And Paris!

We spent the second part of our Eid holiday in Paris.  It was only a smooth 2 1/2 hour train trip from London.  We checked into our hotel and headed off for our evening tour. 

 

The tour began with a river cruise on the Seine, starting at the base of the Eiffel tower.

 



 

This is the Musee D' Orsay.  See that big clock?  I will show you the view from the other side of that clock, later on in this post.  

 

Notre Dame!  I just love the color of the sky at this particular time of the evening.

 



One of the many bridges we passed under.

 



This was probably my favorite moment in Paris.  The whole Eiffel Tower was sparkling!  It happens every hour, for a few minutes.  Magical!  This picture does not do it justice.



 





 

We went up to the second platform, not all the way to the very top.  This was the view.

 

 

I couldn't resist inserting this picture of my beautiful mother, Celin.  This picture was taken around 1971, the first time I went to Paris.  I wanted to try to reproduce this pose, but we were there at night.

This is the lobby of our hotel.  It was a darling boutique hotel, so well-decorated.  These white human figures were painted somewhere in each guest room, and along the elevator wall.  But, the rooms were pretty small.  Standard for Paris, so I am told.

 



We only had one full day in Paris, and we wanted to get the most out of it.  Here is Marie, our tour guide, taking us around the Montmarte area.  Marie was pointing to where Van Gogh lived and worked.

 



Marie is showing us an actual painter's studio, close to where Van Gogh's was.  All the big windows were facing north.

 



 

Marie is showing us the actual spot where Renoir painted Bal du Moulin de la Galette.  What was so neat is that we later saw the actual painting in the Musee D' Orsay!

 



 

This is a statue of a character from a very famous children's story.  This character had the ability to walk through walls.  But he was not a good guy, and was punished by being stuck in the wall!  Legend says that if you can free him from this wall, you will receive his powers.  I don't think Joe was yanking hard enough.

 

 

Now isn't this what you imagine Paris to look like?

 



 

This is the Sacre Couer.  As churches go, it is not that old.  But the views from this church are amazing!

 



 

Even in the rain.  This church sits at the top of the hill, and can be seen from all over Paris.

 

 

The Musee D' Orsay.  This museum used to be a train station and parts of the movie Hugo were filmed here.  We saw lots of wonderful Impressionist paintings, including Van Goghs, Renoirs, Monets, ect.  There was also a miniature Statue of Liberty, one of four found in France.

 



 

As I promised-- the other side of the clock!

 

That is actually the Louvre across the Seine.  We just didn't have time for both.

 



 

France just doesn't have enough money to renovate all of its old building.  One way they are raising money is by charging millions of dollars to the right to advertise.  This is one of the biggest billboards I have ever seen.

Oman is everywhere!  We saw the gun at the Tower of London and now this poster for an Oman exhibit in one of the museums.

Now for our tour of Notre Dame.  Construction began in 1066 and took about 120 years.

 



 

Pictures were allowed in Notre Dame.

 



 

A little hard to see, but I was trying to photograph some of the gargoyles on the side of the cathedral.

 



The Arc de Triomphe

 



We climbed up 275 steps, with no stops, to the top. 

 



Just walking around the neighborhood around our hotel.  The weather cleared and it was a beautiful evening.

 



 

We spent the last morning of our vacation at the Luxembourg Gardens.  Another wonderful display of fall colors.

 

So ends our Eid holiday.  Now back to Salalah! 

Celebrating Eid in London!

September and October have been crazy busy!  I am way behind on blogging.  I still have not finished my visit to Salalah!  But, I am going to start now with what we did last week.

My kids started this school year right in the middle of Labor Day Weekend.  But I was not upset.  I knew they would get a week off of school in October for Eid.  So, what is Eid?  There are actually two Eid holidays, and this one is Eid al-Adha.  It is an important holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide to honor the willingness of prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) to sacrifice his firstborn son Ismail (Ishmael) as an act of submission to God's command.  But of course God intervened and provided Abraham a lamb to sacrifice instead.  Muslims celebrate by gathering with friends and family, meals, wearing new clothes, and giving gifts.  Some also sacrifice an animal in the name of God.  (Wikepedia) This account is found in the Quran.  (There is a similar story in Genesis 22, although not quite the same.)

We knew the kids had a week off, so we just needed to decide on a place to go.  Why London?  It is a direct flight from Muscat, which is unusual, and only 8 hours away.  

Here are our wonderful London hosts, Mike and Rachel.  They made us a fabulous traditional English breakfast our first morning.

Our first stop was Trafalgar Square.  Big Ben to the right of Savannah.

This is the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square.  The original statue planned was never completed, due to insufficient funds.  Now it displays temporary works.  This blue cockerel is supposed to symbolize regeneration, awakening, and strength.  Hm, if they say so.  :)

Getting ready for a tour of London on a double-decker bus.

It poured the whole time, but I kind of like these views of London.

Savannah was so excited to visit Madame Tussaud's.

We got tickets to a show on our first night.  There were so many good choices, but Savannah picked Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  It was a great choice!

We were on our way to the London Eye.  This was on Saturday, and we had the best weather of the week.  The lines were long, but the wait wasn't too bad.  Good thing about October is that most places were not as crowded (except the Sherlock Holmes pub).

I enjoyed looking at some fall color as we waited.  I was just saying, that I was looking forward to cooler weather and that I missed fall.  I can tell you, it felt and looked like fall all week.  A bonus!

One of the views from the London Eye

The houses of Parliament, Big Ben, and Westminster Abby

The London Eye is made up of these pods.  Each pod can hold around 20 people.  The whole trip takes about 30 minutes.

Back on the ground and headed to Westminster Abby.

Westminster Abby

I know, you are not supposed to take pictures inside the church.  But, I couldn't resist getting a picture of Savannah at the same spot where Kate Middleton walked down the aisle to her prince!

We tried to eat here, at the Sherlock Holmes pub, but the wait was too long.  You would have thought the Holmes family could get a table, but no.

We saw Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross train station!

The Tower of London

Bob, the Beefeater

A small changing of the guard.  But still cool.

This gun was last fired at Mirbat, Oman!  Mirbat is located close to Thumrait, where USG's quarry is located.

Tower Bridge

This picture was taken the next day, as we took a Thames River cruise down to Greenwich.

The tourist center in Greenwich had some neat displays, including this jousting helmet and gauntlet.

It was quite a hike to the Royal Greenwich Observatory.  But amazing views!

Austin is standing at the line of 0 degrees longitude, with a foot in each hemisphere.

This evening's choice of entertainment, STOMP.  The kids really enjoyed it.

After three days of the city, we went to Hampton Court.  Wonderful!

This was Henry VIII's banquet hall.  Amazing!  The chapel was very beautiful, too, but no pictures allowed.  I followed the rules this time.  ;)

Just one of the gardens!

This was not even the main gate.

After Hampton Court, we went to see Stonehenge!  We were on the fence about making the trip out to see it, but Austin really wanted to.  It was a pleasant drive in the country, especially after the days in the city.  

I was expecting large crowds, but there were only two tour buses.  I was told that there can be up to 35 busloads of visitors at one time!

Peek a boo!

Those clouds threatened all day, but we stayed dry.  

This wraps up four amazing days in London.  I think this is my longest blog post to date.  You should have seen all the pictures I edited out!  There were so many things we did not have the time to see, but hopefully this won't be our last London visit. The next day we boarded the Eurostar train to Paris!