Final Entry

Wednesday 12^th October, 2011

Really winding down now as we had nothing planned for the morning except to head into town to get Kim a new suitcase so that she could fit all her purchases in. We stopped off at Macca’s on the way to send off what we thought might be the final entry but we thought we’d add another one.

Anne said for us to go down to Oxford Street so that’s where we went. We found more than one shop that sold suitcases so Kim made her choice and off we went to the ‘gherkin’. We were initially given the wrong directions but soon corrected that and were on our way. We were about 45 minutes early but that didn’t matter, we had a drink in a café across the road.

Anne arrived and in we went. There was a problem with the booking that Anne had someone do for her but as they weren’t busy they let us in anyway. We had to wait in the reception area for someone to come and collect us, and then we had to put our bags through a scanner along with ourselves. Security is a big deal in London for obvious reasons. Anyway after Anne and Kim set the machine off with their shoes up she took us to the very, very top.  Not just anyone gets to go up there, apparently you have to have a membership or something so we were feeling pretty special. We had lunch and a couple of drinks with all the suits up there and the view of London was amazing and then made our way back to Potters Bar to pack the bags.  We made sure we left enough time to redo them if we needed to. So both working frantically to get the bags packed we managed it. I had to do mine a couple of times and Kim was ok with the extra sized case.

Anne and Alan had organised a taxi driver for us who was Ram but affectionately called Rambo by them. They arranged for a 7:00pm pickup but when I looked out the window I noticed him out the front at 6:00pm. Apparently he is a bit of a panic merchant and wanted to make sure we got there on time, the flight wasn’t until 10:15pm though so we knew we would be ok. Neither Anne or Alan were home yet and we wanted to say goodbye so we didn’t acknowledge he was there.

Anne arrived home at about 6:30pm but Alan had got caught up with clients so we bid Anne a fond farewell and with best wishes to Alan and a huge thank you to both for allowing us to intrude on their lives for a few days. We jumped in with Ram who was a 70 odd year old gentleman that after what Alan had told us we didn’t have a lot of faith in but he proved to be very good and cheap. The only thing that was a little disconcerting was he put his foot on and off the accelerator so the trip was a little bit jolty. We arrived at the airport in about an hour and then it was on for young and old.

We went to check in our luggage and the guy we got was a bit of a joker, asking me if my name was Batman, etc. anyway he thought he was funny. When he asked whether our cabin bags had liquids we both said no and after he finished up checking our luggage in we wandered off but then Kim mentioned about whether the perfumes and champagne were ok and we were then in a dilemma. In our frantic state of trying to get everything packed we hadn’t thought about what was in what bag and the restrictions they have. We sat there thinking about it and decided we’d better go and fess up and find out what we could do cause we didn’t want those things taken off us. When we originally checked in our bags were only 25kg and we were allowed 30kg but our smaller cabin bags were well over the limit, we were allowed 7kg but both of us were double that. He let us go with that the first time, although he only checked Kim’s carry on and not mine. Luckily it wasn’t busy at all and he said that we still had 9kg with our checked in luggage to play with so we could take the liquids out of the bags and go and buy a bag and pack it with 9kgs and then we would be ok but to do it quickly. So off we went to where he directed us and bought a small bag, another 35 pounds, and packed the perfume and champagne in and tried to use as much padding as possible as it was a soft bag. We weighed it, and luckily it was within the 9kgs so back we went to him again. He said that was ok but checked Kim’s carry on again but once again not mine!! Anyway he asked if she could reduce hers by another couple of kilo’s which we added to the smaller bag. That was now exactly 9kg’s and although Kim’s was still over, and I knew mine was double what it should’ve been he let us go. We asked if he could put a fragile sticker on the bag which he did but I was still worried that I’d get the bag at the end and the bottles would be smashed!!

Anyway off we went ready for the long trip home. We filled in a bit of time wandering around the duty free and then got on the plane. Uneventful flight to Dubai where we got off and changed flights. We were only about an hour and a half in Dubai so we checked emails, etc. and thankfully a friend Kerrie had offered to pick us up so that was a relief not having to worry about how we were going to get home. We then checked in and got on the bus to take us to the plane for our next leg to Singapore. Another uneventful flight we all we seemed to do is eat. They feed you a couple of times whether it be lunch, dinner, breakfast and all you’re doing is sitting there, very hard to cope with when all we’d done for the past 6 weeks was walk and walk and walk. We had another hour and a half in Singapore and although we were on the same plane we had to get off, so we had a look at the duty free again and then it was once again time to reboard. We went through but this time both Kim and I got patted down! Never had that done before, can’t say that it was a great experience!! Back on the plane again for another flight of just over 6 hours.

We landed and we grabbed some grog on the way through to customs and then collected our luggage. The small bag came through on the carousel and wasn’t put where all the fragile collections were so I was a bit worried about it but luckily all was intact. We then went through and after declaring on our form that the food we had ticked was only chocolates from Harrod’s (yummy) we got straight through. Kerrie was there waiting for us and home we went, exhausted.

What a fantastic time we had and although it is good to back and catch up with everyone we would like to still be away seeing everything that we didn’t get to see. We hope you have enjoyed reading about our trip as much as we have enjoyed it…Arriva derci….au revoir….see ya.

London Day 3

Tuesday 11^th October, 2011

Didn’t have a lot planned for today so didn’t leave the house until a bit later which was good in that we were able to save a few dollars on an off peak travel pass, I’d like to add though that once again we still woke early. We went into town and had a look around some shops and then headed to the one and only ‘Harrods’ for some more shopping. What an amazing place. It was nice just walking around looking at all the things we couldn’t afford…actually there are a lot of affordable things as well. They also have a dedicated area for all the Harrod’s touristy stuff, like the tote bags (in just about every size) and keyrings, cups, pens, everything really.

We left there and walked over to Hyde Park and strolled through there. It is so big and we only saw a small section of it. There was a café at one end of the lake and we stopped there and had a drink and some cake. We then walked down to Poet’s Corner and Marble Arch and then back onto the Underground to check out a shopping centre. We’d had enough by that stage and it was about 3:30pm so we decided to head back to Potters Bar so that we could go to McDonalds and put the blog on for the past few days as we don’t have access where we are. So for the delay and lack of photo’s we’re sorry.

We arrived back home at about 5:30pm as Anne has booked us into an Indian Restaurant for tonight. Alan won’t be coming though because he will need to stay home with the dogs. They have two beautiful black german shepherds, Jet  who is about  9 years old and the puppy Beau who is about 17 weeks old. They are very funny together when they are playing and Jet certainly lets the playful Beau know when he’s had enough.

Tomorrow, our last day, Anne has booked us into the apparently renowned ‘gherkin’ for drinks. It is said to have a fantastic 360 degree view so we are really looking forward to that.

This will probably be the last entry as even though we don’t leave until tomorrow night we will probably be spending the afternoon trying to squish everything into our cases!!

Toodle pip for now.

London Day 2

Monday 10^th October, 2011

Another busy day ahead. Went to the train station early again which made it an expensive ticket as it wasn’t off-peak so instead of ten pound it cost us 19 pound. We certainly use it though, getting on and off all the time at different locations. We went to the London Eye first off but found it was too expensive and took too long so we decided to pass on that one. We went down to the bus stop to catch the hop on/hop off that we’d bought a ticket for the previous day. Whilst standing there we turned around and there was Big Ben (the bell), with the parliament buildings, very impressive. So we then jumped on the bus with the intention of getting to Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guard but we obviously got the wrong one that took us everywhere else first and by the time we got to Buckingham Palace the event had already started. We were a bit disappointed because they are only every second day at the moment and by the time we got there people were everywhere as you can imagine but we did manage to get a good spot directly in front for when they all came out. It is all a lot of pomp and ceremony but a great spectacle all the same.
We left there and headed for Westminster Abbey. We spent a good couple of hours in there, so much to see with the help of an audio guide to explain everything. We asked a gentleman who I think was a volunteer helper a question and stood and chatted with him for a bit near the end, he was very interesting, an ex commando.

By this stage it was 2:00pm and we were starving as we hadn’t had anything so we found a café and had some delicious home made soup. Then we headed to the dock as the hop on/hop off bus included a boat trip down the Thames. We got on that and it, although they say they are not guides, included a bit of commentary. Actually he didn’t stop from the moment we got on but he was very informative and quite funny at times, it was also good to get another perspective of the city.
After the boat trip we jumped back on the Underground and went to Piccadilly Circus. Having been there before I was quite disappointed as it just didn’t seem to be as it was before. In fact we have noticed a lot of work going on all over London with scaffolding and construction which is obviously in preparation for the Olympics but has put a bit of a dampener on some of the sights. Anyway it was getting late into the afternoon so we didn’t hang around long before getting the train back to Potter’s Bar. By the time we got there it was about 6:00pm so we went straight to the local pub for dinner. We walked in and ordered a drink and a guy standing at the bar starting talking to us obviously recognising our accents. We chatted to him for a bit, he had just come back from a 3 year stint in Perth and his girlfriend who is from Perth was coming over here to live for 2 years. We left him to have our dinner which we both enjoyed immensely. We had another couple of drinks and then made our way back to the house, exhausted once again. We chatted with Anne and Alan for a while and then headed to bed. I think it is all starting to catch up with us and unconsciously knowing it is nearly time to come home we are starting to feel the toll it is taking!! We have had a great time on our trip and although at times we want to continue and not come home we are looking forward to catching up with everyone but also have the hassle of how we are going to get home from the airport.

London

Saturday 8^th October, 2011

Ok, we got up early as usual and had decided to go upstairs for breakfast but then decided it was too expensive for what was on offer so we headed down the road for breakfast instead. Much better deal. With that underway and it only being 8:30 we decided to walk the streets again and have a look around. We went in another direction to what we usually do and found this area that was full of shops that we hadn’t discovered before that was right nearby where we were staying. Unfortunately being Saturday they didn’t open until later so we were unable to go into any, typical!! We wandered around for a couple of hours and then made sure we’d packed everything ready for our Eurostar trip from Paris to London that we’d booked a few days earlier. It wasn’t until 1:00pm but we decided that we wanted to get there early to be on the safe side especially with all our baggage. We both had a big suitcase, a smaller cabin bag and another couple of extra carry bags. We got the receptionist at the hotel, who had also been very helpful to us throughout our stay, to order a cab for us which because they were just around the corner came literally within a couple of minutes.

I’m not sure he was all that happy with the luggage we had and how heavy it was but he’ll get over it. We got to the station which cost 11.80 euro or something very close to that and I handed him 15 euro to which he pocketed it and that was that. The same happened when we got a cab from the airport to the hotel but the difference wasn’t as much. We couldn’t believe that was how they operated. We might’ve given them a tip anyway cause god knows they earn it with our luggage but the fact that you don’t get a choice really pissed us off.

Anyway we got ourselves together and walked into the train station. We had no idea where we had to go so asked for some assistance and when he told me upstairs I think I went white… until he told me there was a lift. Up we went and then after asking someone else we found out we had to fill out these cards before going through, which we did and then we saw the ticket office so we headed there as we’d booked the tickets online and I wasn’t able to print them. That nearly turned into a disaster as the ticket guy said someone had rung up and cancelled your tickets. We thought well nobody could have done that because no one knew we were even booking the train so we were very confused. Anyway the guy ended out sorting it out so in we went lugging everything behind us. Passed the immigration officer, through the scanners and we were ready for London.

Onto the train we got with a little bit of a struggle but with one passing the bags to the other we managed ok. We settled in for our journey of just over 2 hours, down to the food/drink carriage and we were set. The country side was lovely and the part through the tunnel was only 20 minutes. Once again though we were very disappointed in the lack of fanfare when crossing from one country to another. We obviously expect too much. Anyway into the station we pulled and that’s where it all began. Once again we managed with the bags using the one passing to the other method but then we had to lug this stuff the whole length of the bloody platform, we didn’t think it was ever going to end. Finally we came to the end and came through the doors and Kim spotted her friend Anne. We then left the St Pancras station and rounded the corner to the King’s Cross station where we caught the train to her place in Potter’s Bar. We had a 10 minute walk from the station to her place but fortunately we now had her to help carry our stuff, her face was priceless when she saw what we had.

Five minutes after arriving Anne’s next door neighbour rocked up for a sticky beak. She thought it was really funny as did we. He arrived under the cover of leaving some apples so Anne invited him in for a cuppa. We spent the afternoon with Kim and Anne catching up until Alan, Anne’s partner got home with the puppy from doggy training. We’d already met Jet who is a huge black German Shepherd as is Beau but jet is nine years old where Beau is only 17 weeks. We then walked into town to the local pub for a drink and then onto the local fish & chip restaurant for some dinner. Back to the house for a cuppa and then bed after a very, very long day. Anne and Alan are a lovely couple and have been very welcoming, not always easy adjusting to extra people in the house.

Sunday 9^th October 2011

We rose early again and sat around chatting and then headed into London on our 10 pound travel card. From here we go to Kings Cross Station and then from there we can go anywhere. We got off at Tower Hill and went straight to The Tower of London. We arrived there at about 10:00am which was right when it opened so there was only a short queue and we didn’t have to wait long. Anne had a 2 for 1 booklet for us which the tower was in so that saved us a few bucks. We’ve noticed it is quite expensive here for entry fees so every bit saved is good. The tower was bigger than we thought and contains some amazing history, armoury, weapons and the crown jewels.

We then walked to St Paul’s Cathedral and had a look around, no charge as it is Sunday. From there we went to Covent Gardens which was a nice little area. We wandered around there for a bit, actually found some more bags to compact down our luggage, and then made our way to Camden Market. That was a real eye opener, coming out of the underground the sign said turn right. Well we did and we were smack bang right into it. There were stalls selling all sorts of things all along the road and in shops, from the usual touristy stuff to more unusual stuff. We made our way up the street to the Camden Lock where it was like a big shed that contained more stalls. We managed to find a shop where we both bought something, what’s new. It was starting to get late so we started to make our way back to Potter’s Bar.

We arrived home to Anne & Alan and a delicious roast dinner with all the trimmings followed up with a fantastic apple crumble, just what we needed after another huge day.

Paris Day 3

Friday 7th October, 2011

We left the hotel at about ¼ past 8 and caught the train to Versailles to see the Palace of Versailles. It was very cold this morning but with a clear blue sky. We arrived there at about 9:15 and with a short trip around the corner from the station we were there. The palace is huge and we only wandered a very small portion of it, the apartments, with the assistance of our audio guide. It is full of large paintings and tapestries throughout, gold gilding everywhere and frescoes on the ceilings. The gardens are also fantastic and very well maintained. It is amazing that all these places we see and have so much acreage around them are in the middle of the cities. Oh, I just read that with this one and probably the others we’ve seen, the town was built around the palace. We didn’t hang around to see the Palaces of Trianon and Marie-Antoinette’s Estate as it didn’t open until 12:00. We grabbed a bite to eat and then jumped back on the train and headed back to Paris.

We once again went down the Champs Elysses, got caught in the rain again but not as bad as yesterday, for some shopping and through the streets of Paris eventually arriving home at about 3:45pm. We took the stuff up to our room and decided to go down for an early dinner so at about 4:00pm we left to go down the road to a restaurant that we’d already tried on our first night. Unfortunately though it was pissing down when we got downstairs, it wasn’t too far so we put the hoods of our jackets on and did a runner. I had a lovely warming French onion soup, not like anything I’ve made before and Kim had a pasta. I followed up with a chocolate mousse and in this instance I’ve probably made better myself and Kim had a Tarte Tatin which she said was really nice.

We leave here tomorrow and head to London. We’re not looking forward to lugging all our stuff around but I guess we’ll manage as we’ve done so far. Wish us luck!!

Gates at entrance to Palace of Versailles

Small part of the Palace of Versailles

Small part of the gardens surrounding the Palace of Versailles

Kim in another part of the gardens

Paris Day 2

Thursday 6th October, 2011

Thanks Eddie for your comments, it’s nice to know someone is still following us but I think you must’ve missed the bit in the article that mentioned us!!

Off we went at about 8:15am this morning to the Metro which is directly across the road from our hotel so that was handy and we didn’t need to change lines to get where we were going so that was even better. We went up to Montmartre and Sacre Coeur which are on a hill and can be seen from all the monuments around Paris. Much to our disappointment we had to wear long pants for the first time since starting our holiday. We went inside Sacre Coeur which of course was free and then decided to do the crypt and dome as well. There was another 300 steps to the bloody top, but unfortunately I had another bit of a panic attack as soon as I walked through the door. I think this time it was more because I was hot with a jacket on even though the steps were still quite narrow. I had to ask the woman to let me out which initially she seemed pretty miffed about but I think we sorted her out in the end and we walked around the crypt first and then gave the stairs to the dome another go. I was fine then and we both made it to the top. Once again more spectacular views over the city albeit very windy and cold on this occasion.

We left there and wandered the streets of Montmartre for a little while starting by heading down Rue Chappe. Then Kim remembered that Moulin Rouge was nearby as we’d talked about it last night so we set off looking for that but once again went in the wrong direction. We cannot for the life of us figure out why we get it so wrong over here, must be the different hemisphere or something like that. Anyway after asking some friendly people along the way we managed to find it. We weren’t  sure what we expected and this was obviously during the day when it is closed and we assume night would be a lot different with all the lights, etc. but it wasn’t much and is in what appears to be the King’s Cross of Paris with all the sex shops, etc. We took a couple of snaps and went on our way.

Next we jumped back on the Metro at Pigalle to go to the Musee du Louvre which we were told by the Metro staff to get off at Concorde and change to line 1. Well we got off at Concorde and obviously missed the place to change cause next thing we know were up on the street surrounded by a big black cloud. We checked our map and decided it wasn’t far to walk so off we trundled again down the Jardin des Tuileries until we found it. Unfortunately the big black cloud followed us and down she came. We found shelter under a little information booth until it eased off and then went on our way. We stopped at a food van and grabbed another baguette for lunch and once again asked if they would halve it and after getting a look was given a plastic knife with it.

We got to the Louvre and stood in the line which moved quite quickly, about 10-15 minutes and we were in only to stand in another queue to pay admission. We wandered around there for a while seeing the usual suspects, Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, some grand masterpieces including Leonardo da Vinci which we just thought were dark and depressing. We even managed to get lost in there and had to ask for help.

On from there we walked down toward Notre Dame where Sainte-Chapelle is because we didn’t make it there yesterday. We rounded the corner only to find another queue and as we were tired, well our legs and feet were, and it was cold and wintery we decided not to wait. We headed back home arriving at about 4:15pm after another very busy day. More kilometres added to the clock once again and more photo’s added to the collection. It is very hard to describe every day what we see and the feelings we have about everything but as anyone that has travelled will know there is something around every corner and monuments everywhere, it is so hard to take it all in sometimes.

Oh, when we were coming to the intersection which our hotel is located at where it runs off in about 5 or 6 different directions there were gendarmerie everywhere. We went down the corner to get some milk and one of them smiled and said Bonjour so I took the opportunity to ask what was going on. He said it was a manifestation but wouldn’t or couldn’t elaborate and the receptionist here wasn’t too sure either but we have since found out it is because of the Ministry being near by and had something to do with the Minister for Education. Always seems to be something going on when we get there!!

Paris Day 1

Wednesday 5th October, 2011

Ok so sometimes I’m not very bright, I went downstairs early this morning to get a feel for the weather and although it wasn’t quite light yet I thought our luck had run out and it had been raining all night and the sky did look a bit gloomy. Well when I said something to the receptionist here he said ‘no no madam, they have cleaned the streets’. Well I felt like a right wally, even though we were aware that they do that cause the streets are untidy when you go to bed and they’re nice and clean when you get up but I don’t think I’d noticed the water before!! Anyway as it turned out it was a bit overcast but I was assured by the receptionist that it wasn’t going to rain.

We went downstairs to the bar next door for a coffee, which is apparently associated with the hotel before we headed off this morning. Apparently being associated with hotel doesn’t make it cheaper because it was probably the most expensive cuppa we’ve had so far. Something I haven’t mentioned is that a lot of the hotels say they have tea/coffee making facilities but don’t have anything in the rooms and you have to ask but when you do they never have a ‘boiler’ available. This one had the boiler available as we requested but no fridge to put our bloody milk in. They’d freak with all the facilities they’d get at the hotels in Australia. They did say that they have a fridge on the 7^th floor and that they would get our milk whenever we needed it so that is what we’ve decided to do cause we like a cuppa at the end of the day and also first thing in the morning.

Blah, blah, blah, sorry I went on a bit but I couldn’t help but let you know exactly what we are doing. We got going after our coffee and headed by foot to the Eiffel Tower first. Luckily we checked the times on the internet cause the receptionist here said it opened at 10:00am but it actually opened at 9:30am. By the time we’d walked there it was about 9:00am so we jumped into the relatively small queue and waited. Boy was the queue long when we came out, thankfully we’re early starters. We went up to the top and even though it was a cool cloudy morning everything was visible. I must say having been there before my visit this time was much more enjoyable and it was on the top of Kim’s list of things to do as she said that this is one of the places that she has always dreamed of seeing and even though she was very apprehensive in the see-through lift travelling to the top, she was thrilled to have this dream become a reality. We spent as much time as we needed there and then came down and walked down Champ de Mars to take some more photo’s. We asked a couple standing there if they would take a photo of the two of us together and we then did the same for them. The man then started chatting with us about our holiday and was really interested which was nice, they were from Holland.

Kim & Jane at Eiffel Tower

We then went on our way back towards the Eiffel Tower and over to the Palais de Chaillot where we took some more photo’s of the Eiffel Tower and surrounding area. From there we walked to the Arc de Triomphe. We went under the road cause god knows you couldn’t get to it any other way, the traffic there is crazy, crazy. We purposely didn’t take the steps at the Eiffel Tower cause we figured we’d get enough exercise and boy were we right. Up the steps we went to the top of the Arc de Triomphe. More photo opportunities and another overview of the surrounding areas. I did say to Kim how amazing it is that the Eiffel Tower seems to stand out from everywhere but when you are on the ground because of the buildings and the way the roads curve, etc. it is very hard to find it. On our way to it I think we got one glimpse of it and then it was just trying to go in the general vicinity of where we thought it was. In fact we did stop on our way to ask a very good looking young policeman where the Eiffel Tower was and he smiled and walked about 5 steps back to the nearest street and pointed, and voila there she was. I just had the impression you would be able to see it from anywhere, even on the ground.

Kim & Jane on top of Arc de Triomphe
(Eiffel Tower in background which we walked from)

We left the Arc and headed down Avenue des Champs Elysees. I wanted to pop across the road to Louis Vuitton but Kim wouldn’t let me, ha ha! We grabbed a baguette for lunch and halved it because they are always so long. We had to do that ourselves though with their plastic knife because the guy serving us said he wasn’t allowed. They eat a lot of bread over here, not sure how they stay thin. As we were walking down the street we spotted a Sephora shop which is apparently cheap for perfume so we started veering towards it. We noticed all these women standing around just near there and photographers and cameramen and wandered over. They all seem to be dressed similar and were holding little signs saying ‘be the woman you want to be’. We had no idea what was going on but they seem to be waiting for someone so we decided to head into the store. Well as we got closer we realised they had put the red carpet out for us and there were about 8 security men lined on either side of the entrance. We wandered down anyway and thought it was good of them to put the red carpet out for a couple of ordinary Aussie girls. Next thing we know as we’re checking out all the perfumes, the music starts playing and there is all this commotion. It was, and I don’t know if any of you have heard of her, but Diane von Furstenberg who was promoting her first fragrance. Apparently she is a designer but although I knew I’d heard her name I thought it was for something else. Anyway that was a bit of excitement for us. We eventually left there and headed further down when I spotted a WC sign so we went in search of that. We finally found it and had to pay which we thought we would (2 euro), but it was touted on entering as the ‘cleanest toilet in town’. It was certainly that, we had to wait at the desk like you would at the front of a restaurant waiting to be seated and then a girl came along and showed you to your toilet. I had no sooner come out and started to wash my hands when she whipped in there and sprayed something (not that she needed to!!) and I assume wiped everything over. We wouldn’t normally pay for the privilege of going to the loo but it was definitely an experience.

We kept going down the Champs Elysees passing the Place de la Concorde until we finally made it to Notre Dame. As is the case most of the churches/cathedrals, etc. are very grand and built on such a huge scale. Amazingly you don’t have to pay to enter which apparently should be the case for all churches but they usually get you in another way. We decided to climb the stairs to the towers and go up the top to have a look and this is where they sting you. We were happy to do this though and proceeded to stand in a relatively small queue. I think we waited longer here than we did in the queue at the Eiffel Tower. Eventually we made it to the top and once again the views were magnificent and as previously mentioned the Eiffel Tower was very visible again. We spent the allotted amount of time there and decided that was enough for one day.

We started to walk back to our hotel, which when making our way to Notre Dame we saw our street so we knew exactly how far we needed to go which I think was pure fluke. On the way back we stopped into a little Irish bar for a drink as we were both very parched. On we went again and as we were a little hungry again and we figured most places here let you eat when you want, we made our way to a restaurant that we’d previously noted not far from our hotel for a bite to eat. We both had a chicken salad and a drink, by this time it was about 5:15. The waiter was really nice and helped us with a bit of the local language. We sat outside and watched the people going about their business, smiling at some, getting smiles back, even a kiss blown our way. I don’t think they’re used to people just smiling at them over here, they’re quite a grumpy looking race most of the time but ok when you get to chat to them. We had also noticed a little patisserie around the corner so we decided to get another treat for our coffee tonight. Kim had a strawberry tart and I had a muille feuille (not sure we were set.

We are not sure how many kilometres and steps we’ve done today but our legs and feet are definitely feeling it, we will probably catch the Metro tomorrow!

Au revoir from gay paree.