Church on Sunday...Amsterdam

We have just returned from a short break in Amsterdam where we visited the church of Saint Francis Xavier in the city...thought we'd share  the delights of its interior with you as our featured church this Sunday.

The 'Krijtberg' was built squeezed into a row of houses at the end of the 19th century, replacing one of Amsterdam's 'secret churches, which were Catholic churches disguised as houses that continued after the reformation.

After walking through its portal you are immediately wowed by its interior's opulence...

...its ornate decor illuminated by the colourful stainedglass windows.

Whether you look up or down your eyes are filled with colours and shapes - wonderful!

 Where's Joan?...As you might expect, no Joan of Arc here, although the country does have a large flowering crocus named after her.

Trains to Amsterdam...

This week I'd like to give you a taste of our trip to Amsterdam.We started the journey by driving to Le Grand Pressigny where we left our car and caught the very expensive ( €1.80) 10.35am bus to Tours.

 Pauline had organised trains that would take us from Tours station to Montpernasse in Paris on the 'TGV' then the metro (had tickets from our last trip*) to Gare du Nord where we would pick up a 'Thalys' high speed train to Amsterdam itself. With a couple of breaks while waiting for connections the trip should have taken just over 8hrs.

The train from Tours was bang on time and we had a smooth and comfortable trip into Paris.

We are fairly well-seasoned Paris visitors now and arriving at the busy Montparnasse station and finding or way to the metro station is fairly straight-forward for us, even with hand luggage. We can however understand that first timer's arriving here and having to get to Gare du Nord for a connecting train might find it a little daunting. 

**We know for example that although you can do the connecting journey in 1 hour you should allow at least 90 minutes, for although it is only one metro ride on line 4 ( in the direction of Porte de Clignancort) it is a bit of a trek from the main railway station to the metro station and at busy times they do not take any prisoners!

Even with their long moving walkway its a reasonably long walk at about 700 metres...

...which includes stairs and escalators...

...before you actually arrive at the 'Montparnasse Bienvenue***' metro station. 

Once on board you have 12 stops before arriving at Gare du Nord metro station.

From the metro you have to follow the signs to the main railway station 'Grande Lignes'

Once there you check your departure platform and if like us, you've arrived early and it's not posted, you can sit down and have a drink to congratulate yourselves for a smooth trip so far...or so we thought...more tomorrow.

* I once used (much to Pauline's horror) a metro ticket left over from our honeymoon in 1975, 15 years later and it worked. I had vowed then that we would one day be back, even though then, it was actually our first time abroad! Never in a million years did we think then that we would end up living in France.

** I am using the knowledge gained from our Paris trips to put together a new website about this delightful city (as if it needs one!) called www.about-paris.com 

*** 'Montparnasse Bienvenue' isn't actually welcoming  you to the station - it is in fact named after the principal engineer of the Paris Metro, Fulgence Bienvenüe.

Bridges & canals of Amsterdam...

 Here are some photographs of our Amsterdam trip...

We had a lot of fun with our pronunciation of place names!

Unexpected stop-over...

Just when we thought everything was going so well and went for another look at the departures board at Gare du Nord we were met by the news that first, our train was 21/2 hours late, then eventually that it was cancelled!

Sadly someone had chosen to end their lives by stepping in front of the train - it certainly put our troubles into perspective!

We were told that we could take the next train to Brussels where we could catch a train to finish our trip to Amsterdam. This solution meant that all the passengers from our train had to be accommodated in the Brussels train - not easy. We were told that it would be on a first come first served basis.so you can imagine the scene, We managed to get seated but all around us people were arriving to claim their previously reserved seats and there was quite a bit of reorganisation by the hard-pressed guards. We were lucky that we had picked seats that apparently had not been reserved previously.

We arrived at Brussels station where we headed for the Thalys help desk to see what options were available to us - she asked if we wanted to use the Intercity train that was just about to leave and when we said 'yes', stamped our tickets to allow us to do so.

So we got to see a little of the Belgium capital from the train window. Our decision proved not to be a good one as it took us another 3 hrs to reach Amsterdam! - but we did eventually...

11 hours after leaving Le Grand Pressigny!

Tulips from Amsterdam...

 Another fine day yesterday - great for finishing off the garden.

When we visited Amsterdam last October we picked up some 'mixed' tulip bulbs at the flower market ...

...only to find that they are all yellow!

Vendredi à vélo - relaxed in Amsterdam

 

Are the Dutch the most relaxed cyclists in the world? Captured these shots on a trip to Amsterdam.

Church on Sunday... St. Nicholas, Amsterdam

Staying in Amsterdam with a visit to  St. Nicholas' (or St. Nicolaaskerk in Dutch) the 19th century Catholic church in the old centre district of the city.

Built in a 'Neo-Baroque' style it is rather imposing internally...

with your eyes being drawn in every direction...

before ultimately ending looking upwards to its wonderful dome.

The pulpit and the baptismal font of the church are quite extraordinary if not a little 'over the top'!