side of the page so you can choose which country you would like to read about.

We started out from Comox airport very early to Vancouver on Central Mountain Air, on to Montreal with Air Canada and finally on to Paris again with Air Canada.  As you can see in the photo below the weather in Montreal wasn't much to write home about, dull and raining.  The plane was one of the new Boeing 777's, very spacious, quiet and comfortable. 

 

 Our 777 waiting for us Montreal Airport

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We arrived at Charles De Gaulle airport early in the morning and took the train to the Gare Du Nord.  There we collected some railway tickets we had bought on-line some three months earlier, the earlier you buy the cheaper the tickets.  The system is easy when you know what to do at the ticket machine and we soon had our tickets for the journey to Brussels and Bruges the next morning.  We stayed at the same very good hostel we had used before, within easy walking distance from the station and just below the Sacre Coeur, which we could see just up the hill behind us.  We had the whole day ahead and we used the efficient Metro to get us close to the Eiffel Tower.  It was cold but not wet.  As one might expect for one of the major tourist attractions of Paris there were plenty of tourists around.  You can take an elevator or stairs to the first level.  The queue for the elevator was about 90 minutes long and the wait for a stairs ticket just 30 minutes, so we joined that queue.

Part of the queue for tickets

We puffed our way up to the second level and decided that was enough and, because of the crowds, we would forgo the elevator ride to the top.  The view from where we were was impressive enough and the wait for the top was very long.  

 The Sacre Coeur from the Eiffel Tower

Notre Dame

 The River Seine

The Champ de Mars

We found our way back to the hostel on the Metro and had a nice dinner nearby.  Early to bed because we had an early start again for the rail journey to Brussels and Bruges.

BRUGES

The hostel had a good breakfast and we then walked to the Gare De Nord to catch the train to Brussels.  The railways of Europe are impressive.  They are comfortable and fast.  There was some confusion because we were due to travel on a Thales train but this was substituted by a regular TGV with a different seating plan.  So people were sitting in other peoples' seats.  We were lucky as we got on the train early and sat where we were supposed to be and managed to keep those seats.  Others weren't as lucky so confusion reigned.

Once underway the train picked up speed and we were soon into Belgium and into Brussels where we changed to the train to Bruges.  

TGV ready to leave for Brussels 

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The reason to visit Bruges was simple, to visit the Lace Museum.  Bruges has been a centre for lace for many years and after checking into our hotel we were able to walk to the museum.  The lace museum is overlooked by the Jerusalem Church. The centre is situated in some renovated almshouses, a place where old and poor lace workers used to live and that not even 50 years ago.

Our excellent hotel, the Duc de Bourgonge on the canal side

It was now afternoon and each day volunteer lace makers are on hand to demonstrate their skills.  The day we were there there were about five of six ladies busy chatting away and making lace.  The photos show some of the work in progress.

 Plenty of bobbins in use

Must be over 100 bobbins in use

This lady was amazing.  Sitting in a corner by herself she made the bobbins fly at an unbelievable speed.  She would glance at her pattern, make about  about fifteen moves, pause, look at the pattern for a second and off she went again.  It was tiring to even watch her.

There is a short Quicktime Movie showing the lady at work on 
You-Tube at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pX3oSrHzCU&feature=youtu.be

Just click on the link.

 We had until mid-afternoon the next day to see a little more of the City.  Nearby was a market with fish for sale plus many other items.

The fish market

One of the touristy things to do is to take a trip on the canals.  There were four different companies with small motor boats.  The weather the next day was pretty poor but that didn't stop many taking the one hour boat ride.  

One of the many boats passing by our hotel

The Church of our Lady

The weather wasn't nice at all, not sure these folk could see much!

The Burg Square

Not a good day for trade

 

The provincial town hall

The Hotel Duc de Bourgogne

The hotel we stayed at for the one night was very nice indeed.  Located in the City centre on one of the canals.  Reviews had said that it was three star hotel that felt like a five star, and it was excellent.  On our arrival shortly after noon we were able to get into our spacious room overlooking the canal immediately and we had a great lunch in the restaurant.  We liked it so much that we had lunch there on the second day as well.  Breakfast was really wonderful, lots of choice and elegantly served.  A good choice indeed.

Our walk around the city was somewhat miserable because of the persistent rain/drizzle but we made the best of it.   We weren't,the only peope enduring the weather as Bruges is very popular with tourists.  

After lunch we took the train back to Brussels and caught the Eurostar to London St. Pancras.  This train was very full, very speedy and very comfortable.  It had  a large number of Borussia Dortmund football supporters on board going to the Champions Cup final at Wembley the next day.  They were well behaved and strangely singing English football songs as we arrived in London.

We had a slow and wet cab ride to Waterloo where we caught the train out to Isleworth where we were going to stay with Hilary Strudwick for two nights.  The railways in Britain have improved a lot over the last few years and the suburban train was clean, bright and quiet.  Quite a change from 50 years ago.

Hilary met us at the station and we were pleased to find Penny at home and one of the other daughters, Emma, arrived from a theatre trip in London with her family.

VISITING IN ENGLAND

Our time in England was a time for visiting relatives and friends, some of whom we hadn't met for a while.  First thing Saturday Hilary kindly took us to nearby Heathrow to collect a hire car for our travelling in England.  The car we collected was brand new, just 8 miles on the clock.

Our first call that morning was to have been to cousin Cyril who we hadn't seen for many a year.  Cyril is blind and lives alone in Surbiton.  Unfortunately those plans were scuttled at the last minute as he was somewhere else that day which was a real shame as we couldn't reorganize.  So we drove straight to New Malden, nearby, to visit with cousin Ken and wife Gladys.  Their daughter, Lynn, was there too and we had a nice, if short visit before lunch. 

Ken, Lynn and Gladys

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Our other call that day was to see cousins Mavis and Joyce in Welling, Kent.  To get there we chose to drive out to the M25 motorway rather than struggle through Saturday traffic in South London,  This worked out quite well even though it adds to the mileage.  

We first collected Joyce in Bexleyheath and then drove the short distance to Welling where Mavis is now living.  She lost Jim last year and had had a couple of debilitating strokes, one which had affected her thinking powers and the other messed up her sight, so it was necessary to leave the house in Bexley.  She now has limited vision in one eye only.  Her son Andrew was there as well, and even though he lives a distance away in St. Albans, he visits every day, which can mean as much as four hours  around the Northern part of M25. It was heart-warming to see the care he is giving his mother at a very difficult time. 

Ruth, Andrew, Mavis and Joyce

We then retraced our steps back to Isleworth again travelling around M25.  All in all that day we covered over 120 miles, that's how big London is.

 Hilary and Penny as we left on the Sunday morning

We made three calls on the Sunday.  The first was in Purley near Reading to see niece, Annie Berwick , Stu and youngsters, Thomas and Daniel.  Annie is finishing her midwifery training and had been up all night, but got up especially to meet us.

Stu, Thomas, Dan and Annie

Next port of call was Burford in Oxfordshire, one of the King family.  There were able to meet up with Angela and her husband, Roger, and we were pleased to be able to meet up with one of their daughters, Lucy, her husband Justin and their two children Joshua and MIranda.  

After a short visit for tea we carried on to Stourport in Worcestershire to see Don and Jean.  We had booked into a pleasant B and B around the corner from where they live.  The room we had was quite small but we mangaged to fit ourselves in OK and the location was good. 
We had a pleasant evening with Don and Jean and, still a little jet lagged, we were not too late to bed.  After a very nice breakfast the next morning at the B and B met up again with Don and Jean and we enjoyed lunch with them and Chris and Pauline at a restaurant nearby.

 Chris, Don and Jean enjoying a joke.

Ruth, Pauline and Chris

After lunch we took off to Balsall Common to see Paul, Valerie and their youngsters, Ella and Toby.  They were all in fine form and we had tea with them.  Paul is now flying with British Airways and had managed to arrange his schedule to be at home.  The transition from BMI to BA seems to have gone reasonably well and he was leaving the next day for four consecutive days flying out of Gatwick to Tenerife in the Canary Islands, a longer haul which he likes.  The plane Paul is building is ever nearer completion and is looking very fine.

Toby, Paul, Ella and Valerie

Our final stop that day was in Derby where we were going to stay with Anthony and Carol for three nights.  They had the night before just returned from holiday on Corsica.


We had a lazy day because the poor weather we had seen in Paris and Bruges was following us around.  Not withstanding that, we did get out the following day into the Derbyshire countryside but walking was not on the agenda.  We had a nice lunch overlooking Carsington Water and got back in time to meet up with Martin, who was working short term  at the Rolls Royce plant in Derby.  We went out to dinner with him and caught up with his news that included the fact that he was marrying next May.  Whether we make that wedding is an open question. 

 

We left Derby in the morning as we had a call to make in Ratcliffe-on Trent, which is not far from Derby and near Nottingham.  We had bought three Denby soup bowls on Ebay and had arranged to pick them up.  The lady selling them was home and we were soon on our way towards Cambridge.  We were meeting up with another in the King family at Great Chesterford and we had a nice visit before carrying on to Harpenden where we were staying the night with Wendy, another KIng and where we were able to see the fourth King sister, Elizabeth.  

The next morning we travelled around M25 to Shamley Green where we had spent a year on leave.  We hoped to see Jean Elliot but unfortunately that didn't work out as she had fallen a day or two before and had to go to hospital and wasn't coming home until later that day.  We had stayed in the cottage next to Ron and Jean when we spent a year in the UK at Shamley Green.  As we had a plane to catch at Gatwick for Pisa we left her a message and a present.  

SIENA

We reached Gatwick in good time only to find our plane was delayed, the only one that was as far as we could see. The extra time came in handy because as we arrived there was a security scare of some sort and no-one could get into the departure lounges.  As a result we were late arriving in Pisa so we had to wait for the train to Empoli where we had to change for the train to Siena.  As if we hadn't been delayed enough, the train was held up along the way to have a crowd of younger folk turfed off the train but Italian Railways held our connection, the last train to Siena of the day and we got to Siena but quite late.

We had booked into a B and B where we had a very nice studio apartment.  The reviews of this place were very good and it so turned out.  Knowing that we were arriving in the evening the management had left a letter and a key out for us pinned onto a notice board.  The apartment was actually just down the street in an older building but the  apartment was spacious and well equipped.  We even had two courtyards that we could sit in, one was entirely for our use.

One of the two courtyards with our own statue 

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We had four days in Siena and the first day we spent in Siena itself.

The centre piece of Siena is the Duomo, the cathedral.  Our apartment was close to the centre of the city and close by the Duomo.  Our bed and breakfast was unusual in that it didn't provide breakfast! but we were able to buy vouchers to spend at a nearby cafe.  We did this each day and it appeared that we could buy almost anything we liked without limit.  The cafe was used by all the locals and it was an entertainment in itself to eat there.  We got to know the staff very well and managed to communicate reasonably well as we had very little Italian.

Our first port of call was the Duomo where we joined the crowds.

The cathedral itself was originally designed and completed between 1215 and 1263 on the site of an earlier structure. It has the form of a Latin cross with a dome and a bell tower. The dome rises from a hexagonal base with supporting columns.  The nave is separated from the two aisles by semicircular arches. The exterior and interior are constructed of white and greenish-black marble in alternating stripes, with addition of red marble on the façade.

The Duomo showing the West entrance, the dome and the bell tower.  It doesn't actually lean backwards but you have to take the photo from below the level of the entrance.

The West entrance

 The stained-glass round window in the choir was made in 1288 to the designs of Duccio. It is one of the earliest remaining examples of Italian stained glass.

The inside is dominated by the white and black columns

The inlaid marble mosaic floor is one of the most ornate of its kind in Italy, covering the whole floor of the cathedral. This undertaking went on from the 14th to the 16th centuries and about forty artists made their contribution. The floor consists of 56 panels in different sizes.  The section of the floor under the dome is normally covered and can only be seen for a short period in September.  However, there is plenty of uncovered floor to see.

Details from a floor panel

Another section of the floor

The marble high altar

The organ

The pulpit is made of Carrara marble and was sculpted between the end of 1265 and November 1268 by Nicola Pisano and several other artists.

One of two fonts 

The horizontal moulding around the nave and the presbytery contains 172 plaster busts of  popes dating from the 15th and 16th centuries starting with St. Peter and ending with Lucius III.  Here are just four of them.

 
Detail of the ceiling of the dome

 Just one of the works of art in the Duomo

 A second massive addition of the main body of the cathedral was planned in 1339. It would have more than doubled the size of the structure by means of an entirely new nave and two aisles ranged perpendicular to the existing nave and centred on the high altar.  The construction was begun under the direction of Giovanni di Agostino, better known as a sculptor. Construction was halted by the Black Death in 1348. Basic errors in the construction were already evident by then, however, and the work was never resumed. The outer walls, remains of this extension, can now be seen to the south of the Duomo. The floor of the uncompleted nave now serves as a parking lot and museum.  You can climb up to the end wall of this unfinished extension and gain a wonderful view over Siena

 

Looking over Siena to the Campo 

 

Another view over Siena 

 

 

Looking back to the Dome and Bell Tower.  It is characterstic of Italian churches to have one window on the lowest level and an increasing number as you go up.

To prove we were there

Unlike Florence or Pisa, Siena did not build a separate baptistry. It is located underneath the choir of the Duomo and reached from a separate entrance.  It was built between 1316 and 1325

Detail of the ceiling in the Baptistry

The hexagonal baptismal font in bronze, marble and vitreous enamel



One of the six side panels on the font

A detail on the marble floor

 

A pair of lions

Leaving the Baptistry we arrived at the Piazza del Campo which is the principal public space of the historic center of Siena. It is regarded as one of Europe's greatest medieval squares.

The Piazza del Campo 

The Piazza is the scene the famous horse races where the horses race around the perimeter of the "square" with the people in the centre.

 On one side to the "square" is the Palazzo Pubblico (town hall),  a palace.  Construction began in 1297 and its original purpose was to house the republican government of the time. The tower was designed to be taller than the tower in neighboring rival Florence; at the time it was the tallest structure in Italy.  Its design has been used as the basis for several other campaniles including the Dock Tower in Grimsby, England constructed in 1852 and the Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Clock Tower on the Edgabston campus of the University of Birmingham (completed in 1908).

The Palazzo Pubblico

There are many restaurants around the Campo

One thing we needed to do was visit the local bus station to buy some bus tickets for trips we were going top make over the next few days.  On our way there was passed by the Palazzo Saimbeni. 

The Palazzo Salimbeni is a historical building which currently houses the seat of a bank. It was built in the 14th century, likely above pre-existing 12th-13th century structures. It faces a square with a statue of the local religious figure Sallustio Bandini.

The Palazzo Salimbeni 

We found the bus station and managed to buy the tickets we needed, they were surprizingly cheap we thought.  Not that easy as the ticket clerk had even less English than we had Italian.  This was strange because everywhere we had gone English was readily spoken.

We continued our meandering en route to another large church, the Basilica of San Francesco.  We passed some unusual things on the way there.

This came as a bit of a sruprise

A beautiful light in Siena's colours

A band leaving the Basilica of San Francesco

The Basilica of San Francesco was erected in about 1228-1255 and later enlarged in the 14th-15th centuries. The building is a large rectangular hall with a wider section at the top end.  It is rather sparsely furnished following a fire in 1655 and restoration of 1885-1892.  It is quite a contrast with the ornateness of the Duomo.

The rather plain frontage to the Basilica

The inside with the familiar black and white marble

A striking rose window

The stained glass window behind the altar

The B and B owners were very helpful in telling us about good local restaurants and we never had a bad meal in the evening.  There was always plenty of choice on the menus making the decision the more difficult.