El Mirador del Rio, Lanzarote

Wednesday 16 March 2005. We are on an excursion from our ship, the Carousel, which has docked in Arrecife, Lanzarote.

We are at El Mirador del Rio, where the local artist César Manrique has designed a brilliant viewpoint as the setting for some of his art. He created a building set into a cliff face and this was taken from the balcony. In the background is the massive picture window of a restaurant and bar.

The view from the Mirador del Rio, across the Strait of EL Rio to the tiny island of La Graciosa. The island is stunning with its volcanos rising from the coast.

Miss Franny takes in the view whilst her hair gets rearranged a little by the breeze! Mine pretty much stays the same...

There's a good view from inside the cafe bar as well. And not as much breeze, unless someone leaves the door open...

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Lanzarote Excursion

Wednesday 16 March 2005. We arrive in Lanzarote to a beautiful day.

Arrecife is an industrial port, but we haven't really come to see the factories and containers stacked up so it's onto a coach and we go exploring.

Before too long we are up in the hillsides and stop at a mirador, or viewing point, to take in the scenery.

There are plenty of cone-shaped hills with holes in the top to remind us that we are on volcanic land. In fact the car and coach park is delimited by large chunks of volcanic rock. Light though pumice stone may be, you wouldn't want to crash your car into a large chunk!

Looking towards the deep blue of the Atlantic, we can look down a steep valley. There are patches of grey exposed lava amongst the green. Nervously we keep an eye out for any tell-tale wisps of smoke but today at least will be eruption free.

The hillsides have been terraced to allow crops to be planted. They are steep enough to call for the he road below to twist in a series of hairpin bends as it descends from the hills.

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Sacré-Coeur

Sunday 30 May 1999. Once we had left the coach on the Boulevard de Rochechouart, we passed a line of sex shops and live shows that all the men would have liked to see and all the women were determined we wouldn't. We made our way excitedly towards the highest point in Paris.

After climbing through narrow streets to Rue Tardieu we saw the gardens and the 237 steps up to the church of Sacré-Coeur (Sacred Heart). "Stop worriting about those sex shops, Mildred," muttered one of our party, looking in dismay at the long series of steps, "I've changed my mind..."

One look at all the steps leading upwards made some of the party look left towards the funicular railway, but then first to start springing up the steps was Edna, whose 86th birthday it was that day. Everyone else followed... Buskers were at work on the steps, including one hopeful who was trying to get people either side of him to sing along in competition with the other side! Reportedly Sacré-Coeur is not the favourite Parisian monument with the locals... The stone secretes calcite whenever it rains and thus bleaches the outside, leaving it the eye-catching pure white that is seen above. At least one guide book condemns it simply: "The interior is cavernous and little else. You'd do better to stay outside on the terrace..."

We did venture inside (not having taken the guide book with us!) and there certainly was not much to stick in the mind except what I can only describe as bouncers on the door...

There was a rather spectacular view over the city from the top of the terraces. We are about to enter the area of Montmarte and the artists' quarter. The ladies are once again asking if anyone knows the French for "cup of tea laced with bromide".

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Galeries Lafayette

Saturday 29 May 1999. We have been zooming around Paris all morning on and off the coach and now as the time approaches lunch, we have two hours free time to explore a little bit on our own.

The coach dropped us at L'Opéra and following the advice of our courier, Monsieur Vallaire, Fran and I went into the large department store, Galeries Lafayette and made our way up several floors to the roof, which is accessible to shoppers and visitors.

The climb up - well, alright it was a ride by a series of escalators or moving stairways! - was rewarded by the view you see in these photographs. A rooftop cafe was serving refreshments, but we resisted as I quite fancied a sit at a pavement cafe and had spotted a few famous names on our travels; Fouquet's, Cafe de la Paix to mention but a couple. So far the photos show the standard views, but for several shots I dug my zoom lens out of the camera bag.

You can see from the first photo above that Paris occupies a particularly flat landscape. The only notable exception is the area of Montmarte where the famous cathedral of Sacre Coeur sits. No, you can't see it here - but we will have a look at it tomorrow.

I took a photo of the tower and by swinging just a little, the gold leaf of the dome of Les Invalides caught the sun and made an irresistable beckoning to the camera! It was quite a while before we realised that our 2 hours out of the coach was being eaten up!

However before we left the Galeries Lafayette, there was something else that Vallaire had told us was worth seeing, and that was the dome and cupola of the store.

They had made a feature out of the dome as each of the floors had a balcony, allowing an uninterrupted view upwards from the ground floor of the store. This is not the full story though, as mosaic, moulding and gold come together to create a stunning interior.

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