Places Visited, on Three Continents
PART TWO: WESTERN EUROPE
B: France, Spain and Andorra
France
Paris ( a museum, Buttes Chaumont Park, Promenade Plantee Park, Bois de Boulogne Park, a day in the city including a famous cemetery, a day at the Sacre Coeur cathedral, a day under the Cluny Museum, some Cluny Museum treasures, a walk along the Seine, my room and a ghost from the past, my neighborhood, the canals of Paris, and an early morning walk in Paris)
Paris again in 2007: my hotel where I have stayed every year for 24 years, a visit to the Tuileries garden and the Orangerie museum, and a visit to the Madelein and Sacre Coeur once more.
March of 2008 brought me back to Paris again, but very briefly. This trip was also an occasion for a tour of the underground research laboratory near Bure, where Andra, the French radioactive waste management organization, is studying clays for the potential disposal of high-level waste.
A 2010 visit to Paris gave me an opportunity to play tourist in the city for a day. I visited some of my favorite haunts, as well as some new places, for me, including two parks and the Pierre and Marie Curie Museum. I also climbed partway up Notre Dame cathedral for some gargoyles, some chimera, and some great Paris city views.
2011, October, Paris. A revisit to four places previously visited, and a visit to five places previously never visited, with background information on the motives for these visits. One of the visits took me out of Paris to the small town of Maintenon to visit its chateau. Places not visited previously were: The Chateau de Maintenon, The Catacombs, The Bois de Meudon, the Jewish-Deportation Memorial and The Saint Eustache Church. Places previously visited were: Les Halles, the Bois de Boulogne, Sacre Coeur Cathedral, and the Pere Lachaise Cemetery.
On the 2010 trip I also visited the town of Blois, on the Loire river, where I was charmed by trees, flowers, a river, a church and a cathedral.
Mont St. Michel and St. Malo (Mt. St. Michel is one of my favorite places in France)
A new visit to Mont St. Michel and St. Malo in 2007
A visit to Fontevraud Abbey where Eleanor of Aquitaine is buried
Two of my
favorite chateaus:
Chambord
and
Chenonceaux
Joan of Arc history sites:
Beatrice de Plannisoles and the Pyrenees, a year 2002 fairytale with many picture pages of places where Beatrice lived
My first foray into Cathar country in 1997.
The Maragaret Porete story: first woman burnt by the Inquisition in Paris. Photo (and history) pages about her life, including several Belgian cities and some countryside, including two locales where Joan of Arc is remembered, plus the Place de Greve in Paris where Marguerite found death
Auvers sur Oise, the Van Gogh brothers' graves, and what artists found to like in that place.
Nimes and other destinations in Provence, France Something Roman, something Medieval, and something natural, and for enjoyment only (no attempt to teach any profound lessons about life from Medieval or ancient history this time)
A "Septober" 2008 trip to Provence: (1) Crossing the Alps on the way from Munich (Munchen) to Marseille. (2) Sunset on the Giens Peninsula where my first set of meetings took place. (3) Sunrise on the Giens Peninsula. (I took no photos of the city where my second meeting took place, Toulon). (4) A visit to the north rim of France's Grand Canyon, in Provence. (5) A visit to the south rim of Provence's Grand Canyon. (6) The ITER site near Cadarache.
2009 again found me in southern France. A late March trip to four major destinations and ten minor ones. Lots of variety, both natural and unnatural. The natural span from a Mediterranean beach to a wondrous land of canyons: the Gorges du Tarn. The unnatural span from the highest bridge in the world at Millau to an underground railway passage near Tournemire. I found all of the stops interesting and pleasing.
Spain
Spain, Madrid with quick side trips to El Escorial, Toledo, Segovia and Avila
(Madrid has an excellent tourist website at: http://www.whatmadrid.com/ )
Spain
2004
(Photos) places important to fiction set in Iberia in ~200 BC.
Spain 2005, pictures from La Coruna and Finisterre in Galici with some links to very informative websites about the "Camino de Compostela," the world-famous pilgrimage route, and a review of several books about experiences on that route
San Lorenzo de El Escorial one more time! Two hikes into the hills and mountains to the north of the town, with splendid views of the royal monastery at San Lorenzo de El Escorial.
Andorra
Andorra, a shopping and skiing Mecca in the top of the Pyrenees
The Pyrenees region
A new web site is getting started that seeks to provide planning services to visitors to the Pyrenees in Spain, Andorra and France. Please visit them if you are going to plan a trip. I am not involved in this website, I was only asked to provide a link.
Go to First Western Europe Page (Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Slovakia, and Germany)
Go to Second Western Europe Page (Spain, France, Andorra)
Go to North America Page One (Greenland)
Go to North America, U.S.: Nevada
Go to North America, U.S.: California
Go to North America, U.S.: Arizona
Go to North America, U.S.: Utah
Go to North America, U.S.: New Mexico
Go to North America, U.S.: Oregon
Go to North America, U.S.: Massachusetts
Go to North America, U.S.: Virginia
Go to North America, U.S.: Texas
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