A birthday in Paris

On our second to last day in Paris, we decided to get out and walk in the gorgeous sunshine.  We started at the Madeleine church, which looks like a Roman temple on the outside but is a Catholic church on the inside.     We then walked through the Place de la Concorde, down the…

Under Paris

Having visited the Catacombs in Rome, we were interested in visiting the ones in Paris too. Despite all the reviews talking about having to wait for hours, here we experienced one of the benefits of travelling in winter in Europe – no lines at all! The catacombs were really interesting.  Originally a space for mining,…

A visit to Versailles

We took the train out from Paris to the nearby palace of Versailles.  Built by French royalty in the 1600’s, it is now a UNESCO World Heritage site and museum/tourist destination.  We spent the whole day here exploring, beginning with an exhibition on the sculptures at Versailles before exploring the lavish rooms and the famous…

Paris wanderings

We had a rather round about route to Paris from Bruges! We had booked a train from Bruges to Lille and then a bus from Lille to France.  However, the snow in the night turned our route into a train ride…then another train ride…then a 45 minute wait in the snow…then a bus to Lille!…