A few days worth..

 

Our own way around

After putting on last minute washing, Dave and I went shopping along the Seine, buying goods from the vendors at the green boxes. Posters, postcards and signs. We stopped at the wineshop, to see if they had any Mercier, but apparently it is an exclusive type champagne. We decided to go to the minimart to buy supplies for a picnic lunch.

Lawrie relaxed at the apartment and psyched himself up to do his maths test sent to him on-line.

Mitch went to the Natural history museum and “just walked around”.

Dave and I returned to the apartment to find Lawrie nearly having completed his maths test, so we put the washing into the dryer and waited for him to upload his answers.

By the time this had been completed, our picnic lunch had turned into a late afternoon tea, which we took to the walkway along the Seine and enjoyed our Champagne, wine, cheese, hommous, tomatoes and baguette. The assorted meats which we had bought were OK, but the prosciutto was quite fatty and not enjoyed. The company was excellent and we were quite relaxed.

A shop at the Flower and Garden market
 

We took Lawrie to the pet shop that we had visited the day before and he enjoyed patting the shop cat and looking at the turtles and blue frog. We went into the bird section, where we discovered they had a Major Mitchell Cockatoo and Galahs. I wonder if they were bred in France, or captured in the wild and imported.

After the pet shop, we ventured into the Halles area to try to find the Pattisserie where we bought pastries from last time. We went into the Halles Cathedral, which Lawrie seemed impressed with. WE did not spend too much time looking for the Patisserie, as there are so manty about, tat it would be a total waste of time looking too hard. We decided to go into a different one, as I think the other had moved. We bought a chocolate éclair, a pistachio éclair, a Paris Brest and a Chocolate Ganache form.

 

In the evening, Dave and Lawrie went to find a place in which to watch the soccer, whilst Mitch and I went to a concert being held at the Madeleine church. The concert began with a string quartet playing Mozart Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, Albinoni Adagio and Pachabel Canon. A soloist joined them to play Mediation by Thias, Ave Maria and finished with the complete Vivaldi Four Seasons. Quite a nice concert, but the quartet had to work hard at dealing with the very live acoustics. There were a couple of ‘moments’, but all in all, very good, especially once joined by the soloist, except I am not sure why he needed to conduct his colleagues so much.

Mitch and I then ventured into the Latin Quarter to have a “Giros” for supper (it was about 10 o’clock).  I like the way the fries are wrapped in the Yiros. You can pick them out as you go or eat them as part of the yiros.

Dave and Lawrie only just beat us back to the apartment, where we enjoyed our selection of patisserie delights together. The chocolate Ganache being my favourite. There were some pieces left over, perfect for breakfast! ;-)

Packing can wait for the morning!

 

Au revoir to Paris!

I had set the alarm for 8:30, to give us enough time to make sure the bags were packed, ready for our taxi pick-up at 11 am. I woke at about 7:30 and curious me opened the curtains to see what kind of morning was in store for us. It is not often that this happens to me, but my jaw dropped at the beauty of the dawn. I hope my photos do it justice! The sky was splattered with cloud, which were all rimmed with an amazing orange glow. The Seine was still, with perfect reflections in the mirror finish. I excitedly grabbed my camera and took a few shots out of the window. Then the dilemma set in – do I remain in the one place, or head downstairs?  I guess the lessons the Olaf taught me and Lawrie set in and I thought ‘what if?’ I stuffed the apartment key into my bra pocket and headed downstairs with camera and tripod. The boats soon started up and began to stir the water. It was then that I realised how lucky I was tat I had seen such a sight as a glassy Seine! I can’t wait to have a proper look at and play with my photos! I took the opportunity to take some photos of the amazing foyer to our apartment building. The mirror was incredible. Alain, who firstly showed us into the apartment told the boys to not look for too long into it, as it might well take them to a different dimension. I hope the photos do it justice, as it was an amazing building!

Our last minute flurry to get out of the apartment was only flawed by the fact that I had put down the bag of ‘left over’ picnic foods whilst concerned over the whereabouts of the keys. This probably cost us just over 20 Euro, as the food on our Icelandair flight was not complimentary. The wine, chocolate and olives were very nice. I think Jill Morrison and Wendy would approve of the Chardonnay!

Would I return to Paris? As much as I don’t like the crowds and big cities, there are many things in Paris that we did not get to do, so the answer to the question is a big, fat OUI!

We all had separate seats on our flight, which was a bit upsetting to begin with, but I think we probably all need the time out of each other’s’ hair!

Onto the next part of our journey…….