Fabulous French Shopping and a night of Italian Fun - Friday, 4th May 2012

I’m meant to be on holidays for a rest after a full on year, but it’s been non-stop since we arrived in Paris.  This morning I enjoyed a lazy morning and didn’t leave the apartment until 11 am after deciding that all I’d do today was shop, eat and read. 

Today Kelli was off to Monet’s House at Giverny and my first stop were the shops of St Germain.  I bought dresses and then ventured over the river to buy shoes from Galleries La Fayette.  I also bought my beautiful niece, who is also my Goddaughter, her first Birthday present from Tiffany’s!  I’m so excited and I can’t wait to give it to her (and her MumJ )

I dropped my bags off at home and then went for and hour stroll around the block and to buy stamps at the post office.  I’m trying to ween myself off my addiction of sending so many post cards.  So I’m sorry if you didn’t receive one this time around.

I received a text from Australia during my walk which made me smile lots and just afterward whilst still smiling I was stopped by a French man who admired my smile!  His name was Sami and he’s a policeman and he offered me some chocolates which he’s just bought around the corner from Chocolaterie Georges Larnicol (Maison Georges LARNICOL). I thanked him and bid my farewell and continued to smile my way home.

Then it was time to enjoy a fresh baguette for lunch with half a black forest torte and a layered fresh strawberry and sponge torte.  They were both so light and flavoursome and wonderful.  Now that late lunch is done (it’s now 3.45 pm) time for a read!

At 7 pm Kelli and I went downstairs for Italian.  The restaurant was quite full with lots of little square tables joined together to form one long table.  Kelli and I were seated across from one another next to a retired couple from Kansas.  It was an amazing night.  The restaurant staff were so much fun and regularly engaged with the dinners.  The couple next to us were both retired professors and just such lovely people.  The food and wine was absolutely divine and bursting with flavour.  We both had a lot of fun and really enjoyed our local dining experience.  By this stage it was quite late and we were tired and content!  We finished the night with an ice-cream from Amorino.  Ahhh this is the life!

Handbag Heaven and Café Flore - Thursday, 3rd May 2012

 After only four hours sleep, it was time to get up and make the most of our next day in Paris!  This morning I just went for a short walk around St Germain and to the Annabelle Winship shoe store to see what the latest styles are.  It’s an English brand, but very cool shoes.

I then walked back home for a baguette lunch with Kel who had returned from Musée D’Orsay.  We enjoyed a salad baguette and shared two magnificent pastries including a lemon meringue and a strawberry tart.  They were so light and delicious. 

After a little lie down I walked with Kel half way down to Musée L’Orangerie and did some shopping to stock up on notelets and buy a handbag or three from one of my favourite Parisian Handbag stores!

By the time I arrived home it was 7 pm.  Kel and I made the short walk down boulevard St Germain for dinner at Café Flore which is evidently the most famous café in the world!  I enjoyed a glass of red and a mixed salad and Kel introduced herself to the Croque Monsieur which she also washed down with a glass of Red. 

At 9 pm we made our way home stopping at the Carrefour Supermarket for more champagne and other supplies.  It has been a lovely day.

A Beautiful Museum, A Fabulous Cabaret and A Long Walk Home - Wednesday, 2 May 12

This morning we made our way to Musee Jacquemart et Andre on Boulevarde Haussman for the 10am opening.   We spend 1 ½ hours enjoying the self guided tour around this magnificent home.  We then enjoyed lunch and a pastry at what is renowned as the prettiest tea house in Paris, which is at the rear of the museum.

With a lovely lunch complete we made our way to the train station to pre-book Kel’s ticket to Brugge, and our day trip train tickets to the Loire Valley and Reims next week.  Thankfully our desk attendant was incredibly helpful.  Then it was time for a spot of shopping at Printemps and Galleries La Fayette.  We made our way home via Tiffany’s and Chanel where we popped in for a quick look!  It was about 5 pm by this stage so we spent some time at home enjoying a rest. 

At 10 pm we left for Moulin Rouge because we were booked in for the 11 pm show.  Despite all patrons pre-booking tickets we were all required to queue down along the street before being granted entry.  We only had to wait 30 minutes or so, so it wasn’t too bad.  It was actually quite serendipitous.  As we waited, Hamish and Andy walked past us.  I recognised Hamish first and then Andy and then screamed out ‘OMG, its Hamish and Andy’.  Kel and I grabbed each others arms in our excitement and were jumping up and down screaming out to them ‘I love you guys’.  It all happened so quickly and was very exciting and cool.  Unfortunately I got so caught up in my excitement that by the time my brain switched on they’d turned back around and had continued to walk away so we missed out on a very unique photo opportunity with them.  Bummer!!  They were currently in Europe for their European Gap Year.  Once we’d settled down, the American and Canadians around us asked us if they were some one famous who they should have recognised.  It was hilarious!!!   The show ‘Féerie’ was awesome and quite different to the show of the same name I saw in 2008!

When we emerged from the show at 1.30 am we discovered the metro was closed – Doh!  No problem – we’ll just get a taxi.  Once in the taxi we somehow ended up on the wrong side of the river moving further away from our apartment.  The dumb taxi driver chose to play dumb so we demanded he stopped!  We were so angry at him which probably lead to us not thinking our next move completely through!  We got out at Arc de Triomphe and walked down the Champs-Elysee to make our way home by foot.  We finally made it home at 3.30 am after a 1 or 2 hour walk in heels.  Surprisingly Paris is very quiet at that hour of the morning!

Let the Holiday Begin - Tuesday, 1st May 2012

It’s 1.30 in the morning and I’m now awake after crashing pretty early last night. My diary still smells beautifully of L’Instant by Guerlain which Jancey sprayed in it when she gave it to me two years ago for my last Paris visit. A nice touch.

Here’s hoping Kelli and I receive our luggage today. Just to make things a little more interesting, today also happens to be a Public Holiday, so very little at all is open! Kelli was awake as well so we sat up to around 3.30 am talking, then went back to bed. I was having the best sleep when I was abruptly awoken by my phone ringing at 7.50 am. It was the courier company calling to let me know that they’d be delivering my bag between 10.00 – 2.00 today. Woo Hoo!

Kelli had heard me and had gotten up as well so we dressed and went for a walk and a pastry. Just lovely. We walked to the Luxembourg Gardens which was full of runners and people enjoying some Thai Chi on this lovely ‘workers’ public holiday. Thankfully many cafes, restaurants and patisseries were open – so we are set!

I’m now waiting at home for my luggage while Kelli has gone out for a walk. I’ve been leaning out of the window which faces onto the street admiring the streets of Paris again. In an apartment across the road I can see a big black cat basking in the sun. Down on the street, people walk by with arms full of baguettes. A girl rides past on a bicycle in jeans, a top and ballet flats as her hair dances away from her shoulders in the wind. It is a place where life appears, relaxed and easy. Riding a bike is a means of transport and its okay to wear normal clothes and not wear a helmet. It is simple and wonderful.

11.53 am. Both our bags have arrived. Yay. I’m so excited and have never been happier to receive my luggage! Now our Parisian holiday can really begin! Kelli arrived back at 1 pm with our lunch (Baguettes) and we popped a bottle of Café de Paris bubbly to celebrate. We felt so relieved and happy.

At 3.30 pm we’d showered, changed our clothes (finally) and left the apartment for a walk around the beautiful streets of Paris. We discovered that just down from our apartment is this amazing well set out pre-loved clothes store. And then, just 50 – 75 metres down the road is the Seine River. We crossed over it and walked down to the Hotel de Ville, which is a magnificent building to behold. The clouds have cleared and it is a beautiful day to enjoy outdoor sights like these.

Like always, as has been the case on this trip, I felt hungry again! So what better way to fix this than with a Nutella crepe! Oh so good and delicious. We ate it beside the amazing Tour St Jacques. The Saint-Jacques Tower is a monument located in the 4th arrondissement on rue de Rivoli. The 52 metre flamboyant gothic tower is all that remains of the former 16th century Church of Saint-Jacques-de-la-Boucherie (Saint James of the butchery) which was levelled shortly after the French Revolution in 1793.

We then caught the metro to Sacre Cour at Montmartre. It was a beautiful warm day and being a public holiday it seemed like every Parisian was out enjoying the day. Inside the Sacred Heart Basilica was equally as busy with tourists admiring the outer edges of the building while worshipers attended a service in the middle. There was an all day Eucharist for St Therese on and Nun’s were singing, their voices beautiful. I lit three candles this time, one for my Grandma and Nana and one for Mishka. It’s my thing!

Once outside we made our way to the Place de Tetre, the artist’s square. It was alive and buzzing as always. We walked our way down to Montmartre where Moulin Rouge is and then home. We must have walked 10+ kms! We were so tired and exhausted and finally stopped at 9 pm for dinner at a restaurant nearby our apartment.

Where’s our Luggage? - Monday, 30th May 2012

Our arrival to Heathrow was delayed by approximately one hour meaning that our connecting flight to Paris was rescheduled to a later flight, and from a British Airways flight to an Air France flight. At the time, we rolled with the punches, ‘oblivious’ to the matter unfolding around us. We finally boarded our Air France flight and were on our way. And after 38 hours of travel, a picturesque Eiffel Tower came into view from the aeroplane window. And at that point a small part of me felt that I’d arrived back home! I do have a great love for Paris and it holds a special place in my heart. We finally arrived three hours later than we were meant to, however our baggage had decided not to join us! Strangely enough Kelli’s luggage was still in Sydney and mine was at London. Not the end of the world but somewhat of an inconvenience. Air France was kind enough to provide us each with 100 Euros to buy essentials. And that is what we did!!

Off to Paris Again! - Sunday, 29th April 2012

Today my journey to continue my love affair with Paris began at 6.30 am. My friend Di, who was going to Sydney for the day for her son’s hockey games, kindly offered to drop me at the airport, which I am very grateful to her for. I am going to Paris with my lovely friend Kelli Lunt and I excitedly met her in the Sydney Airport Qantas Club. We’d booked out tickets using frequent flyer points which meant that we had to fly to Melbourne to depart from the international airport down there. So now if Qantas randomly decide to change the frequent flyer points system, we’ve already benefited from all our points with a glamorous trip to Paris! Unfortunately our flight from Melbourne to Heathrow was delayed by an hour due to mechanical issues and as you are about to read this was the beginning of something bigger to come! Our flight to Heathrow, with the briefest of stopovers in Singapore, went smoothly enough except for another delay to our departure due to the need for the airport staff to source special handling equipment to help a 150 kg passenger off the plane. Can you believe they actually told us this!!

Musée à Trois – Wednesday, 12th May 2010

This morning on my run through the Louvre and Tuileries I decided to explore the perfectly trimmed hedges which fan out from the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel. I discovered that they are actually hollow through the base with well worn tracks running through the length of them. I thought it a place where possibly the homeless take refuge at night – but then to my surprise I began to notice empty condom wrappers littering the grounds nearby. So my lovely run through the hedges had some of the innocence removed by this somewhat unexpected discovery! The sculptures were lovely though!

Being my last full day in Paris I decided to tick off my final three museums. My first visit was to La Conciergerie. It was built as a royal palace in the 14th century for the concierge of the Palais de la Cite, but later lost favour with the kings of France and became a prison and torture chamber. A concierge is someone who manages policing and prisons and this building was named the Conciergerie after the Concierge of the establishment. Queen Marie-Antoinette was among the 2700 alleged enemies of the revolution held in the dungeons here before being sent to the guillotine during the ‘Reign of Terror’ from 1793-94. There is a reconstruction of Marie-Antoinette’s cell and Marie-Antoinette’s Chapel was built in 1815 on the exact spot where her prison cell stood. It is here as well that you can see the 14th century Sall des Gens d’Armes (Cavalrymen’s Hall) which is a good example of the Rayonnant Gothic Style and is the largest surviving medieval hall in Europe.

Following La Conciergerie I visited Musée de l’Orangerie which is located in the south-western corner of the Jardin des Tuileries and along with one other building is all that remains of the once palatial Palais des Tuileries where Napoleon III lived.

The Nymphéas (water lilies) have been at the Tuileries l’Orangerie Museum since 1927. They were a gift from Claude Monet (1840 – 1926) to the French state and hang in the two oval rooms as requested by Monet. The eight works were created between 1914 and the time of his death and are a culmination of an entire life’s work. They were inspired by his water garden at his home in Giverny, where he spent 30 years painting its ever changing scenes.

Also at l’Orangerie I viewed works by Matisse, Renoir, Cezanne, Picasso, Soutine, Modigliani and Derain. Most of the collection had been assembled by the renowned Parisian art dealer Paul Guillaume (1891 – 1934). His widow Domenica Walter added to the collection before she sold it to the French State in the 1960s. The Walter-Guillaume Collection is claimed to be a prestigious group of paintings without equal in any other Parisian museum and has only been on display to the public since 1984.

To complete my museum trifecta I visited the Louvre. And to complete my Louvre trifecta I visited the final of the third wings being the Richelieu Wing. Wow – I feel so inspired by my visit to this particular wing. I loved the 5th century right through to the 19th century French Sculptures. I then went up a floor where to my delight I discovered the ‘Renaissance’. Here, room after room, hung large wonderful tapestries. They are so beautiful and contain so much detail. Then I made my way to the much anticipated Napoleon III apartments! There’s only one word to describe them – WOW! They are probably the most spectacular apartments I have seen out of all the Palaces and Chateaus I have visited. They are absolutely stunning and overflowing with opulence. If you ever visit the Louvre they are a definite must see – just magnificent!

I had the most wonderful time in the Richelieu Wing as I wandered through with a huge permanent smile. I love the cheekiness and playfulness the artists paint and sculpt into their work. I felt so much joy being there and by being surrounded by such magnificence. Each corner I turned filled my soul with such wonder and delight.

It was such a wonderful way to end what has been my most wonderful and incredible month in Paris!

Au revior my lovely Paris!