More Paris!

Right. Some more photos of Paris. The first one is my favourite. Not necessarily because it is the best but because it reminds me of a brilliant song: 'Paris 1919' by John Cale. It's a photo of Les Champs Elysees and the whole time I was there I sang to myself, over and over, the lines: 'As the crowds begin complaining/How the beaujolais is raining/Down on darkened meetings on the Champs Elysees'. Great song, great to be there! (In the distance you can see the Arche de Triomphe - shout out to Napoleon I!). Then there's the Eiffel Tower which was guarded by Foreign Legionnaires, the Arche de Triomphe, a monument to Napoleon's ABSOLUTE GREATNESS!! and two shots of Notre Dame de Paris where I went for Vespers and Lauds, a brilliant experience. Afterwards ate escargot in le quartier latin before catching the bus home. I can't wait to get to France again - or even better get a job there!!!

Some of my Paris pics

As there were twenty something photos of my trip to Paris yesterday I'm not going to upload them all at once! Instead I'll do it and describe my day bit by bit.

So after leaving London on a bus at 10:15pm we crosed the Channel by ferry at about 2:30am and got into Paris around 8:30. The Metro was easy to work out - hardest part being tough enough to order my ticket in French without wimping out into English from fear! - so was in central Paris within about twenty minutes. Stopped for a French breakfast of croissant, orange juice, coffee even though I don't particularly like croissants...The coffee was great though and so at the next cafe I came across I stopped for a second. A quick word on French cafes. They're everywhere and I love them! They're almost like British or Australian pubs, the same bar, with table service as well if you want, and yes, they do serve beer, wine, and other alcohols as well as coffee, but at 9:30am un cafe did me nicely. Very cheap and I loved sitting at the bar drinking it.

Then started wandering around. These photos are: my first sight of the Seine (looking of Torrens proportions), ditto for the Eiffel Tower (though not with regard to proportions), and three shots of the Louvre, from the South, from inside the quadrangle, and from les jardins des Tuileries looking back.

By that time I'd also stopped to look at several second hand stalls along the Seine and at McDonalds where the menu was much more like Australia than Britain. British McDonalds emphasises meat and there's not much of a healthy option. In France I could have yoghurt and fruit again!

And with regard to the 2nd hand stalls. In the Seine shots, the green boxes with white graffiti are the closed stalls. Owners come along and open them up during the day. Pretty awesome!

My walk to an from work

(Those where you can see Tower Bridge are to, the other from). Pretty cool walk by the Thames!

Oxford

Spent the Sunday in Oxford enjoying the sunshine and the countryside, glad to be out of London, whatever Dr Johnson might have said! So here's a bit of a photographic record. Top left is on Magdalen St, a memorial for Cranmer and some cronies that I couldn't help but put up; the main shopping street, very much to my taste as you can see it begins with a graveyard - couldn't have written it better myself!; then there's the canal, Oxford Castle which now houses Krispy Kreme and clothes shops, and a modernist building, offices of a bookshop, to show you the sort of architectural mish-mash Oxford is. I took lots more photos but don't want to put them all up at once so might load others later. The Ashmolean museum was great, lots of mediaeval Italian and nineteenth century British art. And the journey was good too, seeing nuclear plants and the station at Slough, of The Office fame. Re-ignited my enthusiasm for travel.

My new place/the theatre

Obviously it's the first, not the second, which is my room. Just occurred to me an outside shot would have been good too. Oh well. The second, as the inscription on the building reads, is the Old Vic. I went there on Friday night to see a play, 'Round and Round the Garden', by Alan Ayckburn. Not because I knew it but because it sounded interesting and the theatre was a twenty minute journey for me! Had a great time though, particularly because I hadn't been to the theatre for a while.

Brick Lane

I can't remember if I've posted about Brick Lane before or whether I've just talked about it. (And yes I could check back on the main page but I'm posting now and that would be too much work!). So anyway here're some photos. For some background Brick Lane is the main centre of London's Bengali-descended residents. There is literally curry shop after curry shop. Seeing the photos I can smell it and I desperately want curry puffs and naan! Also clothing stores, DVD places etc.

It gets weird though because halfway up Brick Lane changes into an alternative hangout. The last photo shows a market which has a Rough Trade record store, which should give you an idea of its great street cred. It's in this section that the DVD store I go to has its shop - it does lots of world cinema and silent film - and also a set of fantastic second hand clothing stores. They have the most outrageously tasteless checked suit jackets, frilled shirts as worn by the Third Doctor, torn jeans, square cut ties...It's a standing temptation for me to give myself a makeover!!! (Then eat a chicken dansak...)

Doctor Who!

It's been a while since I posted now. It's because of my camera. Yes, I know the camera has nothing to do with the internet, but with these photos to upload I didn't want to write about anything else first!

So as you can see last Sunday I was at the BBC (in the audience for a quiz show which was quite fun). And while I was there got some awesome souvenir shots!!

The BBC TV Centre is a huge complex, corridors going on and on. Strangely they're moving all staff off to Manchester any day now and trying to sell the building. Strange because it's a listed building so can't really be modified, while at the same time it's a gigantic purpose-built TV studio, so there's not much else it can be used for....Anyway, that's up to the BBC management....At least I got to go there before the unloading!

Sex Pistols T-Shirt

Sex Pistols

Tuesday night I lived out one of my dreams - saw the Sex Pistols at the Hammersmith Apollo!! (Unfortunately not the Palais referred to in the Clash song). It was fantastic. Although I've never fallen away from the faith I was in need of rejuvenation and this ignited my enthusiasm all over again. Some of the lines pack so much punch, and remind me of my youthful enthusiasm, I wanted to laugh out loud with happiness.

'A cheap holiday in other people's misery...' Hearing the start of 'Holidays in the Sun' I began to pogo, sitting seat or not; and fortunately Jonny Rotten encouraged everyone to stand and dance.

Then the classic: 'I am an Antichrist/I am an anarchist...' I still remember the first time I heard those words coming out of my speakers, of how exciting they were for me (not only am I smiling again now writing this but since that day I have always identified myself, philosophically, as an anarchist; I remember going to the Uni library to read up on Bakunin and Kropotkin - the former of whose ideals I do not embrace!).

Pretty Vacant too, Bodies, Lazy...So many classic songs!

Jonny Rotten was up to form. It had rained that morning and walking to work I thought of hiss interview before the first gig of the reformation, when he said he was worried about the geriatric old fans, he hoped it rained so that their wheelchairs would get stuck in the mud. This made me smile when I read it and again now writing it, but it should have prepared me for the audience which was a little bizarre. Not at all what I had expected. Lots of middle-aged people who were quite depressingly ordinary and sang 'Rule Britannia' at every opportunity.

Anyway. There were some die-hard punks in the group. And me, an office worker for the Conservative Party...so I guess I really shouldn't criticise!

(Oh and I bought the tour t-shirt; it's the Combine Harvester Tour, Making Hay while the Sun Shines. Will take a photo and put it up soon.)

First day of work

Was today. Went quite well. I think. Everyone in the office was certainly friendly. Several of us went out to lunch and discovered a mutual addiction to Dr Who and fascination with Star Trek and Life on Mars! So we got on very well indeed. The work looks very interesting too, I spent most of the day getting my head around materials, constituencies etc. Unfotunately if I told you any more I'd have to kill you...

Last night was the social group after Mass at the Westminster Cathedrl; again they were very welcoming, very relaxed, and most of them said they're going to the Farm St YA Mass next Sunday so I'll see them again there. Which is excellent! There's also a pic of Westminster Cathedral. Oh yes, and an Arabian Coffee shop in Soho. I won't mention its near neighbours as they would not be suitable for a blog that might be read by families :) But it's good to visit during the day, espressos for 70p and Ibriks for sale! I can't wait to go and buy one for myself. That will happen as soon as I get my own place, with a stove to make Turkish coffee...