Never a dull moment in the Bowen household and the past two weeks have been no exception!
The 14th July marked a day of birthdays. Trevor (Lawrence’s dad, Diane (Richard’s mom) and Tessa (Gwyn’s mom). Tessa’s came through to London to celebrate with us. Lawrence and I were still at work but Bronwyn and mom seemed capable of entertaining themselves with a whole lot of sightseeing. We all had dinner (Shawn and Nadia included) at a Steakhouse on the Thursday and we had a toast to everyone at home, especially Trevor who celebrated his 60th…we wish that we could have been there to celebrate with you. On the Friday, we went to see the Lion King in Covent Garden. It was fantastic! You can’t imagine the costumes that they wear; even we Africans were impressed because they really did look like animals.
That weekend we went to visit the Tower of London. The highlight was definitely the Crown Jewels…what were De Beers thinking when they gave that Diamond away. We also managed to squeeze in a visit to Kew Gardens. It deserves more time though because it is massive and absolutely beautiful.
This weekend we spent in Paris (ah so blasé). We left on Friday night after work via the Eurostar. What a good way to travel. 3 hours later we were in the centre of Paris waiting for a taxi. We booked a hotel in the centre of Paris, close to the Arc de Triomphe and it looked very quaint when we got there on Friday night. When we woke up and went outside on Saturday, it was exactly what I had pictured. You had to walk through a street market to get our hotel, which was in a little square. The street market sold fresh fruit, veg, seafood and foie gras. Lovely.
On Saturday, we spent most of the day on a “hop-on-hop-off” bus where you are taken to all the sights and can get on and off the bus as you want. We spent time at Le Louvre, Notre Dame, Eiffel Tour, Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysees.
Words cannot describe the feelings of actually seeing theses places. The Louvre was breathtaking (it was not given the time that it deserves, but we did see Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo…as well as a whole lot of statues of men without winkies, not sure what that was all about). Notre Dame was amazing in that a feeling of peace comes over you when you walk in. The cheery on top was definitely the Eiffel Tour. We spent about 2 hours in the queue, but you cannot complain when you finally get up there. Lawrence and I went to the second level, couldn’t get the guts for the highest level. We finished the day at the Champs Elysee and Arc de Triomphe, just awe inspiring.
Sunday was designated Tour de France day, just as well we did because all the shops close on a Sunday in Paris. We found a spot on the pavement at about 14h00 and had to stand until the riders came through, at about 17h00. We complained about the long wait, but all was forgotten when the riders came in. One big bunch of them, coming through at a speed of note. They came past 8 times, so we could see their strategies in play. Lawrence saw a whole lot more that I did, oh to be tall!
After the Tour de France, we had a bit of a rest because the feet were suffering and then decided to see the sights of Paris at night. This is a must for anyone coming to Paris. We made our way to the Eiffel tour at about 9pm. We bought some crepes from a street vendor and sat on some steps over looking at tower and waited for it to get dark enough to see the lights. Please have a look at the photos because no words can describe it, made the whole trip worthwhile. We also had a look at the Arc de Triomphe and Champs Elysee at night, lovely.
Monday was spent at Leisure. We took a boat cruise along the Seine for a last look at Paris and then made out way to the train station for the trip home.
This was an excellent initiation of travelling in Europe and we are already negotiating our next trip.
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