England, Dublin, Paris

England, Dublin & Paris, Feb 13-28

As usual we fitted a lot into our two weeks in the UK including trips to Oxford, Cambridge, London and Paris - and, for Mike, Dublin too!

Celebrating Mum's birthday at the Bear Inn in Oxford.

In Oriel Square at the beginning of our Colleges' tour.

The Mob Quad (what a cute name!) at Merton College, founded in 1264.

This is the University Botanic Garden, over the road from Magdalen College which is twinned with my former place of work. And, like its namesake in Cambridge, it is next to the river.

Radcliffe Camera was built as a library but today functions as the main reading room of the Bodleian Library (which can be seen to the right, with Brasenose College to the left). The camera (meaning "room") was built 1737-49 with a bequest from Dr John Radcliffe, the royal physician.

The University Church of St Mary the Virgin in Radcliffe Square, with its tower dating from 1280 and its decorative spire 1315-25.

The Sheldonian Theatre (1667), designed in imitation of a classical Roman theatre, was the first major commission for Sir Christopher Wren, who was then Professor of Astronomy at Oxford. Its main use now is for the annual University degree ceremony.

Broad Street, with Balliol College on the right.

Back at the King residence, Jay takes Harrison for a walk.

Mike, Noel and Steve flew to Dublin to spend the weekend with their Irish family, including Des, Carmel, Alan, Angela, Julie, Paddy, Rita and Timmy.

The birthday boy arrived back in Bury in time to go out for a pint and a curry.

Dad has a rest during his first day of babysitting H when Charlotte went back to work.

My birthday - lunch at a noodle bar.

Then sangria and tapas for dinner.

After shopping in London, I met Becky at her place of work near the City's newest skyscraper, the Swiss Re Tower or "Gherkin", built on the site of the bombed Baltic Exchange.

Becky showed me nearby Leadenhall Market and posed outside the Bank of England before we caught up over a glass of wine at the Royal Exchange.

A quick one at the Queens with Mark after dinner at Lemonia in Primrose Hill.

The next day it was off to Paris where Mike had a meeting. This is the Eiffel Tower taken from the Pont Alexandre III - the most beautiful bridge in Paris - connecting the Grand and Petit Palais on the right bank with the Hôtel des Invalides on the left.

The octagonal Place de la Concorde is the largest square in Paris. The 3200-year-old obelisk from the temple of Ramses II at Thebes was installed at the centre in 1836, a gift from the Viceroy of Egypt to Louis-Philippe.

The Louvre Museum: Paris's most visited monument and the most visited art gallery in the world. I didn't have time to enter on this occasion, but have done so in the past.

The Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel was commissioned by Napoleon to commemorate France's military victories in 1805. The arch is at the easternmost end of the 'Axe historique', and is perfectly aligned with the obelisk, the Champs-Elysées, the Arc de Triomphe (which you can just make out!) and the Grande Arche de la Défense, over five miles to the west.

View of the River Seine from Pont Neuf, showing the Panthéon and the Eiffel Tower.

St-Eustache Cathedral, completed in 1637 after 100 years of construction, has a gothic exterior and a Renaissance interior modeled after Notre-Dame.

The Conciergerie is a former prison on the Ile de la Cité where hundreds of prisoners were executed on the guillotines during the French Revolution. To the left is the spire of the small gothic Sainte-Chapelle; to the right is Notre-Dame Cathedral.

I met up with Mike at a bar on Blvd St Germain on the Left Bank.

Looking up the Champs-Elysées to the Arc de Triomphe (again commissioned by Napoléon to commemorate his victories, but not completed until the reign of Louis-Philippe).

Saint-Philippe-du-Roule Church on rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré in the 8th arrondissement, as seen from our hotel room.

One of my favourite places: Sacré-Coeur in Montmartre.
The plan to build the basilica was initiated by a group of influential people who wanted to erect a monument as moral condemnation of the sins of Paris, which, in their opinion, had caused the defeat of the French army against Prussia in 1870!