Sunrise, driving and The Help

Started the morning in the Bekaa Valley and watched the sun rise over the Anti Lebanon Mountains to our left and and its first light strike purple on the tops of the Mount Lebanon mountains on the other side of the valley. Magnificent.

Back up and over the mountains to Beirut. Cars overtaking on sharp bends, truck over turned, farmers vehicles stradling the white line and vehicles heading straight for us on the wrong side of a divided highway! Driving here is a continual white knuckle event.

You see them walking dogs, carrying shopping, managing children. Usually a few steps behind the employer. Sitting at a side table. Dressed in a cheap ubiquitous uniform. The young girls come from Philipines, Sri Lanka and Africa. The maids.

Apple Orchards, Bekaa Valley and Baalbek

Up early to catch 6am bus to Tripoli well that is what time they told me first bus leaves. No one at bus terminal 5 at Charles Heloue except shady looking Syrians who kept wanting to shine my suede shoes. Eventually left at 7.15am. Got to Tripoli and met up with Zac and we drove the long and winding roads over Mount Lebanon mountains and into the Bekaa Valley and down to Baalbek.

High in the mountains the apples were ripe in the orchards and so close to the narrow roads you could pick them from the moving car. Fresh apples and cider were sold on the side of the road. The scenery was breathtaking and the mountain air was cool, crisp and sweet so we picked up some smelly hitch hicking farmers for some added local colour and flavour.

Baalbeck was incredible, with extremely impressive and outsized Roman ruins of the once mighty city of Heliopolis. We toured the complex in the late in the afternoon so to enjoy the beautiful light from the setting sun. No one one around so it seemed obligatory to take a few Baron Wilhelm von Gloeden style pics for a private collection. We stayed in a faded grandeur hotel where the water rarely worked and the majordommo kept wandering in and out of our room wanting to know if he could do anything to make our stay more comfortable.

Drove to Zahle for dinner and a promenade.

Hezbollah, Syrian border and a soldier.

24 hours later and fit and well and after an embarrassing moment at a luxury seaside resort which I will not discuss.

Today bright eyed and bushy tailed again and ready for breakfast at "Pauls", a French style bakery that has been operating come hell or highwater since 1889. No mean feat in this part of the world. In the car and back to the Dahieh district of South Beirut trying to get into trouble with hot looking Hezzbollah but they seemed uninterested in us. The shops and street life in these crowded suburbs are amazing. Chickens are killed in front of you, (halal), then plucked and cleaned to take home. Is this a Steggles?

We then travelled north to near the Syrian border to see if any mischielf was to be had there. Once again all quiet.

We had a leisurely anniversary lunch at a mountaintop restaurant over looking the beautiful Hells Valley or Devils Valley or something like that and then drove through tiny mountain villages having to stop occasionally to let a shepherd pass with his brown faced, fat tailed, sheep.

Finally we got some military action when we gave a lift to a soldier who was hitch hicking from his village to his barracks in Tripoli. He thinks we are far too cautions drivers as we follow road rules!

Eddesands Wellness Hotel & Beach Resort

A days break from touring for a well earned rest and recreation arvo at Eddesands resort. Nice one.

Evening back in Beirut.

Beirut in 14 kilometres

14 kilometres later (I measured it with my shoe laces on a map), sore feet and near heat exhaustion, I now have a much better feel for the city. I have been stopped by the army twice for photographing things I should not have and managed to get out of trouble with my best "ana isme gordon sekin bi sydney" routine. Apparently my accent is shocking/hilarious.

Zac is up north for family duty and mosque day so I have the day to myself to explore the city. Walked from Gemmayzeh heading west and visited the still being refurbished Beirut Synagogue, walked through Hamra and onto Raoucheh for the obligatory picture of the rock arches that sit just offshore. After a Starbucks iced coffee and a sit in glorious airconditioning I then meandered home via The Corniche watching the kids swimming in the sea and the hotties jogging past.

Loved the musical cacophony of completing muezzins for noon prayer. I gave alms to the poor sitting hopefully in front of the many mosques and popped into Missoni to see what was on sale. Nothing.

Sabra and Shatila, South Beirut and Sidon

His brother was killed during the Sabra and Shatila massacre and he wears a leg splint after being shot by the Israelis during one of the invasions. Zac befriended him in a bar. So today we are with Yasser, a Palestinian, who gave us a tour of the Sabra and Shatila refugee camp and Dahieh (South Beirut), a mainly Shi'ite Muslim district and Hezbollah stronghold, bombed into rubble during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict but now partially reconstructed by Iranian money.

Hard to know what to say except I felt like a "Time" correspondent.

We kept travelling south and onto Sidon and explored a sea castle built by the Crusaders where much of the material was scavenged from an earlier Roman temple. We wandered the old vaulted souk and bought some handmade olive oil soap.

Some shifty boys tried to get us to visit a hamman which was really their bathroom! Hard to know what to say about this except I felt like Kenneth Williams in a Carry On movie.

Maronite Monasteries, Byblos and Batroun

Met up with Roland and then we spent the morning visiting various Maronite monasteries in the mountains around Batroun. Sainte Rafqa and Blessed Brother Estephan Nehme were the main focus. Blessed Brother Estephan body lays on a glass coffin in the Monastery of Saints Cyprian and Justina and supposed has not decayed since his death. We could not get close enough to verify this though.

After all this goodness we drove down to Byblos for a long seafoood lunch overlooking the Mediteranean.

In the late afternoon we pottered around the old city of Byblos which is one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world. Checked out the old fishing harbour and a quick explore of the crusader castle and that was about it for the day. We need to return  sometimeto see the remains of Roman temples and Phoenician ruins.

Drove back to the cacophony of Tripoli before returning home to Beirut.

Jeita Caves and Jounieh

Caught the 7am bus to Jounieh which is about 15kms north of Beirut. The driver promised to let me off at KFC but I was dropped off at Burger King! After a few phone calls I manged to be found.

Poked around Jounieh, among other things it seems to be the seaside playground of the face lift and the animal print. Took the Le Telepherique to Harissa where a huge white statue of Our Lady of Lebanon dominates from the mountain top.

Afterwards we checked out the amazing limestone caves at Jieta. They say they were once inhabited by prehistoric man but I also read that as recently as the mid 1990s they held rocket propelled grenades, shells, howitzer platorms and ammunition all packaged up and safe for the Christians to fire at the Muslims and Palestinians. This part was not mention on the tour that I was on.

I decided to take a bus back to Beirut rather than Zac having to battle the traffic. We stood on the side of the highway and hurled ourselves in front of a passing bus and I hopped in. There were no published fares so the cost is whatever the driver can get you to pay through intimidation. I was probably ripped off but the $2 I paid had to be closer to the truth that the $10 he wanted. When I was finally allowed out at my stop I was then pounced on by other drivers to take me to Damascus!

Hello Kifak Ca Va Beirut

I arrived 24 hours ago and met by Zac at Beirut airport. Staying in Saifi Gardens a little hostel tucked away in the Gemmayze district in the heart of Beirit. After checking in we hit the streets.

Wandered down Rue Gouraud filled with cool little bars and found a place to eat then onto Martyrs Square to explore the Mohammed Al Amin mosque and what a chandelier!

Today we drove to Tripoli and a poke around North Lebanon and so it seemed did everyone else. Let me say that driving here is definitely not for the feint hearted. Decided against the whole iPhone thing and got a cheap cell and Lebanese number so now Zac and I can find each other when we get lost.

Bravely returned home by bus.

Aquitaine - 2009

The next trip is to Aquitaine in south western France in 2009 and I'll probably be based in Bordeaux.

And then it is all over

Last night I had dinner and a carafe of beaujolais at a little brasserie beside the Porte St-Martin, the triumphal arch in honour of Louis XIV victory in the Rhine in 1674. It must have been last time the French ever beat the Germans! I followed this up with a coffee at my local and then a late night movie on Blvd de Strasbourg. Strolled home through the quiet, now chilly and damp streets, grabbing a hot crepe to eat on the way and being propositioned by a very nice lady.

This morning I've packed my bags and now out for breakfast and a newspaper before I amble to the metro at Strasbourg Saint-Denis to begin the long, tedious trip back to Australia.

And then it is all over.

Belleville - North-east Paris

"On the steps of this house was born .... Edith Piaf ...." Not really, true as she was born in the hospital up the road but why let reality shine on a great story. She did grow up in Belleville and she sang and spoke the French language of this area, a Parisian Cockney. This language is largely gone.

The suburb today is still strongly working class and populated with immigrants. Also the Parisian avant garde is located here - artists and musicians - attracted by cheaper rents, numerous vacant large spaces and old Paris charm of smaller streets.

Finally the weather has turned cold and wet. Outdoor cafes are shielded by clear plastic walls, the street people have moved residence to live over the metro grates. Heated by the hot air pushed upwards by the trains as they pass below.

Rue Montorgueil

My fourth week begins to a cooler day and everyone back at work where they belong.

Lunched in rue Montorgueil, a trendy pedestrianised street in the 2nd arrondissement. It is lined with famous restaurants, little cafes, bakeries, fishmongers, cheese shops, wine shops, produce stands and flower shops and is one of the best places to watch cool Parisians in their natural habitat.

Followed this up with a visit to Jardin les Plantes, the local botanic gardens, and the zoo. This has been restocked after nearly all the animals were eaten by Parisians during the Seige of Paris in 1870. The little kangaoroos looked so far from home.

Crowded Sunday

Awoke to a perfect autumn day and decided to stroll around the expansive gardens of the Chateau de Versailles. There were huge crowds just to get a train ticket and in the end I just jumped on not paying. I arrived at the chateau to find an enormous queue for an entrance ticket, then another queue to get into the chateau grounds. I decided to give it a miss and returned to Paris and go to the Musee D'Orsay. Another huge crowd. I went to movies instead. The crowds are starting to annoy me. That's why I have not bothered before with the big three - Louvre, Musee D'Orsay and Versailles.

Besides the crowds another big change is that it has become a city of bikes. There are 1400 bike stations, 20,600 bikes and a bike station every 300 meters. The locals can pay a yearly subscription of about A$50 and have unlimited and free use of bikes for the first 30 minutes. So now not only will the cars run you over but the bikers will too.

Techno Parade

Today was the Techno Parade - a Parisian version of the Berlin Love parade - where 100s of thousands of young techno music lovers walk and dance through the streets. It starts at Place de la Bastille at noon and winds its way slowly through 6km of streets and returns again to Bastille. All the streets are jammed with kids, mainly 15 to 25 year olds ... getting drunker as the day goes on but having a great time. I sat on the side of the road and watched it pass by and it took 5 hours! I talked to dozens of kids - all young, excited and utterly delightful. A really magical day and totally unexpected.
http://www.technoparade.fr/

La Promenade Plantée

I walked the Promenade Plantée - a 4.5 km-long elevated park built on an abandoned 19th-century railway viaduct. The path has some enclosed sections when it passes between modern buildings and some open sections with expansive views. The park benches seemed to be used by little old ladies falling asleep in the sun and the homeless. The arcades beneath the viaduct have been transformed into arts and crafts workshops.

The Scots have gone and now Paris is filling up with the English for the match against South Africa tonight at Saint-Denis.

Parc de la Villette

Wandered out to Parc de la Villette on the outer edge of Paris in a very working class area. These former slaughterhouse grounds now make the largest park in Paris and its second largest greenspace after Pere Lachaise cemetery. The vast, futuristic park split by the Canal de l'Ourcq also houses the La Géode, a giant sphere containing a 360- degree movie screen - like an IMAX. I watched Dinosaurs in 3D. Wild.

Musee Quai Branly

Into the third week and went to the brand new Musee Quai Branly which features indigenous art and artifacts from around the globe. It is full of visual appeal and theatrics with very little explanation and context in its exhibitions. I hated it.

On the way I stumbled across the Diana memorial over the Alma underpass. There are still fresh flowers and notes saying she was the 'perfect princess' etc etc.

Paris is full of kilted Scots here for the France v Scotland football (soccer) match tonight. There are literally 1000s wandering the streets and they have been here for days drinking and partying. Looking forward to watching it at my local tonight.

Rue Saint-Denis

Visited the Pantheon today - the burial place of French favorites and heros. Many were generals from the Napoleonic wars who I would have called war criminals. Wandered through the Latin Quarter, then watched an Italian movie with French subtitles that I translated into English in my head.
I live three blocks from Rue St Denis. The photo left. Built in the eighth century the street was one of the most important thoroughfares in Paris for centuries and at one time it even had free fountains that served milk and wine. When kings died their bodies were often transported on the road to their final resting places at Saint-Denis. Today the glory has gone. The street starts off lined with sex shops and blowzy middle aged prostitutes, then turns into the garment district and is finally lined with ethnic stores, restaurants and groceries.

Chateau de Vincennes

Vincennes is at the end of one of the 13 different metro lines. It was from the chateau de Vincennes that Louis IX departed for the crusades never to return. Later it became a state prison and was where the marquis de Sade was kept and also Mata-Hari was executed in 1917. In the nearby forest of Vincennes, Henry V of England died in 1422. Had he lived he would have accomplished what generations of his ancestors had failed to achieve - the unification of the crowns of England and France in a single person. So this could have all been ours.

Foucault pendulum

After a 24 break today I got back into the tourist things and spent the day in the SE corner of the Marais district. I am in the NW corner. Like hundreds of tourists I wander the streets, map and guide book in hand looking at the buildings and ending up in the beautiful Place de Vosges.

Also finally got to Arts et Metiers Museum across the street from where I live. This is a real blokes museum, all types of trades and crafts including steam engines, bridge making models and early automobiles.
It also has a Foucault pendulum, that demonstrates the earths rotation by not only swinging side to side but oscillates.

Night out

Have hooked up with a small group of anglophones who I met in bars and we have been discovering
the night life.

Very busy nights and very relaxed day watching rugby at my local cafe on rue Saint Denis.

Rugby ball and Eiffel Tower

The Rugby World Cup starts tonight and over the past weeks the media has been educating this soccer loving nation the rules of the game which is mainly played in the SW of France.
Many bars and cafes of the city are decked out in the colours of 'Les Bleus' the French team, while some bars have adopted other national teams. Cafe Oz has the colours of 'Les Wallabies'.
My local cafe had the staff all decked out as Les Bleus. The foreign team with the most press in Paris is that of New Zealand. They are fascinated by the hakka and the tattoos. The All Blacks advertise for Toyota, some insurance company and something else which I have forgotten. The New Zealand tourist authority must be radiant.

Père Lachaise cemetery

Père Lachaise cemetery is silent and quite peaceful and visiting it is a bit like being on a treasure hunt as you seek out the famous buried there - I found the writers, Proust, Collette, Balzac, Wilde and of course every druggies favourite - Jim Morrison.

 

This afternoon visited La Madeleine church, designed as a temple to the glory of Napoleons army.

The cinema tonight was an animated film called "Persepolis". An adaption of a celebrated comic book about Iranian society as viewed by a young girl and her family in Tehran. Four stars.

Cafe at La Butte-aux-Cailles

The days are still long and sunrise is around 7am and it finally gets dark around 8.30pm. The mornings are fresh so the leather jackets and scarves are out.

Thanks to Robert and Ruth, I wandered the streets around La Butte-aux-Cailles in the 13th arrondissement. This area seems like a little village compared to much of Paris. In 1783, the first montgolfière balloon to carry passengers landed here after a flight of 25 minutes.

I also visited the Conciergerie - this was the former prison where Marie-Antointte was held.

Napoleons Tomb

Today I went to Musee Marmottan which boasts the world's most extensive collection of paintings by Monet. Followed this up by a visit to Les Invalides. This complex of buildings contains museums and monuments relating to the military history of France and is also the burial site of Napoleon.
I think the highlight today happened in the 16th arrondissement - the chicest of chic suburbs. I followed a madam, all coiffure and couture, walking her lap dog and having her man-servant bend down and pick up the 'merde' in what looked like a white hanky and put it in his pocket to dispose of later.

Le Grand Rex cinema - historical monument.

Went to the movies to see "Ratatouille" an animated picture about a rat in Paris. The great thing was that I saw it at the Le Grand Rex. The cinema was built in 1932 and is registered as a historical monument as one of the last temples of cinema. It is a fantastic place to watch a film in. You can see some pictures of it via this link.
www.legrandrex.com/

Institut du Monde Arabe

Wandered down to the Institut du Monde Arabe. One entire wall of the building is covered in what looks like an Arabian screen but the apertures open and close with the sun. They had a great exhibition of Islamic weaponly from the 10th to 18th century.
Finally went to some bars yesterday and today. Sorta odd sitting at a dinky tablesfacing the street rather than standing around in beer barns that we are used to in Australia.

Pierre et Gilles exhibition

Went to the Pierre et Gilles exhibition at Jeu de Paume. The exhibition showed 120 art works from the beginning in 1976 to 2007 and covers two floors. After all the tourist sights over the past few days it was nice to be surrounded by 'my people', who were there in droves.
Wandered the Marais and Les Halles. Forum Les Halles is an unspeakably ugly chrome and glass shopping centre built in the 70s but seemingly loved by Parisian teenagers.

Fontainebleau

This morning took a train from Gare de Lyon to Fontainebleau, about 55 kms SE of Paris, to visit the château. This chateau is a lot less crowded than Versailles and I virtually had the place to myself.
Afterwards wandered the town and found a cute little cafe in a cobblestone square packed with diners. Had lunch in the sun and a few red wines.

Pickled heart of the son of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette

Went to Saint Denis - home of Stade de France, for World Cup Rubby, a huge immigrant community living in tower blocks and the reason for my visit - Basilique de Saint-Denis.
The church is was the first major structure built in the Gothic style and is where the kings of France and their families were buried for centuries. In 2004 a glass jar with the pickled heart of the son of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, the boy that would have been Louis XVII, was sealed into the wall of the crypt.

After 19 months of French classes and hours of study it appears all you need is:

"Bonjour madam/monsieur/mademoiselle" - when you go into a shop or restaurant or bar or museum
"Je desire" - when you want something
"Merci madam/monsieur/mademoiselle" - when you get it
"Au revoir madam/monsieur/mademoiselle" - when you leave a shop or restaurant or bar or museum

Canal Saint Martin

Ouch! I have sore feet from all the walking.

I wandered the four and a half km length of the Saint Martin Canal. It was opened in early 1800s and narrowly escaped being filled in and paved over for a highway in the 1960s.

This evening I went to a cafe where I was never served and never understood why and so went to the movies instead.

In 'Pariscope' -the weekly events guide - I counted up 267 different movies showing this week.

Rue de Vertbois

Here is my little rue in the Marais. Next door to the apartment is a tiny shop where a man makes violin bows - not the string, just the wood bit and further down the street a young guy repairs what looks like old railway clocks.

Spent most of today is wandering around the Left Bank et Les Halles - my old haunts from the 80s. It does not seem the same as I remember it. My old cafe is now a 'sportsmans bar' and my hotel has been turned in a vintage clothing shop!

While there are still dogs under my feet in the restaurants, a mayor in greater Paris has been forced to give up the use of a repulsive spray on the homeless to move them on!

The centerpiece at Place de la Nation

The flight from Sydney just seemed to go on and on but the connections worked and my luggage and I turned up at Charles de Gaulle. I caught the train into Paris with the tourists and the usual North African and Eastern European train jumpers singing for change.
The apartment was easy to find. It is simple and well positioned and the owner Madam Claude is a honey. She gave me a list of facts for the area, supermarkets etc and now have a place full of cheese and cakes.
I have a 'carte orange' which means I can travel around Paris by metro or bus for a week for about 16 euros -what a bargain. I caught the metro to Place de la Nation for no reason and wandered around the shops and had a few beers in a cafe watching the the world go by.

Bangkok

Bangkok. Smiling faces again. Russia could learn much about customer service

Helsinki

 

People eating bags of freshly podded green peas. Like we would eat strawberries.

St Petersburg

St Petersburg, Petrograd, Leningrad, St Petersburg. Does not get dark until 11pm and light again at 4.30am!

Moscow

 

Magnificent Moscow.

Yekaterinburg

Where Asia and Europe meet. Also best known for the place of death of the Romanovs and also thousands in the Stalinist purges 1937 and 1938.

Getting serious "Trainlag" as we keep putting the clock back and as we cross Russia.

Trans Siberian Railway

Train No1 "Rossiya" - Vladivostock to Moscow service. Once on the train you revert to Moscow time. No matter where geographically you are. Two days of train, birch forests and very occasionally little villages.

Pull open curtains in the corridor to see the view and the provinitska pulls them shut. She runs a tight ship that one! She vacumes and dusts, She keeps toilets locked and opens them only at very odd times!