Take your time to read my travelog. It contains some 300 photos that I selected from my collection. I promise that I will not test your memory.
FR.IT~es!
fr=france, it=italy. Frites=French Fries ~ way of enjoying life in Southern France and Northern Italy. [17.9.2005 - 1.10.2005] hongkong . paris . marseille . aix-en-provence . arles . avignon . pont du gard . gordes . roussillon . sault . fontaine-de-vaucluse . nice . eze . venezia . firenze . pisa . roma . paris . hongkong
17 Sep 2005
My trip started with a midnight flight from Hong Kong and waiting in Heathrow airport for 3 hours [Heathrow Airport. London]
When I arrived Paris finally by 3pm, after checking in hotel, went to check out the Louvre, my big-time favourite in Paris. [The Louvre. Paris]
The sun is very strong, sky very blue, but there is a tinge of coolness in the air - Paris in fall. [The Louvre. Paris]
Not long after, we actually approached Ile de la Cite, thus took a small detour to pay Notre Dame Cathedral a visit. [Notre Dame. Paris]
Details, details, details. What is noted on the facade aside from the famous twin towers. We eventually did not go in because it was closed, but took a lot of pictures outside. [Notre Dame. Paris]
Time for dinner because guess what?! It's already around 8:22pm when I took this picture. En route to Champs-Elysees, we were greeted by this stunning view of Louvre against sunset. [The Louvre. Paris]
... not to mention I believe the digicam lens only captured like 50% of the original atmosphere. [Louvre. Paris]
We were not able find the desired restaurant, thus took the Metro to another one close to our hotel. Authentic subway, nothing like the MTR, as we learn to crawl through its web-like maze. [Metro at Concorde. Paris]
18 Sep 2005
Today was a Paris city day tour for us as we shall be leaving for the Provence tomorrow morning. First stop- Montmartre. Walked through these typical side streets to reach there after getting off the Metro at Lamarck-Caulaincourt. [Montmartre. Paris]
Can you imagine the bakery selling all sorts of cheesy toasts and bread? And can you imagine a cheesy hotdog cost 4 Euros (~HK$40). But I must admit the warm cheesy toast was yummy. [Montmartre. Paris]
The famous Montmartre marketplace, with many artists showing off their works, many painting on the spot. [Montmartre. Paris]
The pictures were very typical Paris scenes. There were even some "artists" who cut out silhouettes with their nimble fingers. [Montmartre. Paris]
East to Place du Tertre, the market place, is the famous white church frequented by tourists. [Basilique du Sacre Coeur. Montmartre. Paris]
Starking colour contrast of church vs the clear blue sky. [Basilique du Sacre Coeur. Montmartre. Paris]
The good... now the bad. After having lunch, strolled along a street full of sex shops which lead us to Moulin Rouge - guess it is only full-house during the evenings. [Moulin Rouge. Paris]
... where it starts at Place de la Concorde, and ends at L'Arc de Triomphe, or the other way round. [L'Arc de Triomphe. Paris]
Champs Elysees actually starts from L'Arc de Triomphe to Place de la Concorde. Shops of top labels, roadside cafes line up along the famous route. [Avenue des Champs Elysees. Paris]
They have this nice Peugeot showroom in the avenue which featured one of their first models. [Peugeot showroom. Champs Elysees. Paris]
... and a beetle-like concept car, Peugeot 4002, attracting all the attention it deserves. [Peugeot showroom. Champs Elysees. Paris]
In the Metro subways, occasionally there are amateur singers demonstrating their talents or trying to earn a buck or two. [Metro. Paris]
We couldn't resist going back to the Louvre again to take some night shots because it is so beautiful. [The Louvre. Paris]
Returning to Champs Elysees at night, we had dinner at Leon du Bruxelles, belgian cuisine. Ate a full course which consisted of grilled cheese as appetizer, a pot full of moussels, french fries, ending with a creme brulee. Here's their website: http://www.leon-de-bruxelles.fr/. Recommended to one of my colleague as well. [Leon du Bruxelles. Paris]
After lunch, we drove around Marseille in our rented car and went to the highest point in Marseilles to visit the church and have the best view of Marseille. [Notre-Dame de la Garde. Marseille]
The interior is less elaborate than Notre Dame in Paris, but still the solemn religious atmosphere overwhelms the place. [Notre-Dame de la Garde. Marseille]
"This wall bears marks for the liberation of Marseille." referring to World War II. [Notre-Dame de la Garde. Marseille]
After some light showers, the sky portrayed a glamorous blend of cloud, light and sea found in Renaissance paintings. [Notre-Dame de la Garde. Marseille]
Beyond Marseille lies Iles du Frioul, a group of islands. The middle islands contains Chateau d'If, which was used as a detention center for political prisoners from 1634. It's most famous and romantic prisoner is the fictional inmate Edmond Dantes, the hero in Alexandre Dumas' "The Count of Monte Cristo". [Notre-Dame de la Garde. Marseille]
To illustrate, the islands actually contain a quarantine port and a hospital, besides the chateau. [Notre-Dame de la Garde. Marseille]
We drove to Aix-en-Provence at twilight hours. Stunning street view as we searched for a restaurant to fill our stomachs. [Aix-en-Provence]
20 Sep 2005
Aix-en-Provence is famous for its university, and the fountains. Here's the first one we saw at a huge roundabout. [Place du General de Gaulle. Aix-en-Provence]
We were on N7 highway leaving Aix for Arles, an old town with long Roman history. [En route to Arles]
Finally arriving at Arles. After entering its old city compound as defined by city walls, we immediately found our hotel. [Arles]
Having settled down, we took a stroll for 5 minutes, and the Amphitheatre already appeared before our eyes. What a small town! [Amphitheatre. Arles]
The giant structure dated back 2,000 years ago where gladiators fought with the fiercest animals. [Amphitheatre. Arles]
Following an ancient trail from Amphitheatre to Place du Forum, where the bars and restaurants were. [Arles]
In the Place du Forum, here's the famous Van Gogh Cafe, well-known because Van Gogh supposedly frequented this cafe when he was staying in Arles, and that he produced the most work in this town during his stay. [Cafe Van Gogh. Arles]
The Van Gogh painting associated with the cafe on display - fake one of course. [Cafe Van Gogh. Arles]
"All directions" this sign was commonly seen in Provence, as if it really pointed to "some" direction at all. [La Rhone. Arles]
Some Roman structure we detected along the river. Actually these structures were everywhere. [La Rhone. Arles]
We didn't manage to try out Bouillabaisse in Marseilles, but we succeeded in Arles! A specialty in Provencal cuisine, it consisted of a heavy fish and seafood soup cooked with three types of fish, and on top we put a piece of crouton (stale baguette) which was spread with raw garlic juice and some cheese). The French emphasized it took a lot of hours to brew a true-blue bouillabaise. Here's a recipe I found in BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/bouillabaisse_6973.shtml [A Provencal restaurant near Roman Arena. Arles]
Finally the entrance of the palace. The Pope elected in 1309 was French, and he decided to live in Avignon instead of Vatican City. This is known to be the biggest surviving Gothic palace in Europe. [Palais des Papes. Avignon]
Back to the centre of the town where all the cafes are, with the local theatre and a merry-go-round. [Place de l'Horloge. Avignon]
We decided to catch some time until sunset to go to the Pont du Gard, featuring the second highest standing Roman structure in the world (second to the Colosseum). Here's the map at the entrance, seeing the bridge spanning across the 30-mile aqueduct. [Pont du Gard]
This French keyboard with the A, Q, W, Z in confusing locations was a hassle when we tried to book hotel in Venezia at an internet cafe. [Avignon]
22 Sep 2005
Our plan this day was to visit as many neighbouring towns as possible after setting off from Avignon. The first destination was Gordes, a small and old town situated on top of a hill. It was also made famous by Hayao Miyazaki, referring to this town when he converted Howl's Moving Castle into the popular Japanes animation picture. [Gordes]
Roussillon, our next stop, was famous for the red clay cliffs. The red clay in the vicinity was actually used in paintings long time ago. [Roussillon]
We actually bought a dozen fresh oysters for 7 Euros at the seafood stall and the guy was kind enough to lend us his oyster knife so that we can enjoy the oysters on the spot! By the way, that crab was for decoration only...
On the way to Sault, passed by some vineyards which we sneaked into, and took pictures with some small dark bunch of wine-to-be grapes. [En route to Sault]
Finally to Sault. The town was famous for lavender, however, it was already past season (Jul/Aug), thus everything was harvested. We were only able to see rows of bushes with a faint aroma of lavender. [Sault]
Beyond should be the town of Sault, but being past peak season, it was a dormant town with just a few shops open. [Sault]
Spring water and the plants underneath gave the stream a beautiful shady green. [Fontaine de Vaucluse]
Actually the source of spring water went way down beneath the ground. Could even go deep sea cave diving, given proper equipment. [Fontaine de Vaucluse]
This wheel was actually for a paper mill where handmade paper was produced mimicking 15th Century methods. [Fontaine de Vaucluse]
I suppose the spring water must have a lot of rich minerals in it, or else the moss would not have attached itself to the wheels...
This is no commercial shot. The grapes we took in an unknown vineyard (yes, that same bunch), and wine we bought along the route upon our return. The lighting, well, just made use of the bedside lamp in the hotel. [Avignon]
Landmark of Avignon, the bridge was the only one crossing the Rhone in the Middle Ages until it was knocked down by a flood. [Pont Saint Benezet. Avignon]
Here's the avant-garde TGV station in Avignon, which is actually 10 minutes by bus from city centre. [Gare de TGV. Avignon]
23 Sep 2005
We left Avignon for Nice. Took a picture of Cannes station during a brief stop. [TGV. Cannes]
The famous Cote d'Azur beaches... the topless sunbathers were few though. Maybe too many tourists were watching... [Nice]
Must mention why stopped at Nice. We were aiming for Italy, but all trains from Avignon had to go via Nice, thus we had extra time. How to spend time then catch the 9pm train to Italy? We jumped on a train to Eze-Sur-Mer, which on the hillside existed a small village known as Eze. [Eze]
Things became interesting - we missed the bus, but finally hitchhiked with an American lady up the village. Two French were kind enough to deliver us to their best ability up the long and winding road to the village.
Eze was a picturesque town, "the most charming perched medieval village" as a leaflet put it, with pebbled lanes, ancient churches... we were halfway up to final destination Jardin d'Eze and a last bus to catch to Nice in an hour's time. [Eze]
Finally to Jardin d'Eze! Captured the vast Mediterranean Sea with the village in the foreground. [Jardin d'Eze. Eze]
We were only able to reserve a couchette in 6-in-one-compartment type, so pretty cramped. [EuroStar. Italy]
24 Sep 2005
The land beyond was actually Venezia. We had finally arrived after a night's sleep! [EuroStar. Venezia]
Glass-making was famous in Venezia, and this modern art application was particularly cute as well. [Venezia]
The Rialto Bridge - should be the busiest bridge in Venezia, with shops situated on the bridge. [Rialto Bridge. Venezia]
And the little girl was kind enough to give me some of the dried corn to feed the pigeons, so that I was so attractive to these birds. [Piazza San Marco. Venezia]
Beyond is Bridge of Sighs. It was the link between Palazzo Ducale and the prison opposite the canal. Heard that this was a private passage for the duke to torture his prisoners. Scary. [Ponte dei Sospiri. Venezia]
Looked like this male sculpture was just hiding around the corner of Bridge of Sighs. [Ponte dei Sospiri. Venezia]
Took the ferry to the opposite side of Grand Canal. Visited the interior of another church landmark. [Santa Maria della Salute. Venezia]
25 Sep 2005
Arrived at Firenze and started our day tour around the city. The famous Il Duomo sighted. [Firenze]
The exquisite dome. Originally the Italians had a vision that they wanted a dome in the church, even before it was feasible technically. So they must have tolerated a church with a hole for years... [Il Duomo. Firenze]
Il Duomo is so massive that it was impossible to take a picture of the whole church unless I was in a helicopter. [Il Duomo. Firenze]
Took a train to Pisa to visit of course the famous Pisa Tower. The sun was setting so we had to hurry because that was quite some distance from Station at Pisa Centrale to the landmark. [Pisa]
This is just to demonstrate that the Leaning Tower had a hole in the middle. [La Torre Pendente. Pisa]
26 Sep 2005
First thing in the morning was to visit the famous old bridge of Florence, where jewellery shops lined the bridge that people hardly noticed they were crossing the river. [Ponte Vecchio. Firenze]
In Hong Kong, we would have called the structure not safe to live with the "add-ons". [Ponte Vecchio. Firenze]
Lots of old bridge in Firenze, but it's the reflections of the water that made the whole picture look so interesting. [Ponte Vecchio. Firenze]
The locks symbolized locking up the love between lovers at Cellini's statue on the bridge. [Ponte Vecchio. Firenze]
Another gelato shop, but this one's with cones dipped in chocolate and multi-coloured sugary bits. That could top up a single ice-cream cone to 4 Euros. [Firenze]
The famous David statue by Michelangelo outside Palazzo Vecchio. Heard there are four Davids in Firenze, and no one knew which was the real one. [Palazzo Vecchio. Firenze]
The square outside Palazzo Vecchio where lots of statues on display, so no need to queue up. [Piazza Signoria. Firenze]
Walking from Palazzo Vecchio to the riverside, there was a passageway full of famous Italians - Leonardo da Vinci for example. [Firenze]
Pity that Pitti Palace was closed Mondays. Its Raphael collection was the largest. [Palazzo Pitti. Firenze]
I "met" David again, at Piazza Michelangelo, after a short walk uphill. Looked like it was made in green copper. [Piazza Michelangelo. Firenze]
The best place to see Firenze, with Il Duomo, Ponte Vecchio, Palazzo Vecchio all in the picture. [Piazza Michelangelo. Firenze]
We experienced one of the best Italian dinners during that night when we visited "Otello" restaurant. A very nice old gentleman who was owner of the restaurant designed a sampler menu for us. Full course at 40 Euros. [Othello Restaurant. Firenze]
Everything was fresh, and I must mention about this dish - Florentine-styled tripes! [Otello Restaurant. Firenze]
And we got to choose our desserts in bulk (the nice old gentleman at the side). [Otello Restaurant. Firenze]
27 Sep 2005
We arrived at Rome! This shop was at the underground shopping centre of Roma Termini. Interesting that it just sold one commodity under different brands and packaging designs - water. [Roma Termini. Firenze]
Contrary to my earlier perception that Roman metro was old and dilipidated, the train compartment actually looked like that of West Rail in Hong Kong. [Metro. Rome]
Had lunch in this small Italian restaurant which served authentic local cuisine. It was over 100 years old and had been frequented by artists, writers before. [Roma]
Passed by a shop window which featured these little black mushroom called truffles, very expensive stuff in French and Italian dishes. Think it said 34 Euros per piece or something like that. [Roma]
We rushed to the entrance of Musei Vaticani as the sign stated gate would close at 3:20pm, and we were still at the end of the queue at 3pm. [Vatican City]
We had hoped to send a postcard via Poste Vaticano but it was closed! Finally we bought our stamps outside the Basillica. [Musei Vaticani. Vatican City]
"Pieta" by Michelangelo 1499 - 1500, showing Mary iwth the dead body of Christ taken down from the cross. [Basilica di San Pietro. Vatican City]
Catholics attending a mass while tourists with cameras lurking in the background. [Basilica di San Pietro. Vatican City]
The statue of St Peter ,with a kissable toe. I merely rubbed it. Don't know whether it would do wonders to me or not. [Basilica di San Pietro. Vatican City]
It was already dark when we left Vatican City. The last thing we did in the vicinity: mailed postcards to ourselves so that we could own the Vatican post stamp! [Vatican City]
Went to this restaurant recommended by the guidebook near the Spanish Steps. The dish at the centre was actually an all-you-can-eat buffet plate for 9 Euros. Food was so-so, but note the thick cheesy risotto at top right hand corner which made us so full! [Ristorante alla Rampa. Roma]
Spanish Steps at night was a place for youngsters, university students to have fun, sing, dance, get drunk... [Piazza di Spagna. Roma]
The 2,000 year-old Colosseum. This was THE amphitheatre, much larger than than of Arles. [Colosseum. Roma]
A roadside drinking fountain cum washing basin, with water spouting from the top and bottom of the dog's head. [Colosseum. Roma]
The Colosseum was initially built as a complete oval, but throughout the years, it was partially damaged in wars. So here at the entrance actually show the layers of the Colosseum, like a snail's shell. [Colosseum. Roma]
For the record, I did throw in a coin which meant I would be going back to Rome in 10 years' time. [Trevi Fountain. Roma]
As a nice touch to round off an already good lunch, a cappucino. By the way, the Italians used white sugar, not brown. [Roma]
Another example of the old merging with the new. They built buildings leveraging the ancient Roman pillars. [Roma]
Another famous landmark of Rome, which became a church dedicated to the martyrs after the fall of Rome. [Pantheon. Roma]
The dome inside the Pantheon was Europe's biggest until the Renaissance. Not to mention the skylight that shines through it is a real hole - no cover for the interior! [Pantheon. Roma]
Here lies my favourite Renaissance artist - Raphael, who painted the beautiful angels. [Pantheon. Roma]
At a square, saw this Adam's family look-alike with this cat who screeched when people threw in coins. Some people earned a living by being a statue! [Piazza Navona. Roma]
Bits and pieces of sculptures taken down in the castle. The castle was in fact a tomb for an emperor, has been a castle, a prison, and a place of last refuge for popes under attack. [Castel Sant' Angelo. Roma]
Time to take our night train to Paris, which meant end of trip in Italy. Isn't this a good-looking roast chicken take-away? [Roma]
Some artist association was holding a demonstration in the square just off the Louvre. [Louvre. Paris]
30 Sep 2005
Last day in Paris. Some form of technology not available yet in Hong Kong. GPS system in a taxi. [In a cab. Paris]
Returned for a good moussel meal in Leon du Bruxelles. Note that little "cooked" crab in-between the empty moussel shells. [Champs Elysees. Paris]
