Paris: The Churches

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

 

Inside Notre Dame

Basilique du Sacré-Cœur

We have visited a number of amazing churches in Paris, so we felt they warranted their own post. The architecture is undoubtedly amazing. The strange thing is, though, we both spend a lot of time in church at home, and church buildings that we frequent are obviously very different to the churches here. It is sometimes difficult to remember that these churches are built to worship the same God that we do. These ancient buildings with their high ceilings, statues, inscriptions, candle offerings and eerie silence can seem somewhat foreign to us. We don't really get all the candles burnt in offering in front of statues of Mary or other saints (and you can buy a candle for anywhere from 1 euro for a small one to 5 euros for a bigger one - does that make you more holy?) - we can see more similarity with this practice the offerings given by followers of Buddhism and Taoism. I guess it shows how Christianity has "changed with the times", and that when it comes down to it, it is much much less about 'religion', and more about what the bible says about the important guy, Jesus.

But hey, a travel blog is no place for a rant about religion. The churches are beautiful monuments, built to worship a God who warrants worship on such a grand scale.

Paris: Le Louvre

 

The outisde of the Louvre is quite simply magnificent. The scale is enormous, and the juxtaposition of new vs old with the French Baroque building surrounding the modern glass pyramid is stunning. We wandered around the outside, however the sign said "Le louvre est ferme le mardi" (closed on Tuesday)... rats. One of you did tell us that too. So, the inside of the Louvre, and Miss Lisa, will be a trip for Thursday.

The wall above that Matt is using his incredible strength to pry apart is an art installation outside the Louvre, made from bricks from Palestinian and Israeli houses which have been destroyed in the fighting there.

We are writing this post from McDonald's de Paris Beaugrenelle as its as free wifi. Indeed, we have taken to sitting in our local McD's, drinking tea and eating 0.90c euro macaroons in order of getting our wifi fix.

Highlights of London

To continue on from the last post, here are a few highlights from our week in London. We met up with Matt’s cousin Steve, uncle Mark and aunty Sue for dinner on 2 occasions. The day before they left for Venice we went to brick lane for curry along with our group of friends. Nat did the bargaining, and we ended up with a full dinner of entree, main, naan, poppadums, rice and 2x drinks for 10 pounds per person. To be honest though, I think they made up for that by watering down the wine, which was clear. We have had some amazing pub food though – the English know how to put on a roast. The mushy peas aren’t bad either.

 

We got our cultural fix, visiting the Globe Theatre for some afternoon Shakespeare, 

where we saw “Much Ado About Nothing” – hilarious, one of the lead actors was the butler Jeffrey 

from the ‘Fresh Price of Bel Air’. The mix of standing up in the sun and sangria had a few of the 

girls (Jill included) needing some time out in the shade during the show. The following day we

 saw the “Lion King” musical at the West End. Jill (along with Ash) nearly cried during the opening 

scene, the ‘Circle of Life’ – with “Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba” the tears started welling up. 

Ash: “It gets me everytime, it’s an emotional song” 

 Outside The Globe Theatre

We've loved London so far, its cool to see where so much of our culture and heritage comes from. 

We were sad to leave our apartment in Kensington, and even sadder to see Nat go on her way to Frankfurt. 

We will miss you Natty! 

Hillsong London

Our first Sunday away, we decided to check out Hillsong London along with Will and Hayley. They packed out the Dominion Theatre (where at night the Queen musical "We will rock you" is on). Highlight was having Israel Houghton lead worship- amazing.



We have arrived in Paris on the EuroStar this morning. Matt is thriving using his 4th form French. Stay tuned for another update- same bat time, same bat channel.

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Location:Dominion Theatre, London

Views from London- Westminster, Buckingham Palace, Southbank

 

I'm never gona dance again......dooo do do do

mmm..where should we go next?

 

Princess Anne baby!

 

Cupcakes from Harrods and bubbles on the deck......bliss

London: an introduction

 

Flew into heathrow at around 6:30am local time, and despite the idea of saving money by taking the tube into the city, we opted for the more pricey 57 pound taxi fare to drop us directly at our apartment in Kensington - certainly the better option we felt, arriving in style in a black London cab.

We were met at the door by Nat and Jared, and we then went off on a tour of the city to try and shake the jet lag. This photo was taken as we surfaced from Westminster tube station, where the sight of endless culture and heritage in one place is quite amazing - behind us is the Thames, with the London Eye and St Paul's beyond; in front of this shot is the quintessential image of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. Matt's highlight: with so many famous sights in one place, this place oozes history. Jill's highlight: the busker on the saxophone did play that George Michael song real quick (you know the one).

We're off

See you in 3 months! Keep you eyes out for updates on this blog!



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