Saturday 23 June Yorkshire to North Wales

Travel day today. We set off from Anna and Chris’s house , and stopped for an hour or so at the Holderness Hunt stables, where we saw the two packs of dogs that they keep, one lot of foxhounds, and one lot of beagles. Had an interesting chat to the houndsman there. Next we drove further north, to take in the Yorkshire Dales. It rained almost all the way across, and the dales were awash, puddles standing in the paddocks, and all the creeks full and rushing. The scenery was beautiful, old stone walls and stone barns, and steep hillsides up to flat hilltops. We stopped at a pub in the middle of nowhere for an afternoon shandy, and then pressed on. Down between Liverpool and Manchester, and then turned left to travel across the top of North Wales to our overnight stop in Llandudno.

Holderness Hunt stables

Foxhounds

Recording board from 1901 of the number of foxes caught - snouts kept as tallies

Yorkshire Dales

Stone walls in the Dales

Rainstorm and pub in the Dales

Thursday 21- Friday 22 June Yorkshire

Spent two nights staying with my mum’s cousin Anna, in the heart of Yorkshire, Anna and her husband Chris have a farm in the village of Brandesburton, near Driffield and Beverley. We had a lovely time staying with them in their big old farmhouse, visiting the people and the country where my granny grew up, seeing the hounds of the Holderness Hunt (of which Chris is Huntmaster), visiting the beautiful country manor of Burton Agnes, and seeing the memorial to the bomber crews that flew out of this region during the second world war. The English summer has returned to its true form after our sunny spell of weather in Ashwell, and it rained fairly continuously while we were here. Lucky we bought wet weather gear!

Bomber crews memorial, near Lissett, East Yorkshire

Burton Agnes house

Bainton Burrows

Wednesday 20 June York

Collected our hire car in Cambridge and scooted up the A1 to York. What a fabulous town this is. We did the Jorvik Museum on  Wednesday night when we arrived, and then went out in the evening for a guided ‘Ghost Walk’ around the ancient streets, with a very entertaining guide, who took the mickey out of various tour participants with great humour and charm. The next morning we walked the part of the city walls between Bootham and Monkgate, admiring the York Minster as we went, and then wandered through the medieval streets of this beautiful city, taking in the Shambles and the National Railway Museum as we went.

The Shambles, York

Our guide for the York ghost hunt

York Minster

York city walls

Model of York

Railway museum, names of engines

Railway museum

Sunday 17 - Tuesday 19 June Ashwell

Here is where it all began. Ashwell is the Hertfordshire village that I was born in, and it truly felt like coming home to bring my family back here. We were very fortunate to have my cousin James and his family on sabbatical here at this time, so we met up with them every day, and they looked after us. We were also delighted to catch up with old family friends the Moynihans once more - Liz & Fergus, Sarah & Martin with Rufus, Alfie and Isabel, and Tim & Claire with Charlie & Rosanna. Warm summer evenings in the Moynihan’s lovely rural enclave, long walks in the Ashwell countryside, and lunches and evening meals with the Highams - this was possibly the most tranquil and relaxing time of our entire trip. I have always loved Ashwell, and I am delighted that the rest of my family now feels the same way. We shall be back!!

Three Tuns - the Ashwell pub thsat we stayed at

Mum and Dad's house in Ashwell - Tower Cottage

Playing 50/50 at the Springs

Stepping stones at the Springs

With the Higham cousins at Dove Cottage

Loving cousins

The Elms

At the Moynihans house, with Charlie, Rosanna and Alfie

Evening walk, Ashwell

Admiring the English wildlife (slugs)

Outside Ashwell church

Sunday 17 June Paris to London

Our train left Paris at 1.45, so we hit the ground running this morning and managed to fit in a tour of Notre Dame. It is Sunday today, so there was a service running. As we entered the cathedral, the organ was playing - with the story of the Hunchback running through my head, the music was wonderfully atmospheric. The organ gave way to a choir, and then a soloist. There is something about those high, vaulted stone ceilings that gives music a tone that you just can’t hear anywhere else. A lovely backdrop to our exploration of the interior. The stained glass here is beautiful, and the rose windows in particular.

We climbed to the top of the two towers - the bell tower first, where a tiny wooden door gives access to a set of ancient wooden stairs leading up to the only bell that survived the revolutionaries, who melted down the rest. I think maybe the size of this bell deterred them from trying to take it as well. A narrow stone walkway led from one tower across to the next, among the most fantastic and grotesque gargoyles. I took photos until my battery went flat, continuing a tradition of my camera battery dying within famous churches - so far it has done it at St Marks in Venice, St Peters in the Vatican, and here. In the next tower we ascended more stairs up to the very top, where they have a plaque with a quote from Victor Hugo about this spot can’t remember it all but something along the lines of “… all Paris spread out below him, with her spires, her undulating horizon, her rivers running under her bridges, her smoke rising from her thousands of chimneys.”  And that is what we saw. Except for the smoke, of course.

Finished at Notre Dame later than we should have, so did a fast march/metro back to hotel, collected bags, marched to the Gare du Nord to get on the Eurostar. We got there in plenty of time, but waited in long, slow queues for so long that we very nearly missed the train, having to sprint the last bit through the station and down the platform. The doors swished shut behind us, and the train set off as we dropped into our seats. Whewsh! England next.

Notre Dame, Paris

Rose window, Notre Dame

Gargoyles looking over Paris, Notre Dame

The bell at Notre Dame - the only original one left after the revolutionaries melted down the rest in the late 1700s

Gargoyle

Saturday 16 June Paris

Made our acquaintance with Paris’ metro system this morning to get ourselves into the centre of town - we are becoming metro connoisseurs - this one is pretty good, not as clean as Barcelona, not as cheap as Athens, but not bad. We found our hotel (sometimes this trip feels a bit like an episode of The Amazing Race - when we reach the check in of our hotel, I almost expect them to say “Wales family, you are the ...  2nd team home’, or at least give us a cheer for having navigated our way successfully to yet another place to stay).

Anyway, we headed back to the metro around 1pm, pausing at a boulangerie around the corner for a delicious lunch of quiche and baguettes - gotta hand it to the French, they make fantastic filled rolls - and little berry tarts. Got to the Louvre early afternoon, and walked straight in, despite dire warnings of horrendous queues - no problem at all. The next few hours passed very quickly, in a blur of amazing and famous pictures and artworks. We saw the Mona Lisa, and the huge crowd of admirers in front of her - what a lot of fuss over just one painting among so many masterpieces. In one room, I noticed a Monet on one wall, just as Jeremy saw a Cezanne on another. As we commented on that, we noticed a Degas right beside us, and then I saw another nearby that I thought must have been another Monet but no, it was a Renoir, right beside a Toulouse-Lautrec.  The Louvre is a massive complex of rooms and floors, and it was so hard to take it all in. All we could do was look, look, look. And we did. Just wonderful. We went until the lady announced that we only had 15 minutes left, which was a shock because I thought we still had an hour, so we scuttled to try to check out the Venus de Milo, but didn’t quite make it. Ah well, something to return for. Plus the other half of the galleries that we never made it to. Personal highlights - the Winged Victory of Samothrace, the massive Raft of the Medusa, by Gericault, and two lovely Vermeer paintings - the Lacemaker and the Astronomer. 

We emerged from below the glass pyramid, and made our way through the Tuileries gardens and all the way along the Champs Elysees. Jessamy actually squeaked with excitement when she spotted the Eiffel Tower. We arrived at the Arc De Triomphe - you can’t come all this way and not climb it, so we forked over our cash, and scrambled up to the top for a panoramic view of Paris. Superb.

Outside the Louvre

Winged Victory of Samothrace - discovered in early 1800s - sculptor unknown

Religious themes account for about 50% of the art, I reckon - John the Baptist's fate is a popular subject

Us looking at the Mona Lisa

The crowds looking at the Mona Lisa

Man pointing out an interesting passage in his book to his raven

The Raft of the Medusa, by Gericault - inspired by an actual shipwreck where the men built a raft and set sail for help - 150 men climbed onto the raft, and 15 survived the ordeal
(this picture should also be familiar to anyone who likes the Pogues!!)

How did Danae get her name written on the walls here?

Hieroglyphics

Horse attacked by lion

Wall of famous painters - on this wall alone there is a Cezanne, a Degas, a Monet and a Toulouse-Lautrec

Yep, I'd be pretty pleased with myself if I had just killed that thing, too

The Astronomer, by Vermeer

Statue in the Tuileries - Jeremy named this one 'Man with four daughters'

Top of the Arc de Triomphe

Friday 15 June Versailles

Early start for a busy day today. First mission: drive from Loches to Versailles (about 3 hours drive time), find our hotel, drop off bags, then find car return place and drop off car. That filled in the morning. Second mission: visit the chateau and gardens of Versailles. This was made easier by the location of our hotel, about ten minutes walk from the chateau. Actually, I don’t think you can call Versailles a chateau. It earns the title ‘palace’.

Versailles was most notably the home of Louis XV - the ‘Sun King’, named partly for his love of gold, and this shows in his palace. The place shines in the sunlight, due to large amounts of what looks like gold leaf, on its roof, gates, statues, everywhere. We had a look through the palace itself, marvelling at the amazing opulence. No wonder the peasants revolted back in the late 1700s, when the disparity between the rich and the poor was so blatantly demonstrated. In Marie Antoinette’s bedroom, we saw the small door to the  side of her bed, through which she ran when the revolutionaries stormed the place. Little good it did her.

After the chateau we spent time looking through a small part of the XX odd hectares of garden. Not just garden though, more like an outdoor sculpture gallery. The statues in the fountains were particularly spectacular - pity that all the fountains were turned off for some reason! We walked all the way down to the Grand and the Petit Trianons, on Marie Antoinette’s estate, which gave us a good idea of just how big the gardens are - it took ages and we were all fairly footsore by the end. Pleased to get home and fall into bed.

16th century staircase at our accommodation in Loches

Versailles

Look at the gold on this place!

Stairs worn away from centuries of footsteps (probably more in the last twenty years than in the previous 300!)

Ceiling at Versailles

Hall of Mirrors

Sculpture in the Hall of Mirrors - made entirely out of saucepans and lids

"The" doorway in Marie Antoinette's bedroom

Globe in the drawing room where the dauphin lived - look which country happens to be at the top of the world

Gardens at Versailles

Recreating the Sistine Chapel ceiling

Fountain sculpture - very reminiscent of the Trevi Fountain

Romy and Kia at Versailles