Although this Buddha isn’t especially old, it is very impressive, and sits in a beautiful location. Completed in 1993, made out of a steel infrastructure and over 200 massive bronze plates, it was placed near the slightly older Po Lin Monastery (founded 1906) on Lantau Island, where it dominates the view on a clear day. Allegedly. Alas getting a clear day in Hong Kong requires either phenomenal good fortune or living there.

The Buddha is at the top of 268 steps, with plenty of rests along the way. I encountered a lovely elderly lady who was mounting, kneeling, and praying on each individual step on her way up, possibly in the hope of reaching the gift shop and ice cream vendors dotted around Buddha’s bottom without expiring in the morning heat en route. I however chose to disguise my terrible lack of fitness by pausing to photograph the beautiful flowers lining the stairs now and then.

Facing Buddha are six Daevas, each representing one of the six qualities required to achieve nirvana. The offerings are of flowers, incense, a lamp, ointment, fruit and music, and symbolise (in the same order) charity, precepts, patience, zeal, meditation and wisdom. Where the Buddha is perhaps a little overwhelming, these Daevas are more personable, radiating compassion… Perhaps a little too well, as most now have barriers around them to prevent tourists hugging or clambering over them.

The view from the Buddha is as stunning as the view up toward it from Ngong Ping, and there are facilities at the top of the stairs to save you having to leave too soon.

Should you actually be Buddhist, there are areas within the statue’s base for devotions and offerings. The Memorial Hall in particular houses a relic, but one cannot gain entry without purchasing an offering to take in. I’m not the kind of tourist who can interrupt people’s daily lives to intrusively take pictures, so these areas remain unphotographed by me.

This is an excellent way to spend a morning. Highly recommended, especially if you do manage to get a clear day.

Incense burner along the stairs up to Buddha

An excuse for a pause along the stairs

Buddha from the bottom of the steps

He really does have a very large head

Very large indeed!

I should have taken a macro lens...

The Daeva of the Lamp

The Daevas of Lamp and Flower

The Daevas of Music, Ointment and Incense

Admission: Free, but access to the Memorial Hall requires the purchase of an offering.

Tips: Best combined with visits to the Wisdom Path and the Po Lin Monastery and a trip on the Ngong Ping 360. You can also go for a hike into the mountains beyond the Wisdom Path if you’re an adventurous sort – hiking routes are clearly mapped and marked. Without the hike, allow about four hours for the Buddha, Wisdom Path, Po Lin Monastery and Ngong Ping “Buddhist theme village”. Wear suitable walking shoes.

How to get there: If you don’t mind a bit of a queue (or in high season a hell of a queue), use the Ngong Ping 360 from Tung Chung. This is best on one of those mythical “clear days” I’ve heard of, but so long as you have some visibility this is a phenomenal experience. Otherwise, if hanging off a cable ludicrously high up a mountain doesn’t appeal to you, you can get buses: from Tung Chung, the NLB number 23; and from Mui Wo the NLB number 2. Both go to Ngong Ping.

From Ngong Ping, it’s a dawdle through the aforementioned “Buddhist theme village”, then a ten minute walk to the steps leading up to the Buddha. All clearly signposted, but the giant Buddha also acts as a fairly good indicator of direction.

Further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tian_Tan_Buddha – Wikipedia’s article on the Tian Tan Buddha.

Image-heavy post after the jump.

Wandering London during the exhibition weeks was near-guaranteed to bring you across at least one elephant, no matter how odd the location. They were in public parks, tourist areas, and on random streets. After the end of the exhibition they were taken to Sotheby’s for a charity auction which raised over four million pounds, 70% of which has gone directly to the Elephant Parade to help conserve elephants in the wild.

I didn’t trawl the streets for every last elephant, but I did get a few for you.

Marching on Buckingham Palace

Eko by Paul Kidby

Never Forget by Tom Hallifax

I Miss The Forest by Wongpeena Winyarat leads the march

Hope of Freedom, various artists

Tigerphant, by Dominique Salm, lurking in Chinatown

Further information: http://assets.wwf.org.uk/downloads/elephant_parade_london_routemap.pdf – The complete map of elephants and list of artists.

http://www.mooch.org.uk/trips/london/elephantp_x01.html – A complete photo set of all elephants and locations – warning, over 250 images on a single page!

It’s not very big – at least by French church standards. It’s not very famous. And even the church’s own website would rather tell you about the nearby cathedral than this quiet building. The site has been one of religious significance for over two thousand years. Before the Romans, it’s suspected that a menhir was here, and after a Gallo-Roman spa occupied the site, St. Firmin came and turned it into a church. In 1180 Beauvais was devastated by fire, and a large portion of the church was destroyed.

Although rebuilt, very little documentation about when and how exists to the present day, especially of whatever work may have taken place between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries. Building work underwent something of a frenzied renewal in the sixteenth century, but a hurricane in 1702 undid a lot of the work, then violent upheaval and vandalism during the revolution did yet more damage to this now very beleaguered building. Only in 1796 were people able to start using the church as, well, a church again. Renovations, archaeological excavations, and more building work then took a beating from another hurricane and two World Wars. All in all it still being upright is something of a miracle.

There are some beautiful stained glass windows in here: some were carefully removed and protected during each World War, and others are brand new. Sadly I was without my tripod, so my interior shots came out appallingly and I have very little to show you but the outside…

The church exterior

Plaque commemorating the excavation work in 1902 - 1905

A couple of the church's doors

My one vaguely usable shot of the interior

Admission: Free. Open from 09:00 – 12:00, and 14:00 – 16:00 (17:00 between 1st April and 31st October).

Tips: Easily combined with visits to other Beauvais churches, the cathedral, or the town itself.

How to get there: Click here to see the location in Google Maps. Beauvais has a train station and excellent car parking.

Further information: http://www.cathedrale-beauvais.fr/etienne/index.htm – Church website.

Tourists don’t traditionally go all the way out to Woolwich to explore the world’s second largest movable flood barrier. There’s little else to see or do there, and the view of the North Bank of the Thames isn’t a pretty one. More commonly you might see photographs of the Barrier from the North Bank, taking in the far prettier South Bank in the background. Why Woolwich, then?

Woolwich has the dubious advantage of the Environment Agency’s Thames Barrier Visitor Centre. I say dubious because this facility is largely designed with schoolchildren in mind, so there’s little to be gained from it as an adult visitor. There is an outdoor picnic area, a cafeteria, and small playground which gets flooded in particularly high tides.

Ah, yes. The crunch. The Thames Barrier is excellent at what it does and what it was designed for, but what the designers thought was a real overestimate on future water levels just to be on the safe side… turned out to be a critical underestimate due to the unforeseen (at that time) effects of Global Warming. As a consequence the usefulness of the Barrier is questionable beyond about 2060, and even now the banks of the Thames within the Barrier can see a startlingly high level of flooding – it’s not unusual for the children’s playground to vanish below water during the worst of it, along with the local stretch of the Thames Path.

That said, it’s a terribly clever design incorporating different types of gates for different sections of the river, and it’s not London’s sole flood defence: there are other barriers up and down the river which are used in conjunction with the Thames Barrier itself.

On a lovely sunny day it’s a pleasant place to pause if walking or cycling the Thames Path. From here you can see down past the O2 at Greenwich, stop for a spot of lunch, or buy one of the world’s tackiest souvenirs (London does phenomenally poor souvenirs for a world-class city). Alas you can also see a massive pile of rubbish, a Tate & Lyle refinery, and some unsightly building developments over on the South Bank.

The Thames Barrier

You are on the Thames Path

All manner of detritus is visible at low tide

Admission: The Visitor Centre is £3.50 for adults, £2 for children. Free for children under 5. There is no charge for access to the Thames Path.

Tips: This is only really a visit for the die-hard flood barrier buff, or for someone in the area. If you’re the former, the Visitor Centre is cheap and cheerful, and the staff knowledgeable. If the latter, just go have a look at the barrier itself. It’s quite a sight. If you’re in the area, though, the Arsenal at Woolwich makes an excellent afternoon’s visit, and is only a mile away.

How to get there: The address is 1 Unity Way, Woolwich, London, SE18 5NJ. Along the Thames Path is the obvious route. You can drive there – car parking is only £1.50 for the whole day, but the car park closes and locks when the visitor centre closes (either 3pm or 4pm depending on time of year), so isn’t a viable option if you wish to head into London afterwards.

Further information: Google Maps – Map of the local area, showing proximity of nearest mainline train station.

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/static/documents/Leisure/thamesbarrier_map_1434863.pdf – The Environment Agency’s excellent visitor map and directions, including bus routes.

oui : Yes. This sounds very much like “wee”, but don’t form the w with your lips. Instead think of it more as a halfway place between wee and uee. A smile and a nod goes a long way, too, but it’s difficult to really get oui wrong.

non : No. The latter n is not pronounced with tongue to the roof of the mouth. Instead, close your throat around the no to terminate it abruptly rather than the lingering “no” of English. The o is pronounced as in knock.

bonjour / bon soir : Hello / Good evening. You will be greeted on entry to any service facility, and it is considered extremely rude not to return the greeting. Pronounced bohnzhur and bon swah respectively.

au revoir : Goodbye. Similarly people will bid you farewell when you depart, and it’s very rude not to return the favour. Pronounced oh revwah, this is where we hit the joy of the French r, which is not hard as in English, but soft and rolled easily at the back of the throat as though you are gargling. Alas unless you learned to make this sound as a child the odds are that you will never nail it perfectly as an adult, but trying is appreciated

s’il vous plaît : Please. Literally “if you please”, it is a request for items or service. Pronounced si vuu pleh, combined with a bit of pointing and looking hopeful, this will get you just about anything you desire off a menu.

merci : Thank you, pronounced quite close to mercy, but place the emphasis on the latter half of the word – merci – rather than the first half. The more polite (or more grateful) version is merci beacoup, merci bowkoo.

pardon : Pardon / excuse me. The -on is pronounced identically to the end of non, and the emphasis is on the latter half of the word – pardon. This is extremely flexible, and is combined with your tone and body language to convey anything from “I’m very sorry”, through “please may I get past”, and on to “Excuse me, you there!” Especially useful in restaurants and cafés, as waiters and waitresses will not attend you without you distinctly attracting their attention with a raised hand, eye contact, and a pardon – and you usually need the pardon to get them to look your way. This isn’t rudeness on their part, it’s a desire to not intrude on your time until you want something.

je ne parle pas Français : I do not speak French, pronounced zhuh neh parleh pah Fronseh, again with that glottal pause on the -on. It always seems silly to learn this phrase, no matter what the target language, but I find this one especially useful when beset by beggars in larger towns and cities. After all, they don’t need to know exactly how much French I do or do not know. But along with explaining to staff in restaurants, hotels, shops or other facilities that, alas, you do not speak their language, this is incredibly useful for fobbing off the surprisingly large number of vagrants who soon move on to someone who at least understands their sob story. This may seem callous, but you try a week of giving out Euros to every drug-addled hobo who sees you on the street and see just how much cash you have left at the end of it.

où sont les toilettes, s’il vous plaît? : Where are the toilets, please? Pronounced oo sohn leh twailett, si vuu pleh. If you are not in a place where there actually is a toilet, such as a supermarket or other public area, may well receive quite a long string of directions, but say merci anyway and head off in the direction indicated. Sooner or later you’ll find them.

un / deux / trois / quatre billets, s’il vous plaît: One / two / three / four tickets please. Pronounced uh / deuh / troih / katruh biyyeh, si vuu pleh. All r’s are soft and rolled, but holding up the right number of fingers can help. Un has that same glottal pause as non.

That should be plenty to start you off. French is a language with a relatively small common-circulation vocabulary compared to English – that is there are around 200,000 words in common French usage, compared to the 600,000+ in common English usage. This means you get a surprisingly large bang for your buck in learning even just a handful of phrases in French, and can certainly survive a week or two’s holiday with them. Ideally get an audio phrasebook and spend some time listening to pronunciation and practising it for yourself before you go. You’ll be surprised at how much sticks, but that’s down to how much of the French language was adopted into English usage a few hundred years ago – and a topic far too large for this humble blog post to cover!

bon courage!

Perhaps I’m mis-remembering, but I’m certain that Mont Saint-Michel was far less of a blatant tourist trap when I was younger. Maybe I was wrapped up in the excitement of it all that I didn’t notice the heaving crowds all trudging along as though they’re on a mission, the extortionate prices (today, 3€ for a can of pop, fact-fans), and the volume of “museums” all touting for your entrance fee on the main street.

Don’t let this put you off. It’s well worth visiting if you’re in the area, or can get there easily – there is no nearby train station, so car or coach are your main options.

The island’s use as a home for monks began in the 8th Century, founded by St. Aubert, the then bishop of Arromanches. Over the centuries it has been expanded on, fortified, and assaulted several times, and the present-day site is the result: A monastery with several architectural styles atop the mound, surrounded by a walled village for support staff and tourists.

By far the most fun to be had here is exploring that very village. Tiny little alleyways (some no wider than 2ft), ramparts around the outer walls, steps and pathways toward private housing, hidden cemeteries and astounding views over Normandy countryside and the English Channel alike can be found with just a little effort. Better still, the majority of tourists tend not to do this exploration, so if you need a break from the crowds at any point, just turn off the main street at the first available opportunity and go for a wander. You cannot get lost – the spire of the monastery is visible from almost every point on the island, and you will catch glimpses of the crowds through trees and down alleys. If at any point you want to orient yourself, head toward the hustle and bustle and you’ll be back in the throng in no time.

If you wish to enter the Abbey itself, you’re back in tourist-trap territory, I’m afraid. 8.50€ for adults to enter, it will take you at most an hour to explore, assuming you drag your heels. A lot.

All told, prepare for a trip in advance. Take water with you, especially if it’s a hot day, and if possible take your own packed lunch as restaurants on the island are prohibitively pricey. You can easily spend half a day exploring the village, and up in the ramparts and hidden pathways there are plenty of picnic spots to stop off and have your lunch at.

Mont St Michel from the South

The Abbey's Spire

Gosh! Tourists!

A wee staircase in the village

One of many hidden nooks and crannies

This grave has seen better days

Admission: 8.50€ per adult for the Abbey (plus an additional 4.50€ if you want the audioguide), 5€ to park a car. Entry to the island itself is free. “Museums” have individual entrance fees.

Tips: Do take plenty of water, and try to arrive fairly early lest you end up right down the far end of the car park and have to walk a mile.

How to get there: By road is your only option. Either hire a car, or use a coach tour.

Further information: http://www.mont-saint-michel.monuments-nationaux.fr/ – Official website.

As of tomorrow posting will resume, and I will intersperse tales of France with some of London by way of apology

Until tomorrow, then…

Troo.

Flowers in a window box

Spending a day in Bayeux is a very pretty way to pass the time, especially in summer when the sun is shining and the sky is blue. The town centre is largely pedestrianised, and so small that you can walk from one end to the other in under half an hour.

Rather than write about it, then, I’ll let the pictures do the talking. Be aware that as this is a town in a largely rural area, most shops are closed at lunch time, and some don’t even open in the morning at all. There are a small handful of cafes and restaurants, but lunch is readily available from one of the numerous boulangeries should you fancy a nice sandwich by the side of the river.

The Tourist Train!

Water Mill

The widest street in town

A view of the Cathedral

A pretty cobbled street

On the approach to the Cathedral

One of many older buildings in Bayeux

Hertzer 38

The Battle of Normandy Memorial Museum is very good. Very good. When I was looking for something to do with an afternoon in Bayeux, I selected this museum almost entirely at random. I found the local tourist information centre, picked up a leaflet, and it caught my eye.

It’s not a very large museum. A visit will take up about an hour and a half to two hours, and considerably less if you have energetic children with you. The Museum wins on it’s tight, dedicated focus: it covers the Battle of Normandy, the events directly following Operation Overlord, and nothing else. The path through the museum starts out by introducing you to all the major players in both sides of this battle and giving a brief run-down on the state of World War II before D-Day so that you understand the context of the Normandy Landings. Then on a neatly laid-out, bilingual (French and English) route you are taken week by week through the Battle, from the 7th June 1944 right the way to the 29th August 1944. There are 3D models, original documents, arms, uniforms, and day-to-day objects all carefully assembled to give a great insight into this segment of the war.

Of particular interest to me were a collection of uniforms from both sides, including a Luftwaffe flight suit and British infantry woollens. For a battle in Summer the heavy wool must have been horrendous, but of absolute necessity against an enemy who liked to equip their infantry with experimental flame-throwers. There were a couple of full-sized dioramas using original equipment, which considering that the mannequins were clearly intended for shops were actually very good.

If you’re in the area and have even a passing interest in the events of World War II, go. It’ll be well worth your time.

Alas photography within the museum is not permitted, so this is an image-light post.

M4A4 Sherman

Admission: 6.50€, free to WWII veterans and children under 10. Open 10:00 – 18:00. Outside the summer months the museum is closed between 12:30 and 14:00. During summer the museum opens at 09:30 and closes at 18:30.

Tips: Easily combined in a day to Bayeux’s Tapestry Museum and Cathedral. The shop is, as all these types of thing are, highly overpriced and most things in it are available elsewhere. Take a notepad and write down the ISBN of a book you see or the name of a model you want and google it when you get home.

How to get there: The museum is on the South-West edge of the ring-road which surrounds Bayeux. Address is Boulevard Fabian Ware 14400, and the museum is signposted from most points on the ring-road. If you are walking from Bayeux town centre, pick up a map from the tourist information centre or just head South-West on the Rue des Chanoines from Bayeux Cathedral. Stick with the road and it becomes the Rue Saint-Loup, but keep going until you reach the ring-road intersecting it. Turn right onto Boulevard Fabian Ware, and the Museum is about ten minutes further, on your right.

Further information: http://www.normandiememoire.com/lieux_historiques/index.php?modif=&id=178&lg=gb&parcours=1 – The museum’s English-language website with detail on opening hours.

Stained Glass

Bayeux is famous for the Tapestry, but the Cathedral is far more stunning. Initially constructed around 1011-1049, it was consecrated in 1077 in the presence of William the Conqueror, and it’s here that Harold Godwinson was forced to take the oath which bequeathed England to William’s rule after the death of Edward the Confessor.

Much deconstruction and reconstruction took place over the next few hundred years. In 1105 much of it was destroyed during the civil war, and subsequent reconstruction work across the centuries used several different architectural styles. What exists now is usually known as Norman Gothic, and the cathedral’s history recognises it as “finally completed” in 1862.

The exterior is awe-inspiring, though much of it is age-damaged; the usual missing gargoyle bits, chinks in the stonework, and such other blemishes serve to add to the sense of age the Cathedral exudes. From the inside, though, is where you get the best views. The cathedral’s stained glass windows have been recently restored, are kept impeccably clean, and on a sunny day are utterly breathtaking.

The Cathedral is very tourist-friendly. There are information leaflets available, as well as guided tours during the summer months. Even the crypt is accessible, which holds (as well as corpses, of course) well-preserved examples of Norman painting almost as old as the cathedral itself.

Cathedral

Gargoyles

Votive Candles

Carving

Crypt

Admission: Free. A guided tour is available in July and August for 4€. Open 08:30 – 17:00 most of the year, but until 19:00 in summer.

Tips: Allow about an hour for the Cathedral.

How to get there: The Cathedral is signposted from any major road or pedestrian walkway in Bayeux. Click here to see the location in Google Maps (Location A, not B).

Further information: http://cathedraledebayeux.voila.net/index.html – The website of the Friends of the Cathedral of Bayeux. Website is in French, but Google Translate does a reasonable job.