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Paris

Paris

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Arc de Triomphe

We settled into our apartment two blocks south of the Champs Elysees and we set off for a wander late in the afternoon. Weather was crisp but pleasant enough for an evening stroll.  We discovered that our street starts opposite the Lido and ends at the Seine opposite the Eiffel Tower. So with a bright sunny day next day we did what seemed like every other person in Paris was doing. Strolled from the Arch de Triomphe down to the Eiffel Tower.
Did the obligatory hop-on-hop-off bus. Well thank goodness we walked all day the day before because for the next three days it rained and rained and rained. As you know when it rains in a city it’s miserable. So what does one do when it’s raining – go shopping of course!

Nothing beats Paris for class when it comes to exclusive department stores – London may have Harrods but Paris has so many exceptional high class department stores that they make David Jones and Myer look like Kmart. Stores such as Printemps, Galeries Lafayette, Le Bon Marche and BHV. Parisians might go there to by their Hermes scarfs or Louis Vuitton handbags – but the most attractive thing about these stores is the architecture. The best advice I can give a tourist is keep your hands in your pockets and just absorb the ambience of the buildings. Don’t get me wrong – I did spend money – bought the most expensive coffee in Paris in Printemps’ idsy bitsy cafe on the second floor. And the coffee came out of a push button vending machine and it was shit. Very disappointing.

Stopped at the multi level Virgin Super store on the Champse Elysse on the way home just because we could. Had thought about buying a new mini keyboard for the computer – and when we looked at their keyboards we discovered that what we regard as standard – the QWERTY keyboard is not the case. Various countries of the world have their own versions depending on what language they speak. Frances keyboard is AVERTY. The keys are in different positions on the board. So buying a QWERTY board in France is nigh on impossible.

It’s Monday and all the Pommy tourists that have snuck over on the Eurostar for a dirty weekend in Paris have all gone home – and – voila the sun is shining again. Do you think the Frenchies are trying to tell them something? Took a stroll down the Champs, across the Place de la Concorde with thousands of Aussies and Yanks to the Louvre.  That glass pyramid amazes me. Spent hours strolling through hall after hall of their amazing collection of artefacts and paintings – and of course had to check out the Mona Lisa – sorry still don’t get it. I acknowledge he was a great artist – huge talent – but why do the hoards flock to that one little painting when there are so many amazing works hanging on every wall that they hurry on past. If I lived in Paris I would have to take out a yearly pass, and visit it every weekend, to have a hope of seeing the vast exhibition this museum has to offer. We paid 11 Euro each to get in today – hate to think what it would be like on a Sunday when the entry is free.

Anyway after going shopping with JLo today am just plumb warn out. Gotta get some sleep lots to do and so little time to do it in.

L’Etang la Ville, France

L’Etang la Ville, France

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Our French abode

Saturday saw us all packed and heading off the St. Pancreas station to catch the Eurostar across to Paris.  Had already done a trip by the underground, without our luggage, during the week to be sure we knew where we were going.  So off we headed full of confidence only to discover our local station “closed for track maintenance”.  Hmmph!  TAXI!  Had our first ride in a London cab – which I suppose we had to do before leaving town and it cost only marginally more than two tickets through two train zones – two platform changes and numerous flights of stairs.  So we arrived at St Pancreas in plenty of time.  Pleased we had booked first class seats with table (thanks to advice on website “seat61”).  Left sunny London – into tunnel – out the other side in a cold wet and miserable France.

The neighbours
The King’s hunting ground when he visited Versailles

Not to be put off we headed off to our first accommodation in the wonderful little village half an hour just outside Paris called L’Etang la Ville.  Had booked a room in a private house through “airbnb”.  Turns out our hosts are and Aussie Opera singer Louise Canninan from Brisbane and British Opera singer husband Rodney Earl Clarke.  Despite the rain, the house the village and district were picture perfect.  Spent a couple of days walking, bussing & training to local areas.  We’ve decided if we move to France the neighbouring town of St Germain en Laye is where we want to will live.  Unfortunately it is also where all the richest of the rich Parisians live.  Beautiful town with all the best shops overlooked by castles with huge gardens.  Palace of Versailles isn’t the only mansion in town. It’s up in the hills west of Paris.  You can see Paris spread out beneath you from some vantage points.

One disparaging thing is that we sat down at a cafe to have a coffee and it must have been a break in school as a whole bunch (probably about twenty) young girls and boys  (about 14/15 years of age) were enjoying their espressos and every one of them was smoking.  But despite the fact that the French still smoke as much as ever, they do it as they do everything else – with class.