Karen ❤️ was invited to her company’s anniversary celebration, which took place in Madrid, so we took the opportunity of taking vacations. However, the celebration took place at the end of the first week of our planned trip, so we had to make some unusual turns in our travel, which some border agents found weird.
Day 1: Night-time Paris
Even as we arrived relatively late to our hotel, we still decided to go for a walk. But first, we recharged energy with some crêpes[1].
We walked to Pont the la Concorde[2] to watch the Eiffel Tower[3] at night. On the way, we walked by Palais Garnier[4], where there were people dancing for some reason and La Madeleine[5].
Palais Garnier has portraits of several important musicians.
Titanic music on flute.
La Madeleine is built with a neoclassical style.
You came to the wrong neighborhood.
Once we arrived to our destination, the fact that the Tower was not illuminated constantly, but intermittently, surprised us. After a while we noticed that those were a rehearsal for the light show that would complement the fireworks that would happen in the next day celebrations[6].
🗼
Día 2: Pantheón and Sainte-Chapelle
We purchased tickets in advance for the Panthéon[7] and Sainte-Chapelle[8], but we did a quick detour to see the Grand Mosque[9], although we didn’t enter.
Geometric patterns, that are a staple in islamic architecrure, decorate the façade of Grand Mosque.
Since we visited on France’s national day, there were flags all over the Panthéon. Also entry was free, so we bought the tickets for nothing. There were guided tours (in French) and a concert from the Air Force Orchestra.
🇫🇷
The Panthéon was built in a neoclassical style[10] and was supposed to be a church, but the construction was finished within the French Revolution, so its usage became secular. The original Foucault pendulum[11] was installed here and today we can see a replica.
Panthéon’s Hall.
A replica of the Foucault Pendulum in the same place as the original.
La Convention Nationale.
The crypt has graves for several eminent people, like Jean-Jacques Rousseau[12], Marie Skłodowska-Curie[13], Pierre Curie[14] and Louis Braille[15].
Rousseau’s grave.
Marie Skłodowska-Curie and Pierre Curie’s graves.
Louis Braille’s grave. His name is written in Braille in the commemorative plaque.
The corridors of the crypt felt like a videogame.
On the way to our next destination, Sainte-Chapelle, we stumbled upon an urban intervention involving giant teddy bears.
🐻?
I made the mistake of not downloading the tickets for Sainte-Chapelle in advance and there were no wifi to do it there, but after explaining the situation to the person on the ticket counter, they let us enter.
The building has a Gothic architectonic style and consist of two floors. The first one is pretty simple, but decorated with the Fleur-de-lis[16] everywhere. The souvenir shop is also located on this floor, but was closed when we finished our visit, so we returned the next day. This was the only floor accessible by the common people on its time.
Pointed arches are a staple on Gothic architecture.
The first floor.
On the other hand, the second floor was reserved to the higher ranks and has the greatest attractions of Saint-Chapelle. The main ones are the 12 meter height stained glass windows. The windows depict several bible passages, along the history of how the Crown of thorns[17] arrived there.
Besides the stained glass, golden decorations fills the second floor.
The Rose window represents the Apocalipse.
Get out!
After visiting Sainte-Chapelle, we circled around the Palace of Justice to find people playing Pétanque[18] in a park. We then crossed to the North side of Seine river[19] and arrived to the square of Tour Saint-Jacques[20], where we took a break.
Tour Saint-Jacques.
We continued our walk by going outside of Notre-Dame[21], which was closed by a fire that happened a few weeks earlier. Luckily, the front was intact, so we stayed a bit admiring its details.
Sunset reflection give the windows of Notre Dame a golden glow.
😯
When the sun started to set, we find ourselves in the quest for a bathroom, which we found in a fair in Tuileries Garden[22]. In the fair, there was a fortune wheel, so we saw the city from a different perspective.
We finished our day by watching the fireworks launched from Eiffel Tower on July 14. Since my camera batteries dried out, I had to just enjoy the moment without worrying on taking photos.
Day 3: Eiffel Tower
Next day, we started by doing the almost mandatory visit to Eiffel Tower. We walked from the École Militaire subway station through the Champ de Mars[23].
View of the tower from Champ de Mars.
One of the crows that were in the park.
Once we got closer to the tower, we noticed that several famous names were over it, most of them French. I later learned that Gustave Eiffel himself picked the names of people to honor[24].
Since we visited on peak season, getting tickets for the tower was almost impossible, so we circled around the tower to see how many names we could recognize.
We also tried to visit the Museum of the Sewers of Paris, but it was closed. Continuing our walk, we arrived to the rather small Jardin de la Nouvelle-France. After a quick visit, we crossed the Seine river again through Pont Alexandre III[25], which is the most decorated bridge I’ve seen so far.
Before arriving to Les Invalides[26], we took a break in the park in front. Once we arrived there, the cone-shaped bushes caught our attention, but the museum itself did not, so we skipped it.
Cone-shaped bushes in Les Invalides.
Day 4: Birmingham
We left France in the high speed trains that connect mainland Europe with Great Britain[27] and then we took another train to Birmingham[28] for a day trip. To optimize our day, we asked for advice to a friend who was doing his doctorate there, but he was out of town that week for a conference.
Our first stop was St. Phillip’s Cathedral[29]. The stained glass windows were removed during World War II to avoid damage from air bombings.
A statue of Charles Gore, first Bishop of Birmingham, is in front of the Cathedral.
The Final Judgement.
Ascension’s stained glass is at the back.
We then passed through Victoria Square, where Birmingham Town Hall is located. However, a lot of places were closed, since there were renovations and constructions in progress.
The River, one of the highlights of Victoria Square, besides the statue of Queen Victoria.
Our tour continued on the Library of Birmingham[30]. The building has a very modern style, with circular patterns decorating the front. It also has several balconies with nice gardens and a panoramic view of the city. The Library also holds the more important Shakespeare collection in the United Kingdom.
Front decoration of the Library of Birmingham.
There are even butterflies in the balcony.
Shakespeare Memorial Room.
We continued walking towards the canals that cross the city and found ourselves outside of a Lego store which, sadly, was closed. We also found a commemorative plaque to Black Sabbath in a bench, but people sat just before I could take a photo.
I would put a giraffe sound here, if only I knew how the sound.
The Lake Canal House.
We finished our day in Birmingham by eating giant Meringues from a store we found by chance.
📮
Day 5: London
Our first destination was the Sherlock Holmes Museum[31], which we picked free of any influence from an anime series about a certain detective[32]. The museum is relatively small and you can’t go with luggage, so we had to find a place to store it. After asking a few hotels, a receptionist told us about a place with luggage storage.
The museum tries to replicate the Sherlock Holmes studio based on the descriptions given in the books, so Holmes fans are guaranteed to feel at home testing their trivia knowledge. There are also statues of several characters, including the evil Professor Moriarty.
Disguise was one of the tools in Holmes shed. This is his supposed kit.
One of the several desk in Baker Street’s studio.
After our visit to the museum, we lunched in a Kaitenzushi[33], or conveyor belt sushi, place. However, I ate tofu curry and stir fried vegetables.
Katsu tofu curry and spicy vegetables.
Our next stop was the Natural History Museum[34], which has a whale skeleton in its main hall, like its homonym here in Chile. The museum is pretty big, so we only could visit a few expositions, including the arthropods one, the giant moon installation and the dinosaurs.
The building has neo-romanesque style.
Hope whale is in the Hintze Hall.
This moon was installed by the british artist Luke Jerram.
DINOSAURS!!!1ONE
After our visit to the museum, we took one of the famous London buses to Hyde Park[35]. However, we were tired and we just took a nap at the park. In the way back to the train station, we went to a restaurant for tea time.
As our last destination, we visited Westminter Bridge, although we couldn’t see most of the nearby attractions: Big Ben was under repairs and London Eye was closed. On the flip side, I could photograph Westminter Palace from the bridge.
Palacio de Westminter visto desde el Puente de Westminter.
Days 6 and 7: Madrid
These two days were tainted by the airline losing our luggage and the anniversary of Karen’s company, so we didn’t have the chance to do much. On the second day, I did my lone quest for a screwdriver to calibrate the adapter for one of my camera lenses and went to a nearby park to test it.
Testing.
We also reserved a tour to Toledo for the next day, but that will be a story for the next entry.