Paris

From the Louvre to the Eiffel Tower, from the Place de la Concorde to the Grand and Petit Palais, the evolution of Paris and its history can be seen from the River Seine. The Cathedral of Notre-Dame and the Sainte Chapelle are architectural masterpieces while Haussmann's wide squares and boulevards influenced late 19th- and 20th-century town planning the world over - http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/600

The Seine at sunset

Romance is probably the first word that pops to mind when you hear 'Paris', but did you know it's also a UNESCO site? Of course, that was only part of the reason why we decided to visit - it also happened to have a convenient airport to fly into from Auckland via Air NZ, given James had to get to Karlsruhe, Germany for work.

After over 30 hours of flying and being in transit, we were both ready to pass out from exhaustion. Unfortunately (?), we had arrived on the day of my 30th birthday, and I had already booked a celebration dinner at a restaurant with a great view of the Eiffel Tower. To be honest, going out was the last thing we felt like doing, but we soldiered on and were rewarded with this:

The food was okay but not mindblowing, however I doubt it would have mattered anyway as we were both struggling not to doze off during the entire thing. We did mention it was my birthday in the booking though so they delivered a candle with dessert, which was a nice touch.

I would never have thought of putting a candle in sorbet!

Afterwards we stumbled back to our hotel for some much needed rest. The next day, we headed out to tick off the main sights, starting with Notre Dame.

If you've ever read photography advice articles, particularly for travel, you'll know that great shots are easiest during the 'golden hour', i.e. just before sunset, as opposed to, say, noon, when the sun casts harsh shadows and colours tend to be more washed out. Turns out it also pays to take note of what direction the thing you're trying to shoot is facing, too. Because in the morning, Notre Dame turned out to be fairly backlit by the rising sun.

The amazingly detailed carvings on the facade

It still made for some interesting shots, but not ideal for capturing the detail of the impressive facade. We vowed to return closer to sunset, but in the meantime wandered in to check out the interior.

By now, the queues for climbing the tower were substantially long enough to put us off, so we decided to leave that for our return trip to the famous cathedral. Next up, three other Paris must-visits - the Louvre, Arc de Triomphe and Eiffel Tower.

Given I'd already been both inside the Louvre and up the Eiffel tower on my previous visit to Paris about 14 years ago, James was happy to avoid the discouragingly long queues for entering both, opting to do more external sightseeing instead. Once at the far end of the park next to the tower, we were excited to check out UNESCO's actual global headquarters, which was only a block away. Disappointingly, they were closed and there were no UNESCO logos visible whatsoever, so we had to make do with this fairly sorry looking sign.

Soon it was time to head back to the Notre Dame for some better-lit photos of its front, and we were duly rewarded with these shots, showing the building bathed in the golden glow of sunset.

However, this turned out to be far from our last trip to the cathedral, as we ended up back here after dinner for yet more different shots, and managed to catch the awesome ending of a fire dancing busker's performance.

I love subway/metro systems for their speed, convenience and relative economy, so I always relish using them when travelling overseas, given how deprived we are of such reliable public transport back in Auckland. I understand that my hometown's relative newness and lack of density makes it a bit unfair to directly compare it to a city like Paris, but it's still annoying to think that Auckland's Western Line (my local) is still encumbered with slow, loud, diesel-powered trains, while Paris managed to get their first metro line running all the way back in 1900.

One thing the Paris metro could really do with though is a liberal application of air freshener. Almost every time we descended to or ascended from any station, we would catch the awful and unmistakable reek of urine. In fact, I don't remember being in any other city where I'd caught whiffs of horrible odours on such a regular basis - not even in Italy or Spain. It certainly detracts from the romantic image, but you could also argue that it's part of the city's more 'gritty' charm?

The next morning, we started the day by grabbing a typical Parisian breakfast of a croissant and coffee from a nearby boulangerie for only a couple of Euros - definitely recommended over the much more expensive hotel alternative.

Then, it was off to the Sacre Coeur - when we spotted the funicular, of course we couldn't resist taking a ride!

When we got to the top, we were immediately hit with two things - the beautiful sight of the Catholic basilica in the morning light, and the most horrific odour we'd encountered so far in the French capital.

It was as if a horde of hobos had had a party there a few weeks ago, and all the decomposing remnants had slowly ripened like some sort of super-strong brie. Looking around, it soon became clear that there had been some kind of party at the site not long ago, and now rubbish trucks and cleaners were doing their best to clear the mess.

Despite the smell, the Sacre Coeur turned out to be one of our favourite sites, mainly due to the fact we hardly saw any other tourists there - a vast contrast to the day before. Plus, the hill provided a great view of the city.

After that, it was back to the Notre Dame (again) to finally make the climb up the tower, given it was too late to do so when capturing our sunset photos the previous day. On the way, we stopped off at the gothic chapel of Sainte-Chapelle to check out its impressive stained glass windows.

Despite the fact that we arrived at the entry to the Notre Dame bell tower climb about half an hour before it opened, there was already a sizeable queue and we had to wait a while to get into the tower itself. Still, a lot more appealing than waiting the two to three hours to get into the Louvre or Eiffel Tower!

After this, we couldn't resist swinging by Paris' version of the Pantheon, given the original was one of James' favourite buildings ever. Unfortunately this one required paid admittance and was also not nearly as impressive as the Roman one, but we still got some cool pics.

Nearby were the beautifully kept Luxembourg Gardens, which was full of families and tourists enjoying the outdoors. The sun was blisteringly hot though, and we soon had to seek respite under some shade ourselves.

Originally a palace created by Marie de Medici in 1612, the little sailboats floating around the pool in front of the grand building made it all very picturesque indeed.

While some may scoff at the way the French like to cling to tradition, it's been nothing but positive in terms of maintaining the historic integrity of Paris' architecture - one of the things we appreciated most about the city.

Our last dinner in the city was spent at a fairly touristy spot, Trocadero - despite the fact that 90% of the diners were other tourists, it was still an enjoyable dinner, and was a handy walk across the road to watch the Eiffel Tower at sunset and dusk. The firedancer buskers we encountered at Notre Dame the previous evening were even on hand to once again ply their (no doubt lucrative) trade, and we captured some great shots of them in front of Paris' most famous symbol.

[Flickr set here]

Quebec

Québec was founded by the French explorer Champlain in the early 17th century. It is the only North American city to have preserved its ramparts, together with the numerous bastions, gates and defensive works which still surround Old Québec. The Upper Town, built on the cliff, has remained the religious and administrative centre, with its churches, convents and other monuments like the Dauphine Redoubt, the Citadel and Château Frontenac. Together with the Lower Town and its ancient districts, it forms an urban ensemble which is one of the best examples of a fortified colonial city - http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/300

UNESCO sites are few and far between in North America, especially within driving distance of Boston. However, there was one place we knew we couldn't miss - Quebec City. It was even the right time of year for their famous annual winter carinval! Plus it was President's Day on Monday, creating a long weekend - perfect for letting us fit in the six to seven hour drive each way. On Friday afternoon, we set off from Boston for the first leg to Magog, a town about 30 minutes north of the border, planning to get up bright and early to arrive in Quebec City the next morning.

After a long drive through the snowy darkness to arrive at our Magog motel, with less than an hour to spare before it was too late to check in, we dumped our bags and made our way to McDonald's for a late Valentine's dinner. Sure, not the most romantic setting, but it was almost like dining at a French restaurant, in that the whole menu was in French, and everyone greeted us in French. Fortunately they could speak English too, otherwise ordering would have been a rather awkward ordeal.

If you're not familiar with poutine, besides bacon and maple syrup, it seems to be Canada's national dish - french fries smothered with meaty gravy and dotted with cheese curds, half whole, half gooey and melted, It's a gloriously delicious mess, and I'd been introduced to it in a new Canadian style deli back home in Auckland. So I was delighted to find that you could swap out regular fries with poutine in McD's Canada. Here it is. 

Apart from the fact that poutine usually uses thicker fries, not shoestring, it was actually delicious - the perfect winter comfort food.

We were a bit lazy with the getting out of bed the next day, so by the time we got to Quebec City it was already lunchtime. Again, we ditched the car and luggage at our hotel in the old part of town, then tottered down the hill toward Le Petit Champlain, a historic pedestrian street full of shops and restaurants.

Being the last weekend of the winter carnival, the place was thick with tourists, all snapping photos and marvelling at the picture perfect wintry scene. The light snowflakes drifting from the sky were the icing (sugar) on the cake - it was almost too charming, as if even the weather had been manipulated for visitors. I can't complain though, it was wonderful to sit huddled in the warmth of the delightful French bistro we were in for lunch, while snowflakes and marching bands drifted past just outside the window.

After lunch, we found the funicular. I love funiculars, possibly because it has the word 'fun' in it - also, you usually get to avoid a strenuous climb uphill by taking them. This one was a bargain at only $2.25 a pop, so we duly took a trip up to the top.

Disappointing, this is not a real ancient castle, but was built as a hotel to attract luxury tourism

For some reason, slowly moving ice makes the river seem colder than if it were completely frozen

It was while trying to take photos of the famous Chateau Frontenac and St Lawrence river that we started to realise just how freezing it was. After a mere minute of having any fingers exposed to the air, and not safely ensconced in gloves and/or pockets, they would become somehow painfully numb.

We shuffled through the snow on the Governer's Promenade and eventually made it to the main Winter Carnival grounds on the 'Plains of Abraham', a big park along the river's edge. It quickly became clear that there were just as many visitors here as in Le Petit Champlain, with long, stretching queues for each activity. By now, we were really starting to feel the cold, so we decided to retreat back to our hotel, change into our thermals, and venture back out later to see the night parade.

As the temperature dived over the evening and the following day, we did our best to layer up before going outside. In fact, we were pretty much wearing snowboarding or skiing clothes the whole time. Of course, once you step into any building you immediately have to peel off your big coats because everything is well insulated and centrally heated - unlike New Zealand houses! Also, most places thoughtfully have a double door system, kind of like an airlock, which prevents drafts and gives you a chance to disrobe and shake off the excess snow from your shoes.

So, the night parade. To be honest, it was a bit of a disaster, and I'm not even sure if it's one of the ones which make a funny travel story. Long story short, due to a lack of knowledge about the parade schedule (which I helpfully found after the fact right here) we spent three hours standing in the freezing snow, wondering if we were suffering from the early stages of frostbite.

The parade itself was alright, kind of similar to the Farmer's Santa Parade, but with Bonhomme, the carnival's official mascot, as the climax instead of Father Christmas. Boy, did the crowd go wild when they saw him. He's such an integral part of the event that the entry 'ticket' is even a little 'effigy' (hey, that's the word they use) of him.

We also got to visit Bonhomme's 'house', which was an interesting experience...

Being a snowman, it makes sense his house is made of ice

I'd like to see how he boils water without melting the stove itself...

This is the part where it got weird - heaps of photos of Bonhomme around the world, I especially liked this one

Is it just me or does this look like some sort of sadistic ritual?

Bonhomme 'effigies' from previous carnivals

By the time we stumbled into the welcome warmth of another bistro for a dinner at close to 10pm, the pain I experienced from the blood trying to get back into my thawing extremities was excruciating. Fortunately, the meal was delicious, our waiter was the very embodiment of French charm, and by the time we left, we had managed to feel less like ice blocks and more like warm blooded humans again.

An icy seat outside the restaurant

A super impressive mural in the old town

We were even brave enough to venture toward the waterfront to snap some night shots of the Chateau from below, which is just as well as I finally managed to find a UNESCO logo, which had been eluding us so far the entire time.

Could barely contain my excitement when I spotted this!

Blue skies greeted us the next day, and we returned to the carnival grounds with renewed zeal. First up, admiring the snow sculptures, some of which were decidedly... nightmarish.

Strange, but okay, impressive...

Wow, very lifelike, pretty awesome

This elephant is pretty cool, one of my faves

Okay, this thing is a bit... weird, but fine

What nightmare did this creature claw its way out of??

There were still hordes of visitors, mostly families, enjoying the festivities, but the queue for the ferris wheel seemed to be moving quickly enough to be worth joining. We got a great view of the grounds from the top, and that's when I spotted the dog sled track.

When else would I ever get a chance to get a ride on a dog sled? I simply couldn't pass up the opportunity. My only complaint was that the ride was too short, and judging by the reaction of the dogs whenever they had to stand and wait for passengers to be changed, they thought so too.

On our way back to the main part of town for lunch, we decided to climb up the massive snow bank piled against the old city wall, with some great views over the city. Obviously many other people had had the same idea, and there was even a 'track' from people sliding down the steep slope, which turned out to be both slightly terrifying and extremely fun.

As cold as we were the entire time we were outside in Quebec, it was hard not to also really enjoy playing around in the soft, powdery snow like little kids. No wonder the locals like to celebrate it with a two week party! Plus it would get pretty depressing otherwise.

One last thing we did before we left the next morning was to drive over to the ferry terminal on the other side of the river, in lieu of actually taking a ferry ride. We managed to get a couple of great shots of the city but gave up quickly before our fingers froze too much.

Next time we return to Quebec City, I'll be trying to get a booking at their ice hotel, and we'll definitely check the parade schedule more carefully!