Paris Again (Part 4)

Actually got up a bit later today (still ill, peeps).  I had decided that today was shopping day, so we set off for the rue Mouffetard.  I'd read about this in several guide books which seemed to think there was a market here, so at first I was disappointed to find it wasn't on.  Maybe it's only at the weekend.
Then it started to sink in that I was actually in the most fabulous area (in the fifth). 

There are very few photos that do the place justice.  Note to self: do not let husband comandeer camera for the entire trip as you end up with very few photos for your blog!
Anyway, each shop is very small, but crammed to bursting with either fish, cheese, fruit or (drool!) chocolate.  Of course this has to spill out onto the street, making it very difficult to walk anywhere without wanting to eat everything in sight.  How on earth Parisiennes stay slim with that lot on offer I do not know.  The photo above is of John in a little bistro.  I took the photo because I was fascinated by the tea pot, look:

We saw them for sale in a shop further up and they are very, very expensive (porquoi?)
It also goes to show that we hardly know what cheese is in England, to be honest.  Don't shoot me, I just can't stand cheddar!  The shops must have had 50 different varieties.
We went into a beautiful chocolatier and I bought a selection of chocolates.  I explained that I am allergic to nuts and the shop keeper pointed me in the direction of all the nut free treats.  She was so kind and helpful.  I felt very elegant walking down the road with my little box of chocs in my lovely bag. 
I could wander around here for hours.  Imagine living here and being able to shop here every day...
I wish to goodness I'd known the Pantheon is further up, I'd have walked on and on, but never mind, something for next time.
And so, just for complete contrast, we set off for Galeries Lafayette.  Time Out guide to Paris describes this huge, beautiful department store as selling affordable items.  In WHAT universe??  Someone should have told me it is Paris' equivalent to Harrods.  I mean, 6840 euros for a Prada bag is pushing it a bit, don't you think? 
We had moules et frites in a restaurant and it was all superb.  I'm so sorry I can't remember the name of the place, but it was fab.  In fact, I feel we've only scratched the surface of this amazing city.  There are so many museums, shops and restuarants we haven't seen.  You turn a corner and there is another fountain in another square with another old mansion at the back of it.  I don't want to go home!  I've seen at least two book shops that I never got to go into.  It isn't fair!
Finally, we went to the Dome Church at Les Invalides, where Napoleon's tomb resides.  This is another place we drove past last time that I knew I had to see.  I'm so glad we did:

This is the actual 'tombeau'.  In all the pictures I've seen, it looks really small, but in fact it's huge (considering Napoleon was only 5ft 5inches.)  Look at the people in the picture to give you an idea of the scale.

Building began in 1670 and Napoleon's body was brought here in 1840.  It really is a magnificent place (it's Paris, what else would it be?!)

So that was that, and after a lovely stroll through the gardens it was time to make our way home for our last meal.
But then the most extraordinary thing happened.  This little chap appeared and decided to smuggle himself into my luggage for the journey home. 

Well obviously I did the only thing a girl could do and tucked him up safely in my suitcase.  His name is Boney Ted and he is now enjoying life en Angleterre!
So all in all we had the most awesome time.  I know so many of you have either been to Paris or are currently living there and totally understand the captivating magic of this wonderful city.  I can't wait to go back. 

Another Day In Paris (Part 3)

We got up early today and had a nice breakfast.  In other words, I am having my croissant and hot chocolate fix on a daily basis.  There is no better way to start the day in my opinion!
We left quite early though as we'd decided to visit the Louvre and past experience has shown us that you need to get in the queue early on, so we were there by 8.20am and the museum doesn't even open until 9am, but to be fair, there were already people in the queue. 
When the doors open, the queue moves pretty quickly, and the route to 'you-know-who' is very well sign-posted (okay, I mean La Gioconda, or La Joconde, if we're being french).  Most people made their way up there and I'm glad we did, as we had a fabulous view, which I think may have been difficult later on judgeing from the crowds.
Here's our gal:

I've always been told the painting is very small, but actually it's quite big (not compared to some of the others, granted, but not tiny).  I was quite awestruck, to be honest.  I can't believe I've actually stood in front of it, it's actually quite breathtaking.  I didn't realise how old it is either (1503).
The Louvre is vast and we walked round most of it.

I forgot the Venus de milo was in here too, so stumbling upon her was quite a thrill.

I've put this on just because I have a passion for Assyrian antiquities.  There is some awesome stuff like this in the British Museum, with stuff from Nineveh, that really brings the Bible to life and absolutely fascinates me.
Here's the other thing, that made the whole trip worthwhile:

This is Francois Rude's statue of Joan of Arc.  I don't know how to explain this, really.  I am a born again Christian, but totally not catholic, but I've had a 'thing' about Jeanne d'Arc for many, many years.  There's just something about her female heroism that really speaks to me.
Anyway, there she was, listening, armour by her side.  She will pop up again later actually, but I just wanted to put her in here, where she belongs.
So basically, I'm so glad we went to the Louvre.  We were actually in there for 4 hours and still didn't see everything.  I don't want to make this a very picture heavy post, but you get the idea.
We came out into the sunlight and then headed up to Abbesses station and up on the Funicular.  If you don't know what that is, have a look here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montmartre_funicular 
We decided not to go to the Sacre Coeur as we went inside last time, so we just wandered around the market square and had lunch in a restaurant there.  We had a Plat du Jour for 14E 50, which was very good.  I had an amazing starter which was a vol au vent with some slightly melted roquefort cheese in it and the plate swimming in a cheese sauce, it was awesome.  I also had Boeuf bourguignon, which was fabulous, then a chocolate mousse.  The flavours in each course were very strong and fabulous.  I just want to go back and eat it all again!  You look at the choc mousses here and think, 'that's really small' but the flavour is so rich, you really don't need a massive portion.  I have never come across chocolate like that in England.  That is not to say it doesn't exist, but I've never come across it!  And if you have, please, for goodness sake, leave me a message and tell me where I can get some!!
This is quite a long post now, so I'll stop and pop back tomorrow.
Thanks for looking
Jane xx

Another Day In Paris (Part 2)

Such a busy day.  As usual, we walked miles, even though we didn't intend to!  Why does Paris do that to you?  Everyone says Paris is smaller than London, like that somehow makes it small, but it isn't at all, is it?
We left quite early in the morning and found the RER station (Javel) which is just over the bridge from the hotel.  Went along a couple of stops, hopped out, and there it is, the little darling.  Who can resist her charms?!

And so we joined the queue, which was quite short and moving merrily along.  I'd intended to go up to the first level (just above my head in this picture) but unfortunately it's currently closed for repairs, so I had no choice but to go up to the second level, which wasn't what I'd intended at all.  John got a ticket to the summit.
Lots of people crammed into the lift and off it went, like The Great Glass Elevator.  I clung onto the pole in the middle.  It didn't take long to arrive at the deuxieme etage. This was the most scary bit, with loads of people forcing you out of the lift and you don't know what you're stepping out onto.
But actually it's a really wide gallery, with steps down into a cafe.  John immediately vanished to continue his journey to the summit, taking the camera and leaving me without a sous, so I couldn't even have a cup of coffee!
I must tell you, I am absolutely terrified of heights, but for some reason, I made my way outside, sat down on one of very few benches, and took in the view... and loved it!  This really is a first for me.  It was amazing to look out and see the Arc twice as high as any surrounding buildings, Notre Dame, and all the way over to the Sacre Coeur.  Awesome.
So Le Tour and I are firm friends.  I waited ages and ages for John to reappear, I was getting quite worried (and thirsty!) but he eventually came strolling back to tell me the view is amazing and that I really should have gone up there.  I don't think so, darling!
We came back down to terra firma and set off to the Musee D'Orsay.  We were well underway when suddenly there were police eveywhere and the road was blocked off and we were sent around the back of the building.  All very strange.  Then, as we were nearly back to the main road, we heard the explosion.  John said it was a controlled explosion and he'd seen the guys there, but it was pretty scary, all the same.  Some other people coming towards us looked just as shocked as we were.
When we finally got to the museum, I took one look at the queue and changed my mind.  It was too nice a day to queue up for hours and spend more hours indoors, so we changed tack.
I decided to do some of the other stuff I've been dying to do, so we shot straight off to the Jardin des Tuileries.  It's a beautiful park, next to the Louvre, full of trees sporting their autumn attire.  We stopped in a cafe and had yet another croque monsieur, eating outside in the sunshine.

I didn't realise before, but if you stand with your back to the Louvre, this is what you see in the opposite direction.  How fabulous is that?!
We carried on towards the Louvre, but didn't stop.  We carried on straight to the Palais Royal.  I am a big fan of Rosemary Kneipp's blog, Aussie in France, which you can reach here:  http://www.aussieinfrance.com/  She actually lives at the top of the Palais Royal, so I really want her to see these pics!

Imagine having this on your doorstep!  So fabulous.

Some very controversial art work, but I loved it!
From here, we carried on up to the Rue St Honore (sorry, I don't know how to type accents yet).  This is the road we whizzed down on the coach in June, and that I have vowed to walk down.
Here's why:

Oh to win the lottery!  We can all dream (more of this at a later date).  We walked miles and miles around here, including the Place Vendome, which has to be one of my favourite places in the whole of Paris. 
So we came home, exhausted, but happy, had a bath and decided to have dinner in the hotel restaurant, where my mouth ulcers were so bad I just wanted to cry and could hardly eat a thing!  Oh well...
More soon, I'm sure
Jane xx

Paris... Again! (Part 1)

I just had to pop in and say hello as we've just got back from another week in Paris.  First of all, I must tell you that I've been so ill.  On the Thursday before we left, one of the residents at work (I work in a care home) was extremely ill, with a chest infection and I ended up packing her off to hospital.  Because I spent a couple of hours with her I just seemed to breathe her germs in.  At first I thought I just had a sore throat, but it wouldn't go away.  I ended up going to the walk-in centre, where I was given antibiotics for an ear infection and a throat infection.

So you can imagine how I felt on Monday morning as I got up at 4.15, got dressed and got a taxi to the airport.  Did I mention that I'm scared witless of flying?  You probably do it all the time, right?  Actually it's not flying I'm scared of, it's turbulence!  And turbulence there was, so I clung on to John for dear life until it was over.  Of course the flight made my ears hurt even more, but still.
Because, before you know it, we were in Charles de Gaulle airport, and made our way down to the RER.  I'd really like to thank Jill at http://www.gigisfrenchwindow.blogspot.co.uk/ as she did a brilliant post about how to get into Paris from the airport and after reading this I found the whole thing a doddle.
We got out at Chatalet and walked up and down a bit.  It took a while to get through to John that you can't just wander around and hope for the best, so eventually he got the map out and we found Notre Dame.  Don't forget, we came here in June, so we know roughly where we are.  Actually we know very much where we are, said hello to the Old Dear, crossed over the Seine and began our mega walk to our hotel. 
Actually it was miles, past the Eiffel Tower and still going, past the Pont de Grenelle and the Radio France building (and the Petit Liberte) and finally we are there.  Thank goodness we only had small suitcases on wheels.

We checked into our very nice rooms and just collapsed and went to sleep, both of us utterly exhausted!  It was quite a relief to find it was such a nice hotel after staying in a grotty Campanile last time.
Have I told you that I've been having french lessons for about 8 weeks?  I'm really enjoying it.  That's partly why I haven't done any art work, because I've been totally concentrating on learning french.  And I'm very glad, because it really paid off.  I had no problems ordering things in restaurants, asking for directions etc.  I'm so pleased.
We went out to dinner to a nearby restaurant where John had steak and I had Normandy chicken, which had a mushroom sauce on it.  We had a glass of wine each (the one and only time as I'm on antibiotics) and I had an awesome chocolate mousse for pudding.
I was just so glad to have arrived, in my favourite, favourite place. 
More again soon
Jane xx