Today was our last morning with Heather and Ewan before they set off by train at lunch time for their cycling holiday in the Loire Valley. Heather suggested the Jardin des Tuileries which is a twenty minute walk from our hotel in St Germain. What a great idea; the gardens were looking very summery and the balloon which featured in the opening ceremony of last year’s Olympics is being reconstructed in the middle. Catherine de Medici built a palace there in 1564 but it is long gone and now the Tuileries are a lovely green and tree-lined space bordering the Seine, between the Louvre and the Place de la Concorde. There are lots of classical white statues, and two small lakes with chairs beside them for relaxation, we sat there briefly to enjoy the views. It was apt for this Revolution centred holiday that we ended up in Place de la Concorde, the site of so many executions by guillotine during the Terror that, in my opinion, ruined the initially good intentions of the French Revolution. We walked back towards the hotel and had cool drinks in a café among the trees in the Tuileries on our way.
All too soon it was time to bid farewell to Heather and Ewan; it has been a brilliant holiday and we will miss them.
In the afternoon we did a wee bit of shopping and then decided to walk to the Jardin du Luxembourg, which we haven’t visited for years. The palace looks on to magnificent formal gardens; we particularly liked La fontaine Medici in its shady glade.
We had a light lunch at the Table du Luxembourg. The service was very slow but we were in no hurry, the food was nice and the setting was very pretty among many lime trees. We collected our luggage from the hotel and traveled to Gare du Nord by Metro and then on to Chantilly which was only 25 minutes by the express train. Although the journey was straightforward I felt very hot and bothered as we walked the seven minutes to our hotel, a Best Western. I was so glad to get inside the air-conditioned foyer; our room is very spacious compared to the Artus and it has a balcony overlooking the hotel’s gardens. Across the road from the hotel is a park leading to the famous Chantilly racecourse. After dinner we went for a walk there and noticed that it is being prepared for a big race on Sunday; the Diane race. We will be gone by then but it was interesting to see the racecourse and to walk along to the former Royal stables, which are now a museum.
All too soon it was time to bid farewell to Heather and Ewan; it has been a brilliant holiday and we will miss them.
In the afternoon we did a wee bit of shopping and then decided to walk to the Jardin du Luxembourg, which we haven’t visited for years. The palace looks on to magnificent formal gardens; we particularly liked La fontaine Medici in its shady glade.
We had a light lunch at the Table du Luxembourg. The service was very slow but we were in no hurry, the food was nice and the setting was very pretty among many lime trees. We collected our luggage from the hotel and traveled to Gare du Nord by Metro and then on to Chantilly which was only 25 minutes by the express train. Although the journey was straightforward I felt very hot and bothered as we walked the seven minutes to our hotel, a Best Western. I was so glad to get inside the air-conditioned foyer; our room is very spacious compared to the Artus and it has a balcony overlooking the hotel’s gardens. Across the road from the hotel is a park leading to the famous Chantilly racecourse. After dinner we went for a walk there and noticed that it is being prepared for a big race on Sunday; the Diane race. We will be gone by then but it was interesting to see the racecourse and to walk along to the former Royal stables, which are now a museum.
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