The bells, the bells!

[skyring]

There must be something about me and old cathedrals. In London, my hostel is a stone's throw from St Pauls. In Istanbul, Ayasofya, the ancient Byzantine cathedral (later a mosque) was just a block away from my seedy hotel in Sultanahmet (and the huge Blue Mosque not much further).

And now I've found this incredible hotel in the shadow of Notre Dame in Paris. Right slap bang in the middle of Paris. In the middle of the Seine. Shakespeare's bookshop is just across the river in one direction, and the Boulevarde St Michel starts at our doorstep.

The hotel is apparently one of Paris's best secrets. It's in an attic of the Hotel Dieu, the old Paris hospital, and it consists of 14 small but quiet and clean rooms. No windows, just skylights.

And what a location! We'll be able to walk everywhere.

The hotel just wrote back and confirmed availablity, so I am over the moon.

Comments

[skyring.livejournal.com]

116 Euros, which is probably pretty expensive for a cramped room with no windows, but Kerri and I are looking forward to being in the prime of Paris. I shall be able to gaze upon the great cathedral in all lights, the cafes and street life of the Latin Quarter are a moment away, and if we tire of bustle, why, but the hospital has a private garden and a cafeteria within the grounds.

In other news, you will be pleased to hear that I have once again succumbed to Folio Books, and my latest delivery includes a complete set of Sherlock Holmes.

I may visit Baker Street again, this time with an eye to the great man, rather than the Monopoly station at the end, where I paid a hurried and footsore visit on my final day in 2005.

[holmesfan.livejournal.com]

One of the really great things about the Baker Street premises is that you can make unlimited use of your camera inside the building. There was a very cheery Dr Watson acting as a sort of docent and he turned out to be an ex-pat NZer which I found really interesting. The place was full of gigling young Japanese women last time I was there, buying up large.