A little snippet of Paris...

It's raining. Really raining. The kind of rain that limits external activities and encourages lethargy. Boo was lucky enough to spend the day with a school-pal, so Toto and I spent our day lolling around in our pyjamas, playing card games, watching re-runs of "Top Gear" and pfaffing around on our computers.

Which meant that I spent some time pictorially re-living our European trip. It's hard to believe that we've only been home for 5 weeks, although we discuss places we went to and people that we stayed with every single day.

Here, then, is some detail from Notre Dame. In the city of Paris. The city of Fabi. One of my favourite places on the planet.

And even though we wanted it to last forever..... it couldn't....

I'm good at abusing superlatives, I know, but this day was every superlative I've ever used, multiplied by 100.

We did all the cliched Parisien tourist things, in our own "Fabi" way.

We began the day with croissant and cafe in a market in Belleville, near Fabi's old home. The market was bustling and noisy and fit to burst my senses! The smelly fish! The stinky cheese! The body odour!! It was magnifique!!!! We bought bagettes, chicken, cous-cous, tomatoes, avocadoes and fruit and then spent half an hour finding 3 available "public" blikes (the flaw in the plan is that often there are no bikes where you want them, and too many where you want to return them!) before riding for hours through Central Paris (sometimes in the rain).

This weekend is Bastille Day, and the city was celebrating. Balloons, firecrackers, music, conversation, laughter.....

We stopped on Pont Marie to watch this wonderfully comic street performer....



...before riding along the side of the Seine and then stopping on the tip of Ile de la Cite for our picnic lunch, under the protective gaze of Notre Dame. There were young lovers sitting near us (the perfect backdrop) and the sun shone for our picnic.

We then rode through St Germain, on to Luxembourg Gardens for glace and an explanation as to where all the people had gone!

And then we rode back through the busiest and most beautiful areas of Paris .... over bridges and through markets..... past Churches and Galleries.... to the Canal near Fabi's house for refreshments, before riding back to Belleville for a Chinese meal.

By the time we rode home and dropped the bikes off, we had been on them for over 8 hours. And even Fabi was marvelling at the beauty of her city.

Knowing that we had an EARLY start (9am!! How shocking!) we fell into bed to the sound of firecrackers exploding underneath our window.

We DID arise in time, packed the bags in time and Fabi took us to the airport in time for our flight.

I've adored Fabi each time I've met her, but we've never spent an entire week together before. I can now say, with a full heart, that she is a lifelong special friend to all of us. Her willingness to be "taken over" by the three of us (like all of our hosts on this trip) and her wonderful approach to my boys and her relationships with them is testament to her beautiful nature. I am SO grateful for the journey of life that has given me these wonderful friends.

But goodbyes are agony. And so we said "see you later!".

Thank you Fabi.

Paris by Cafe...

After a VERY slow morning, Fabi took the boys cycling to the City Of Science..... a wonderful Science Museum with thousands of thrilling exhibits (yawn!) ...... and I hopped back on the Metro for a unique afternoon of SOLO strolling through Paris (yum!)

This is the view from the first table that I sat at....

This from the second......
..... and this is from the stroll back to the Metro for the trip home.....

..... where my tired feet are preparing to begin packing the bags again.  

Pitanque in Paris.....

Last night two of Fabi's friends came over for dinner and Pitanque.  Matyr and Charlotte.  They are both actresses..... beautiful and interesting and wonderfully patient with my smatterings of French.  

We walked across to the other side of the Canal to a bar which lends out Pitanque balls.  It was a challenge to stake our patch of ground to play on, but we did it!  And a wonderfully competitive game was played!

Fabi, Matyr, Charlotte, F and H

apparently I have great style, but my accuracy was wanting (kind of sums up my life!!)

Final score..... F and Matyr 13, Fabi and Charlotte 7, H and me 4.  Hmph.

The smells and sounds of Paris....

Today was another walking day.  The boys and I caught the Metro to Bastille and then browsed the tiny alleys and lanes around the Marais district.  We went to Musee Picasso and NEARLY went to The Louvre!  But we're all completely and utterly exhuasted.  We've reached a wall, beyond which lies a week in Lisbon with beaches and swimming.  Our feet are sore.  Our attention span is short.  

But today my other senses seemed to be working overtime.  Paris has a distinct smell.  Overall, it is of burnt sugar, baking bread, cigarette smoke and the River.  And its sound is a muted laughter and conversation over guitar music.  Quite distinct.  If I were blindfolded and put in a padded room and asked to distinguish a location by sound and smell, I believe I would guess Paris' in an instant.  London (to me) would be of exhaust fumes and traffic, and Sydney would be salt air and seagulls.  Hmmm... Gee I'm generalising, but you know what I mean.

My Parisienne Shoes.... (for those who asked)

Not terribly glamorous..... but incredibly comfortable.

Paris and shoes...

.... for the boys too.  We only brought two pairs with us, and so it's quite in order to replenish our footwear stock in Paris (of course!).  The three of us bought some shoes today..... as we wandered around Les Halles, Marais and on to the Centre Pompidou, which I love.  We were all worn our from our late night adventures last night, and so today was only about 4 hours of sightseeing.

Eglise St-Eustache

Street Art

Centre Pompidou, and two tired and grumpy but gorgeous boys

Riding through Paris at night with the wind in our hair...

There is a fantastic scheme here in Paris where you can  hire "public bikes" from bike stands every 300 metres or so throughout the city.  You swipe your credit card, and if you return the bikes within 30 mins it doesn't cost you anything, but after that it's 1 euro per hour.  Fantastic!

So, we hired 3 bikes (Fabi has her own) and rode off at 9pm, along the canal paths,  to an amazing cinema

where we saw the end of an extremely esoteric film made by an animator.  It was in many different languages and wasn't meant to make any sense..... more an exhibition in the art form and amazing art direction.  The boys weren't sure what to make of it, but the experience was pretty amazing.

And then we rode through Paris through the night!  We rode for an hour.... along streets as well as bike paths..... and it was incredible!  We stopped for refreshments at one point, and didn't get home until midnight.  It was an experience that will stay with me for a long, long time.... and I hope with the boys as well.