Sunday 26th June - On the way home

Our French holiday is finally over. We are currently sitting at Singapore Airport awaiting our flight to Brisbane having just flown 12 hours from Paris (the flight was 2 hours late leaving due to the flight crew being caught in a traffic jam after a major pileup on the motorway to Charles de Gaulle airport.

We've both thoroughly enjoyed our time in France and Jan's french has improved considerably. Back to reality in about 8 hours time.

We hope you've enjoyed following our travels.

p.s. Campbell passed all of his exams at Leeds Uni.

Jan & Chris

 

Vendredi 24th June

The patisserie across the road from our apartment.

This photo is looking towards Rue Renne from the end of Notre Dames des Champs. Our apartment is about 30 metres behind where this photo was taken from. The corner bar is under the awning on the left hand side of the photo. The entrance to the metro is down the stairs in the middle of the photo.

This is the corner of Rue Renne and Rue Notre Dames des Champs. Our corner bar is on the right hand side of the photo.

Our apartment entrance is the big green door in the centre of this photo. Behind this door is a large courtyard that all of the apartments open off.

Today was the last day of our 6 week adventure. Before we went out this morning we packed - we seem to have a lot more than we arrived with ! Just as well be bought another bag in the sales this week.

The rest of the day was epent wandering around parts of Paris we have visited previously and enjoyed (Rue du Baci and Rue Cler). These are quirky shopping areas that include fromageries, boucheries, lots of art galleries and cafes. We also discovered another shopping area on the other side of Rue de Renne which is very close to our apartment. This is part of the attraction of Paris that no matter how many times you visit you still find new and interesting things.

Last night we ate at Restaurant Le Timbre which was right next door to the restaurant we ate at the previous night. Le Timbre only seats 20 diners and you sit shoulder to shoulder with the diners next to you at 2 long tables of 10. The food was very very good although we both passed on the fried pigs head  !

Tonight we stayed close to home and ate and drank at the bar on the corner of our street. When we first stayed in this apartment back in 2006 the bar was a very typical French corner bar serving those that wanted a beer or wine at 9am and tables arranged in booths.It was dark and uninviting. The barman that always seemed to serve us was a surly French guy with greased down hair and black waiters vest that we christened Guido. Since then we have known the bar as "Guido's" although when we here last it had been totally redecorated and is now a very up-market bistro type bar and attracts a much classier clientelle (and Guido no longer works there !).
While we were sitting there (in the window) we watched a "fashion shoot " happening on the corner right outside the window so we may well feature in the background of the next Vogue or Marie Claire!! Tomorrow morning we head to Charles de Gaulle and home (ash clouds permitting) otherwise we may be extending our holiday in Singapore (...and more shopping)!

Jeudi 23 Juin

Today is our second last day in France!! The 6 weeks have just disappeared but it does seem a long time since we left home and a long time since we have had a proper verbal conversation with anyone other than ourselves or Campbell!

Today we did "The Passages" again. We did these last time we were here when the temperature outside was about minus 10 degrees. It wasn't that cold today BUT I was still definately not warm.

The passages are a series of beautiful old alley ways and passages between streets, many filled with small boutiques or cafes. The architecture and decor is stunning.

AAfter lunch and a little bit of shopping, we came back nearer to the apartment and explored some of the streets between Saint Sulpice and the Luxembourg Gardens. In one street we found a kiwi shop and an Australian and NZ shop selling vegemite and Cloudy Bay!

Tonight we are trying out the restaurant we couldn't get into last night - Le Timbre. It is next to Moustache (the one we did go to last night). It had good reviews so here's hoping...

Today the NZ Govt made an announcement on the status of the various residential areas of Christchurch following the earthquakes, and have broken the city up into 3 zones from red meaning that it's unlikely the area can be rebuilt on (and the Govt will offer to purchase these properties outright) to orange where final assessments are still to be made pending further geotech investigations, to green where rebuilding can get underway. Unfortunately 2 of our flats in North Brighton are included in the orange zone so we will have to wait to see what the final outcome is. Oddly these properties escaped with almost nil structural damage but we understand it is the damage to infrastructure and amenities, in addition to impact from liquification, that may affect their final zoning - fingers crossed !!.

Mercredi (Wed) 22nd Juin - Les Soldes

No photos today because we were too busy shopping!
We had to buy another suitcase so decided to go to the shopping mall at La Defense where there are big shops such as Auchan, which sell everything from fridges to socks! This was a good decision in that we bought a bag relatively cheaply BUT  Paris Sales bring out everybody who wants to buy anything, and if you have a large shopping mall where you can buy anything, the people are concentrated!! IT was absolute bedlam!!!! I wish we had taken the camera.
After lunch, sitting in a restaurant watching people swarm all around us, we returned to our area of the city which was much more civilised! We did a bit more shopping, came home and got ready for a night out at a restaurant nearby. The restaurant was called "Moustache"" and was fabulous!!! My faith has been restored in French cuisine. Every meal we have had out so far has been wonderful!

Mardi 21 Juin

In this photo you can see that famous steel construction in the background, a very windblown me and a large bag! Today we visited the Musee Marmottan Monet which also had an exhibition of the works by Raoul and Jean Dufy. These paintings were , in my opinion, as good as the Monets (a different style but I loved them. It seemed to us that towards the last years of his life, Monet got more and more "obscure". After the Musee, we had a 3 course Formula lunch at a nearby cafe then Metroed (my new word) back into the city where we had a look at the Grand Palais. Campbell had told us there was a really cool exhibition on there but unfortunately it seems it is only on at night.

After a light dinner, we headed over to "The Champs" where we sat in a bar having a drink, watching all the chauffeurs dropping off their employers for their nights out. Most corners had small groups of men in suits, huddled around Bentleys, Mercedes etc, waiting.

After a drink we went to the Crazy Horse which was a wonderful show! The dancing was fabulous and the lighting was amazing. Chris wants to know who trains them as they all had gluts to die for!

Tomorrow Les Soldes ((Sales) start!!

  

Lundi (Monday) 20th June - Shopping!!

Today was rainy and grey so what better way to spend it than "Shopping in Paris!"
Campbell caught the Metro at 5.30am this morning for Gare de Nord where he got on the Eurostar and zoomed under the channel, arriving in London about 120 minutes later. We are presuming that he is now on board a Qantas flight bound for Australia.
After seeing Campbell off at the metro station, Chris and I came home and went back to sleep for a few hours (it's tough having a young adult in a one bedroom apartment if he prefers to spend his nights gadding about Paris with his mates and doesn't get home til late, then starts packing!!
After breakfast we hit the shops - starting off over at the Marais at E.Dehillerin (the most amazing kitchen and chef supply shop we have ever seen!). This shop sells everything to do with cooking! Chris loves good quality copper cookware so he was in his element - see photos. Luckily we do have a good weight allowance to fly home so we made "a few" purchases.
After returning home for lunch, and to drop off the "purchases" as they were too heavy to carry, we hit the shops around Rue de Rennes. This is the area near the apartment so we know the shops quite well which made it very easy to spend a lot of money very quickly!
We are now sitting back in the apartment eating Chevre chaud on grilled baguette as an entree to dinner and have just opened a bottle of Chateau Puyblanquet from St Emilion, Bordeaux. Tomorrow we have decided we had better visit another musee and stay clear of the shops, at least for a day!

PS - I am starting to get very tired of steps! Our apartment is on the 6th floor with 122 steps up to it, 122 steps down from it and 244 steps everytime you need to "just pop out to get a baguette or a bottle of wine!"

Dimanche 19th June - Markets and Musee

Today we woke up in Paris (and Campbell had arrived home safely during the night, after catching up with a mate from Leeds Uni who lives in Paris). We went to one of our favourite Parisienne markets - in Boulevard Raspail, which is only 5 minutes walk from our apartment. We stocked up on cheese, bread, veges etc as well as food for brunch. After meeting up with Campbell at the market, we returned home and all ate together before Campbell went off to the Musee D'Orsay and we went to the Rodin Musee. Campbell was meeting up with another mate later in the day so we wandered back from the musee , stopping off at a small bistrot for a late lunch. Surprisingly 2pm wasn't too late for lunch here on a Sunday, unlike some of the smaller towns we have been to, and a lot of people arrived after us for lunch. Being Sunday, most shops were closed so we ended up having to go to the small "grocer" across the street from the apartment, to stock up on wine. The selection was not good so we bought a small bottle of gin and some tonic - not very french! Tonight will be the first gins we have had since our flight over 5 weeks ago!

Tomorrow morning, Campbell is catching the train back to London and flying home.

The statues in these photos are from the Rodin Musee. The last time we were there, everything outside was frozen solid and it was about minus 10 degrees!