The View Through My Eyes

Rod and Jess, with Bruce looking on, as we get ready to sit down to eat.
Rod and Jess always lay on a good spread!

Brett wants to take his rollerblades to Sweden next week, so he went for a practice on the Common after we'd had lunch. He looked a bit unsteady at first but soon sailed confidently off into the distance. Hopefully the confidence is warranted because he's left his phone behind with his bag; so if he's now sprawled in a ditch with a broken leg, I'm afraid he's on his own.

It's amazing who you run into when you go looking for an empty sofa in Costa Coffee. Brett and I had popped in after lunch and who should we end up sitting opposite, but Pam and her daughter.
Pam (her surname still, embarrassingly, escapes me) and I both worked for Saga around the same time; while I was in Spain, she was in Portugal. She also took over from me running one of the Saga Hotels on the Costa Blanca when I left to work in the office. We also tended to run into each other at training sessions in Folkestone during the summer. I think she also did some touring too. It's perhaps indicative of the way that you relate as tour managers - always meeting in (and talking about) hotels, airports and venues - that I never knew she lived in Southfields, just up the road from Wimbledon. Pam is pictured on the left.

The hoarding advertises it as a 'Landmark Office Building.' I can't argue
with that, but I'm afraid it's a landmark for all the wrong reasons.

The London Gay Men's Chorus tries to contain its joy and enthusiasm at the technical rehearsal for our performance tonight at the theatre Le Cigale inParis...

Brett and I with the Château of Versailles in the background.

Sainte Chapelle is a beautiful little chapel on the Ile de Cité, originally built to house relics now stored in Notre Dame. It is a beautifully decorated building; the upper floor almost entirely walled with stained glass windows. This picture is of the base of the platform built for thereliquaries.

This is a shot I quite liked of the Parisian skyline in the rain. Even though there were regular heavy showers, we managed to dodge each one ofthem by being in a museum, café or church when it rained.

This is me enjoying an interactive modern art piece at the Pompidou Centre.
The exhibition was actually quite varied and stimulating - somewhat better
than I always fear going into a modern art museum.

Tonight we did dinner and a show at the famous cabaret, the Moulin Rouge. An excellent evening, although dinner could have been more generous; theshow is well worth seeing.

Today we had a picnic lunch in the Tuiléries Gardens, adjacent to the
Louvre. It was actually sunnier than it looks while we were eating but
clouded over as we got up to move on. Later it actually started raining!

A picture of birthday boy, Nick B, at the dinner in his honour. Read more
about it here.

The sculpture galleries at the Louvre are magnificent. Set around two
glass-roofed courtyards, where the larger pieces are on display to their
best advantage.

The French Crown Diamonds are on display in a lavish room at the Louvre.

01/May/05 21:09
A (slightly enhanced to combat poor lighting) picture of Brett and me as we
sailed past the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on our Dinner on the Seine
cruise.