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More West Midlands Fun!

We had a lot of West Midlands fun when we spent two full days with my cousin Linda and her husband David! They were generous and gracious hosts and took us to see some marvelous sites, as well as places my ancestors lived and worked. In addition, they taught us so much about the area. For instance, did you know the anchor and anchor chain for the Titanic were both made in Netherton, W Midlands, UK? This is one of the towns of my ancestors, and some of them worked forging chains! This is a replica of the Titanic’s anchor!

A replica of the anchor from the Titanic, forged in Netherton, UK.
A replica of the anchor from the Titanic, forged in Netherton, UK.

Places of Ancestral Interest

Some of the places of familial interest included the cemetery where Joseph Darby (the jumper from my last post) is buried and the church where my great-grandparents got married–Christ Church in Oldbury.

The headstone of my ancestor, Josiah Darby, who was a famous Victorian spring jumper, and who won a world championshiip!
Josiah Darby’s headstone
The church in England where my great-grandparents got married.
The Church where my great-grandparents got married!
Another view of the church where my great-grandparents got married.
Another view of the church.

Castles and History!

We also visited two castles–Ludlow and Croft. On the way to Ludlow we passed fields where sheep just roam free–no fences or anything! Some were marked with a colored stripe and this signified that they were pregnant. In the picture of the sheep you can see the hills of Wales in the distance. Ludlow castle was important in the defense against the “savage” Welshmen. Read more about it here. It is mostly ruins now, but an incredible piece of history.

Sheep just roaming the countryside on our way up to Ludlow Castle.
Sheep just roaming the countryside on our way up to Ludlow Castle.
The ruins of Ludlow Castle, with my cousin Linda in the lower left!
The ruins of Ludlow Castle, with my cousin Linda in the lower left!
More ruins of Ludlow Castle, which was important in the history of the British vs. the Welsh.
More Ludlow ruins.

The town of Ludlow is rich in Tudor architecture which I love!! I took way too many pictures but will share a couple.

Examples of Tudor architecture in Ludlow, UK.
The Tudor architecture in Ludlow, UK.
Other examples of Tudor architecture in Ludlow, UK.
Further examples of the Tudor architecture in Ludlow, UK.

Well, I have gone on for too long tonight! I will cover Croft Castle, our foodie adventures, and the Black Country Living History Museum tomorrow! I will share even more West Midlands fun! Thanks for following our trip! I can’t believe that we will be coming home on  Sunday! But do not fret! I will continue posting since I have to cover our London and Dublin legs of the trip!

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Skipping Ahead

I have had so much fun hanging out with my British cousins that I haven’t posted since I have been here in the beautiful West Midlands of the U.K. I appreciate the hospitality of my cousin Linda and her husband David. They have been generous and courteous hosts and have introduced us to many extended family members, as well as shown us places our ancestors lived, worked and married! We also got to see castles and museums and sheep just roaming around! There is even a statue and museum display honoring my great-great uncle who was a world famous Spring jumper in the late 1800’s!

On the first night we had a dinner with several of Linda’s extended family at a quaint and delicious pub called The Barnt Green Inn. Meeting everyone was lovely, the food was amazing and our server was so much fun! He was from Portugal and getting ready to return there next week.

Seth got a ginger carrot soup as a starter then finished with lamb shops over a pea and potato mash. I had pork belly with scallops over a squash purée. Some of the party got a cool chocolate dessert called a Chocolate Bomb where there is ice cream inside a chocolate ball. The server pours hot chocolate syrup over the chocolate ball and it melts dramatically! It was fun to watch!

Well, we are getting ready to leave for the airport for our flight to Dublin. I will add more Midlands later then try to catch up on London. It is hard to believe we are starting the last leg of our journey! Thanks for coming along!!

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The Last of Our Sightseeing in Paris

Today I will finish up describing our Paris sightseeing fun! On Saturday we started out at the Louvre. I had been there before, and we were pretty museum fatigued, plus it was pretty crowded. We checked on the ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman exhibits, then took the Metro to the Arc de Triomphe.

We walked up to the top of the Arc–that was exhausting! You see, I am on a medicine for my heart that keeps my heart rate from increasing much (I can’t seem to get it above 104), so I get short-winded more easily than I should. So the walk up was killer, but worth it!

After that we walked down the Avenue de la Grande-Armee (a continuation of the Champs Elysees) to the chocolate shop I mentioned in a previous post, A La Riene Astrid. We then had lunch nearby at L’Escale which I wrote about earlier. We took the Metro back to our hotel and rested for awhile–my feet were dead!

Later the same day we went up to one of my favorite places in the city–Montmarte and Sacre Coeur Basilica. More steps!! AND it started to rain! The view from the top is amazing, though my pictures  were no good due to how foggy it was! When we got to the top we discovered we could have ridden up on a Funicular!!! We did ride down though!

After descending we escaped the rain in Cafe Chappe, which I described previously, and took the Metro back to the hotel. I was a bit sad we missed the Place du Tertre where the artists hang out and peddle their wares. We figured they would have escaped the rain too!

Well, that finally finishes Paris. Chronologically, we have been in London for 3 nights. I am going to try to combine our cultural and culinary adventures for our time in London over the next few posts.

Thanks for reading my blog and keep visiting!!

 

 

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Au Revoir à Paris!

I will try to sum up the rest of our Parisian adventures here. I am excited to start sharing the London leg of our trip!

Day 2 in Paris was museum day. We started at Musée Orangerie which borders on the Jardin Tuileries. It is dedicated to impressionist art which is my favorite type. The main level is shaped like an infinity sign with large Monets curving around each oval!

Next we went over the Seine to the Musée d’Orsay. This museum was huge and varied with quite a collection of sculpture, paintings and other media.

We were hungry after all the art and we found a lovely café right across from the museum. I previously posted about the Tabac d’Orsay and our wonderful lunch!

That night we had a premium wine tasting at Les Caves des Louvre. Our guide was a young very knowledgeable wine maker and I learned so much! Afterward we walked to the Palais Royal though only got to see the outside and gardens. We stopped for dinner (already posted pics of that) and Home to crash!

Well I will need to post our next couple days after we return from today’s adventures.

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Paris in Review

I am writing on the Eurostar train between Paris and London. Au revoir Paris! I thought I would take this opportunity to add some of my sightseeing photos and remarks so we start London with a clean slate!

On our first day after our rest we took the river cruise to see the sights along the Seine. I definitely recommend this early in any trip to Paris! It is a great way to “get your feet wet” so to speak.

Well apparently there is not enough bandwidth on the train to add my pics so I will do those later.

When viewing the wall around the Île del Cité I can’t help but think about the episodes of Vikings when they attacked Paris. I was envisioning this as we sailed around the original heart of the city.

After the cruise we walked to the Eiffel Tower. The lines were too long to go up, but it was just amazing being there and seeing it close up. Seth took a cool picture from the ground looking up !

On our walk back to our hotel we passed the place where Princess Diana was killed. There are tributes there around the replica of Lady Liberty’s flame.

Well I will catch up with the rest of Paris tomorrow and start with London! Night all!!!

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Another Day of Great Food and Sightseeing!

I almost didn’t have a chance to post tonight. We started the day at the Louvre, then the Arc de Triomphe/Champs Elysees. After that we went to a chocolatier recommended by one of Seth’s customers. It is called A La Reine Astrid and was amazing! We then had lunch at a cute little brasserie named L’Escale that was near the chocolate shoppe. I had a planche de fromage and Seth had a Croque Messieur. Everything was amazingly delicious! I have fallen in love with French cheese and wish I could take it home with me!!! It is so much better than anything else I have ever tasted!

I was pretty exhausted from all the walking, and especially the STAIRS, so we went back to our hotel for a break. I ended up falling asleep! I never nap! After that, we took the metro up to Montmarte and the Sacre Coeur Basilica–more stairs!! This is my favorite part of Paris! Unfortunately, it started to rain pretty hard, so there was no reason to go to the Place du Tertre, where all the artists are–we figured they wouldn’t be there in the rain. Instead we found a cute little cafe up there called Cafe Chappe. Seth again had duck (he loves duck and it isn’t easy to find in restaurants at home). I ordered the Salade Campagnare–a delightful salad with toast points covered with 3 different kinds of cheeses as well as little roasted potatoes that were crispy on the outside and tender on the inside!

This cafe had Kronenbourg also so that is what we had to drink. It was very refreshing after all of those stairs!! We ordered nutella crepes for dessert, unfortunately, they looked so delicious we ate them and forgot to take a picture!! Sorry about that!

I promise I will post sightseeing pictures also! I’m just more obsessed with the FOOD here in Paris!! Tomorrow is our last day and that makes me sad! But I am excited to see London and to visit my cousin Linda and her family next weekend!

Bonsoir!

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Our Parisian Culinary Adventures

With two days left in Paris, I am happy to report that we have experienced AMAZING food and wine in the City of LIghts! I will be reporting on our sightseeing in a later post, but I wanted to share some of our culinary joys!

Yesterday, after taking the Seine River Cruise and visiting the Eiffel Tower, we had dinner at L’Avenue. We were so tired and hungry, I forgot to take any pictures. It was delicious though more expensive than I had planned. We had some amazing champagne, Seth had duck comfit, and I had a seared tuna steak. After we got back to the hotel, our hotel bartender hooked us up with some drinks and we got a great night’s sleep. At this point we had been up nearly 48 hours other than a nap here and there!

Our hotel includes a free breakfast, and I was expecting something light and “continental”, so I was pleasantly surprised to see some pretty hearty fare!

We proceeded to visit a couple of museums (Orangerie and d’Orsay) and had lunch near the latter at Tabac d’Orsay. The staff there were amazing, and I believed it was a family-run operation as the waiter and the busboy spoke about “Maman” and the younger one later left with one of the women who served us. I had seared duck with sauce du poivre and Seth had a chicken salad. Both were amazing! And they had Kronenbourg beer!!!!! I am not a beer drinker, but I fell in love with this beer on my first trip to Europe in 1982 and have NEVER been able to find it in the US! I was so happy!!

Tonight we went to a premium wine tasting at Les Caves du Louvre. We were fascinated and it was so informative! I sadly did not take pictures (I don’t think they were allowed anyway). We stopped on the way back at a lovely cafe called Cafe de la Regence. We each had MORE wine, burrata as an appetizer (excellent with fresh pesto), salmon for me (excellent roasted vegetables as a side), and chicken for Seth. He had a Glenfiddich and I had an Amaretto for our digestifs.

I do not know why the food here tastes so much better than at home! I think part of it may be the sheer freshness! We learned so much today and enjoyed our adventures, both culinary and educationally! Tomorrow will be a whole new day of adventure!

A porchaine!

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Bienvenue à Paris!

We touched down at Charles DeGaulle Airport just a little after 6am local time. We didn’t get much sleep on the plane–2 hours for me and less for Seth. We were running on excitement.

Our driver was waiting for us and brought us straight to the lovely Hotel Duminy Vendome which is in an excellent location near the Louvre and Jardins Tuileries. To our pleasant surprise they had a room ready that early!! We were able to freshen up, walk to the tourist center to pick up our Paris passes, then explore our immediate surroundings!

We had lunch at the lovely Le Carousel Brasserie right across the street from the Tuileries and then strolled through the park before heading back to nap a bit.

This is a view of the back of the Louvre taken from inside the Tuileries.

Stay tuned for updates!

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Leaving Today! Bon Voyage!

We are currently in the Charlotte airport awaiting our flight across the Atlantic to Paris! Four years of planning has finally paid off.

For those of you who wondered–everything fit!!!! And are regulation!!!

Next time I post it will be from France! A bientôt !

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Packing Day!

So today I packed my suitcase! I was able to get everything in my carry-on. 3 pairs of shoes, a dress, 6 tops, 4 bottoms, a sweater, pjs, and undergarments. And 2 scarves. I have included pictures of my final clothing picks and my packing! Everything fit!!!

My travel outfit.

My “fancy” clothes.

My tops

My bottoms

My scarves

My shoes

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