Armagh Visitor Centre - A Lovely Welcome!

Once upon a time, back when I was in my twenties, an Australian friend came to visit Armagh. I was surprised at how impressed he was with our little city. He thought the buildings and the architecture beautiful, admired the quaint little streets, loved the lush landscape and the rolling orchards, and of course, thought our Cathedrals magnificent. A few years later, he married an Armagh lass, one of my best friends - so perhaps, I felt he was just a tad biased!

Despite my friend's enthusiasm for the city, my eyes were closed to Armagh's possibilities as a tourist destination even though we had the two amazing Cathedrals.

On a recent trip back to Armagh, My Husband and I had "messages" to do in town. We scored a really handy parking spot beside the Armagh Visitor Information Centre and after we had our business done, we decided to pop into, what I dubbed in my head as, the Armagh Tourist Office.

It's a strange concept to go to a visitor centre/tourist office in your own town, weirder still to play tourist-at-home, but in a place like Armagh, I discovered that it is utterly delightful.

The building that houses the Armagh Visitor Centre is beautiful. In fact, this photo could pass for one I'd take in Paris. Inside, the decor, in calming tones of duck-egg blues and greys, complemented the period of the architecture.

Right away, we were greeted with a friendly welcome and an offer of help. Marion was enthusiastic about the charms of my hometown and not one bit phased when I told her I'd grown up here. Of course, we quickly found some relatives and friends in common since she too was an Armagh native. She immediately put us at our ease and erased my strange sense of being a fraud since we weren't tourists as such. It didn't matter to her - her mission is to promote Armagh, and she made it look so easy!

She began by taking out a Map of the City, and right away I was struck by how many things there were to do in Armagh! There were plenty of attractions close enough together for Marion to suggest sending us on a walking tour. She circled places of interest and described, with a wealth of knowledge, what there was to see at each one.

If you're in Armagh and have a bit of time to spare, local or visitor, pop in to see Marion and the team in The Armagh Visitor Centre and ask them about these guys - you'll see them secreted in nooks and crannies about the city.

Even if historical monuments are not quite your thing, there are a plethora of great places to eat in Armagh such as the award-winning Mulberry Bistro beside the Catholic Cathedral... every seat guarantees a stunning view, and the food is amazing.
 

4 Vicars on Vicars Hill beside the Church of Ireland Cathedral also has won awards and you can get a seat overlooking the "old" Cathedral, as it is often referred to in Armagh. They also have a lovely seating area out back with a view over lovely gardens.

If it's pampering you are after, look no further than Armagh.

Coco Lane is the place to go to relax and unwind with a massage or a beauty treatment. They were finalists in the Ulster Tattler 2016 Awards for the great work they do in their beautifully decorated haven of tranquillity situated near the Shambles.

If your locks need some TCL - Petra and her crew are just back from collecting awards in London for her hairdressing salon, Petra's House of Color.

Venture outside the city - you are in for a treat with lush landscapes and pretty villages. Tassagh Viaducts are very beautiful, and if you go that way, pop into Basil Sheils for a lovely lunch.

If you enjoy good photography have at look at Patrick Hughes Photography on Facebook - some stunning shots of the city here - very inspiring. I keep wondering how could I incorporate one of his pictures into a book cover someday!


Also, if you're after culture there's the Market Place Theatre.

So there's plenty to see and do in Armagh whether you live there or are just exploring. Either way, do consider popping into The Armagh Visitor Centre where Marion and her colleagues will be happy to answer your questions, and do take a moment to browse the lovely Craftswirl gift store - ah go on - treat yourself!

Byddi Lee

Rooftop Drinks in Le Marais

It was a beautiful evening at the start of May. The night-time temperatures were now comfortable enough to sit outside without a coat.

I'd read about a roof-top bar, Le Perchoir, near us, but had heard that the lines were horrendous. On this particular Friday evening, My Husband and I decided to take a dander down to the BHV Marais to see for ourselves what the queue was like. The bar opens at 8.15pm, and the picture below shows the line at that time. I'd sussed out on a walk-by that the hold up to gain entry was the fact that the lift was only able to take 6-8 people at a time. Seemingly using the stairs was not an option.

We decided to get into the queue and see how far we'd get in thirty minutes - then we'd go home knowing the approximate rate of flow of the line. I wasn't really dressed for posh rooftop drinking and hadn't even put on any makeup. The other people in the line were mostly between 20 and 30 years old with a sprinkling of some older foggies such as us.

While we stood in the line, we had a nice view of a rather spectacular vertical garden across the street. The street art was quite good too.

It wasn't until my next visit, with a bunch of female friends, that we noticed these rather phallic balcony railings right next door - just thought it was worth mentioning at this juncture!

 

After our imposed allocated time, (30 minutes) we were surprised to find ourselves at the top of the queue. Since we were there an all, sure what was the harm in going upstairs for a drink? Just the one mind!

After winding through some fairly utilitarian corridors between the elevators and the bar, the view from the rooftop hits you as soon as you enter the bar. The decor of the bar itself was quite eclectic with weird touches like sheep-stools (and I don't mean poop!)

The bar was fairly empty, but the regulars have it off to a tee. Most tables had just one person there, trying to make themselves as big and their belongings as spread out as possible. All seats seemed to be already reserved. I hoped that our (relatively) advanced age would spark some chivalry, and we'd be offered a seat, but nope, these foetuses where not for moving!

The Hotel de Ville - not really a hotel!

The bar itself was fairly easy to get served at, despite looking three-people deep. It had more to do with the other patrons lining up before they knew what they wanted. As they hmmm-ed and haaaa-ed over the menus, I was able to catch the eye of the bartender and order. Sometimes being older has its perks - you know what you want!

As it turned out, we fell in with folk in our own age-group - an Irish-American and his wife and friends who were traveling through to Ireland. We had a great night's craic.

A few weeks later, I returned with a bunch of female friends, and again, we had a hoot.

Yes, I may have been old enough to be the mother of most of the other customers, but somehow as I admired their beauty (and young people are so beautiful, aren't they? That skin...) I could also read their anxiety... Am I pretty enough? ...dressed the right way? Does he/she like me enough? How will I pay for this?

And I realize how much effort being that young can be, and how much nicer it is to just roll with the flow and get over yourself. Age actually has it's perks if you look closely enough.

Byddi Lee

Day trip on the Eurostar to London

I'm such a sucker for trains. Perhaps that's because Armagh doesn't have it's own train station (a travesty in it's own right but that's another story) I love the sense of going "somewhere else" at a train station, the hustle and bustle, the high ceilings and airy caverns surrounding the platforms of the big city stations, the cutesy old fashioned look to tiny remote stations and the excitement when my train pulls in...yes excitement! The waiting is over, and I'm on my way.

When I first heard about plans to build a tunnel beneath the English Channel, I was a teenager. Construction began in 1988 and the idea of taking the train from London to France seemed like something from science fiction. Truth be told, I wasn't 100% onboard with the plan - what about rabies? Would mammals carry the disease from the continent? It's funny looking back on our fears and concerns over the Channel Tunnel now that is is established and accepted. This article from 2014 provides some nostalgic moments - Rabies and other early Channel Tunnel predictions

Interestingly, it brings up the curious notion we had of calling the tunnel the "Chunnel" - wierd to think it didn't catch on in a world that embraced  new verbs such as "googling "and "friending" and reassigned words like "tweeting" and "liking".

Regardless of what it's called, knowing I was in the a tunnel beneath the ocean still left me thinking about the obvious...what if it sprung a leak? It only took about 25 minutes to actually get through the tunnel.

The train had slowed down a little to go through the tunnel, but in the green fields of France we moved at a fair clip.

As I sat on the train from Paris to London, I had a strong sense of wonder that comes with reviewing the past, remembering concerns and dreams and knowing how it all unfolds. Not for the first time do I feel grateful for living the story.

Train travel evokes my muse too. As I watched the planet spin past, even faster on this Eurostar train, my brain whirred with prose that tried to capture the wonderment I felt. But it wasn't until we arrived in London that I saw an image that summed up the attraction and romance of trains.

A day trip to London from Paris (or vice versa) is so easy - though not exactly cheap on a Saturday and I suspect you can do better on a weekday with a lot of advance warning. We choose the 10.15am departure from Gare de Nord, giving us a civilized start for a Saturday morning.

We needed to be at the station 45 minutes prior to departure to check in and clear security and passport control. It took that time to do everything at a relaxed pace and there was actually very little sitting around or queing.

The trains were comfortable, though our seats on both legs of the journey had us sitting by the plastic wall between the windows. Not good for seeing the scenery, but on the way to London the train was relatively empty, and we just hoped into a more agreeable seat. On the way back, the train was packed, so we just had to put up with it.

When we arrived at St Pancreas International in London on time at 11.30am, we took the Thameslink train to City Thameslink and walked from there to St Paul's Cathedral to meet our friends from California who were holidaying in London.They had told us to print off a discount coupon which, when presented with the receipt for our train ticket, (not Eurostar nor Underground tickets apply though) got us a 2-for-1 deal into the Cathedral.

Here's the link for that if you are heading that way - http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/2334.aspx

So we had entrance to St Paul's and a head set audio guide for £9 each.

The dome on the inside is smaller than on the outside and the inside is painted with stories from the life of St Paul.

The cathedral itself seems to have had nine lives what with all the times it was destroyed and rebuilt or came under fire during the blitz.

Though the cathedral is now an Anglican cathedral, it still has a lot of the gilt ornamentation that the Catholic Church used in their art works. The gold is to symbolize the shining light of the divine God.

The crypt below contains lots of bodies of generals and memorials to the many wars in Britain's past. They also have a memorial for Florence Nightingale.

I believe the lady out front is Queen Anne.

After the Cathedral, we took a wee wander through the streets of London. I found it amusing that Scotland Yard is a place where they have their police head-quarters, but in Ireland Yard they had this!

Paris is turning me into a city snob. (Or perhaps it's Armagh that is doing it!) I found the Thames to be no match for the beautiful Seine.

London's architecture, though not as pretty as that of Paris, or even Armagh, does try to combine the old with the new. Here, the Millennium Bridge looks like it leads right up to St Paul's doorstep.

But maybe when London Bridge was falling down, they should have just let it go. And that dopey building in the background looks like its about to fall down too!

Tower Bridge opening to let river traffic through.

It was also great to also meet up with other friends who live in London. We had a very interesting tour of the building he works in, which seems strange, but it is really beneficial for the book I'm writing at the moment, not to mention its wow factor for biology and techy geeks. I'm mentioning here it as a thank-you to him.

We finished off with a lovely curry (aka traditional London cuisine!) and caught the 8pm train back to Paris, arriving home at 11.30pm.

A very straightforward and enjoyable day trip. Though apparently two days later that was not the case for these unlucky sods who had a 4 hour delay because of some drunken British passengers!

https://www.thelocal.fr/20170530/drunken-eurostar-passengers-trigger-travel-chaos-and-fury

You'd never see thon happening on the Belfast to Bangor line!

Byddi Lee

The Queen's Hamlet at Versailles

On our first visit to Versailles we didn't make it to the Queen's Hamlet, nor did we on the second visit, but third time was the charm!

The Queen's Hamlet was built by Marie-Antionette so that she could "...play at being a peasant," by some accounts. A disgusting idea when you consider the reality of life as a peasant in those days. As we all know things didn't end so well for Marie-Antionette, so I decided not to lose my head over her crassness and go see the place!

The pamphlet handed out at the site merely describes the Hamlet as a place where the Queen could "enjoy the pleasures of the countryside with her children." Because when you are that rich life can be burdensome!


We took the train and remembered to buy a return ticket in Chatelet - actually, we just bought four tickets preparing to chalk it up to experience if they weren't accepted by the machine in Versailles - but to our great joy (as we swanned past the 100 or so people in line to buy tickets at the machines - I kid you not - 100!) our tickets were accepted. We got first choice of the seats on the awaiting train homeward bound!

The queues were pretty brutal going into the Chateau of Versailles - we were glad we'd ticked that box already. We have bought the annual Duo ticket which allows us to skip the lines, but it would have been uncomfortable inside the house with those crowds.

To a soundtrack of classical music piped into the gardens, we made a beeline straight to the Girandole Grove aiming to have lunch first in Brasserie De La Girandole. The prices are reasonable here (considering where you are) and I had the best hot chocolate I've ever tasted! It was delightful sitting under the covered terrace listening to the light rain pinging off the canvas, with the gardens on all sides. The conversation came up again about Marie-Antoinette's motivations for building the hamlet. Sitting there under the canvas, being reminded of camping trips with the Girl Guides in my youth, I wondered were we emulating her crassness by going camping in a world where people were forced to live under canvas through war and poverty? I decided that camping was different. We go camping to reduce our costs and in some cases to get close to nature and have no other option - guilt trip avoided...for now...

After lunch, we wandered into the Colonade Grove, and discovered a circle of what looked like giant cake-stands, with a big statue in the center. As I was taking this photo...

...I heard a whistle blowing. Vaguely wondering what it was and hoping it wasn't a demonstration (the French would demonstrate at the drop of a hat) I refocused my efforts on photography, then all of a sudden the cake-stands turned into fountains - all of them at the same time!

What ensued was an orgy of splash photography!

 

I captured a heart in this fountain.

Eventually we dragged ourselves away, still hoping to accomplish our mission of actually getting to the Queen's Hamlet that day, yet stopping quickly at Appollo's Fountain to grab another few snaps.

The Queen's Hamlet is a good twenty minute walk through the gardens with lots to distract...

...but we were determined and eventually got there. We flashed our duo cards and gained admittance but weren't sure if you needed to pay or not! I think we just like showing off.

With significantly fewer tourists about, we just loved this area of Versailles. The day was overcast but the grass still vibrant green.

The Queen's Hamlet really was a fairy-tale village.

The largest building in the Hamlet was under renovations and all covered up, wrapped like a big present. I'm looking froward to coming back to see it another time. Not one to re-invent the wheel, I'm just going to include two links to great blog posts I found about the Queen's Hamlet:

This one has beautiful pictures and a nice round up of practical information at the end.

 I enjoyed this one, laden with historical information.

There was lot of wildlife too. I thought this was a beaver but have since learned it may be a thing called a ragondin.

These Coot chicks were really cute!

And a family of geese.

 I just adored the wee houses - all of them.

They even had an apiary.

You won't be able to see everything that Versailles has to offer in one day, but if you have to pick one thing and the weather is nice - do this. Yes, the house is spectacular - if the line is not long (which is usually never) run in and see the Hall of Mirrors then head down to the Queen's Hamlet. Hmmm... but then you'd miss the gardens, and the fountains and ...

Okay - Versailles - only one thing for it - come early and come often!

Byddi Lee