Sunday Drive from Paris to Champagne...

We set the alarm for 8 this morning – to have a quick bite of breakfast from the boulangerie and pack before being collected by taxi at 10 for the drive to Gare du Nord.  Our hire-car wasn’t ready when we arrived and we had to wait at the train station for an hour with millions of people rushing around the place – a combination of tourists, gypsy women of all ages who kept asking if we spoke English (we answered “non” which of course told them that we did), revolver-bearing gendarmes and soldiers wearing flack-jackets and machine-guns at the ready! 

But all of that was nothing compared to the chaos that followed as we tried to find our way out of the 6 storey carpark and then made many failed, and finally one successful attempt to leave the city of Paris – not something I ever want to do again!  The only positive from the whole exercise was the discovery that French drivers are still very polite, very patient, very generous, very tolerant, know how to indicate to get on and off roundabouts, keep to the right, don't tailgate etc. I can’t imagine that French tourists visiting Perth would leave with the same impression of our drivers.

The scenery on the drive through the champagne region was spectacular and we finally arrived at our B&B in the fabulous little village of Mareuil-sur-Ay.  We were welcomed by Matthias, the gorgeous young son (mid twenties) of the owners who were away for the day.  Our room is very large, very French, very light, with a beautiful bathroom and French doors (of course) opening onto a huge, beautifully kept garden.  

And the best part of all is Harry – the 1 year-old Jack Russell with personality plus.  We are in love with Harry and it would seem that the feelings are mutual - evidenced in the way he brought a huge deer-leg bone, complete with hoof, into our bedroom inviting us to join him in a game of chasie.

Matthias booked a traditional, French restaurant for us in a nearby village which was very pleasant, but not really our style (especially since more than half of the clientelle were Aussies) and we arrived home at about 11pm – completely exhausted yet again. And I must admit to being overjoyed that we didn’t have internet access and could go straight to bed without writing this blog (since written whilst sitting in the garden on a beautiful sunny afternoon, with a glass of delicious white wine and Harry sitting at our feet).

Music in Paris...

This morning we went a few doors down the road to our favourite breakfast spot for omelettes, freshly squeezed orange juice and coffee - and then to the boulangerie almost next door to our apartment for a "grande baguette" (cost 1 euro) and the cheese shop directly underneath our apartment for some terrine and ham and proceeded to prepare for a picnic and walk to our favourite park in Paris - Luxembourg Gardens - with Shirley, our friend from Perth.

As we crossed the bridge that joins Isle-St-Louis and Isle-de-Cite, we stopped to listen to a fantastic three-piece jazz band with a singer, pianist and base player (they weren't busking, just selling their CDs) - and that was the start of our musical day.

Then we stopped at an out-door market in Bvd St Germaine for some exquisite little strawberries and figs before heading up the hill at Bvd St Michelle towards the park.  And there, in a bandstand, a big band was just setting up.  The lawn at Luxembourg gardens is strictly off-limits (and constantly patrolled by the whistle blowing lawn-police), however there are hundreds (if not thousands) of chairs scattered throughout the park.

Brian and I deliberately arrived early because we have previously experienced difficulty finding chairs in the park when the sun is shining, as it was today.  We managed to find 3 chairs in a prime location and placed them next to a concrete stool which we set appropriately - table cloth, wine glasses, cutlery, plates, napkins, cheese, terrine, ham, tomatoes, olives, bread, strawberries, figs and a bottle of pinot - and waited for Shirley to arrive.  And then the most extraordinary thing happened - we became a tourist attraction and every American tourist wanted a photo of us to show the folks back home!!

Shirley arrived just as the band, with lead singer, began to play fabulous old-fashioned swing music - it was wonderful.  And Luxembourg Gardens is a mass of exquisite colour at the moment - probably the best we've ever seen. 

We then walked Shirley back to her apartment in the Marais, stopping for coffee on the way, and visited another department store (I managed to find a nice cafe in the store where Brian was able to sit and read his book over a glass of beer while I shopped) and came "home" for a rest before setting off to the Madeleine for a production of Mozart's Requiem.  

Our expectations were not high.  The reviews on tripadvisor said that the concert is repeated frequently and attended by hundreds of tourists - but we decided that it was worth the risk and bought the best tickets we could online many months ago.  We arrived early because seat allocation in each area is on a 1st come 1st served basis, and managed to get fabulous seats in the front row.

The concert was sensational!  A big chamber orchestra (France's equivalent of the ACO), a large choir standing on the steps of the alter, 4 soloists and a gorgeous, sexy young conductor not unlike our own Richard Tognetti!  There is no stage in the Madeleine of course, and our seats were about 3 metres from the conductor, 2 metres from the 1st violin and 1 metre from the beautiful soprano. What an experience.  The venue, the music and the spectacle were breath-takingly beautiful and something we will never forget.

So then home on the metro, a quick dinner in a cafe at the end of our street and now it's very late again and time to head off to bed.  Another fantastic day in this amazing city.

Lunch at Joel Robuchon

Today was all about lunch!  Brian ducked next door to the Boulangerie for a ham and cheese "sandwich" (aka enormous baguette) which we shared for breakfast before getting ourselves dolled-up for lunch.

Joel Robuchon is a Michelin 2-star restaurant which we have both been very keen to visit, and it actually exceeded our expectations.  We were only able to get an early booking (11:30am) and were the first customers to arrive.  We were greeted by at least 15 different members of staff - all charming - and chose the degustation menu of 10 courses plus coffee and a basket of bread and they threw in a complimentary appetiser of fabulous thinly sliced Spanish hams to start!  The service and presentation of the food was nothing short of sensational.

In summary, the tiny courses consisted of: gazpacho, king crab with cognac, caviar, tiny cep mushrooms with coddled egg, foie gras with white cocoa beans,  Japanese style chicken dumplings, John Dory, the tiniest baby lamb chops with potato mash, passionfruit and coconut mousse, and a dark chocolate dessert to die for!  And the wines by the glass, recommended by the sommeliers, were 2 different white burgundies and a Rhone Syrah - all fabulous. What a lunch!


We then made our way down Boulevard Saint-Germain to collect some concert tickets, cheese from our favourite cheese shop and a fresh
baguette before walking all the way "home" for an afternoon nap! Then, at about 6:00pm, we took off again for a leisurely stroll along the Seine, past the Louvre to the Tuileries Garden. The park was full of people - including lots of children - and the gardens looked exquisite.  We found a couple of vacant seats and sat for a while as the sun set and then jumped onto the metro to return to Isle Saint-Louis.


It was quite a warm afternoon and we felt the need to stop in a traditional little bar at the other end of our street for a glass of beer with the locals (no other tourists) and then enjoyed a very simple dinner of bread, cheese, grapes and a glass of wine back at our apartment.

It's been a beautiful, romantic day in Paris today.  What joy it is to be here again.

Paris Canals

This morning after breakfast at our local cafe, we walked east along the Seine to the Port de l'Arsenal - built from the old moat of the Bastille and now the starting point for a network of canals - and joined about 60 other tourists on the Saint-Martin Canal cruise. 

The trip began under the Bastille through a 2km long narrow tunnel and proceeded up the canal (literally) through 8 double locks, each of which raised the level of the boat by 3 metres, finally ending at the Bassin de la Villette two and a half hours later. It was absolutely beautiful. 

Gorgeous Parisian scenery, lots of little bridges, historical buildings and parklands.  The systems of tunnels and locks are fascinating - all built as originally ordered by Napoleon 1st in 1802, to supply Paris with fresh water.

We then took the Metro from the station called Stalingrad to Opera and made our way to Boulevard de la Madeleine for Brian's most favourite wine shop in the whole world, and one of our favourite luncheon spots - Lavinia - 3 floors of wine plus a fabulous restaurant.  As usual, the food and service were sensational - as were the recommended wines by the glass, and Brian was like a kid in a toy shop!   


Then a quick trip back to our apartment, a very short afternoon nap, and a 10 minute walk to the Hotel de Ville (Paris City Council) to meet our gorgeous friend Shirley who has an apartment in the Marais.  The three of us then jumped on a bus and headed off to the fantastic Montmartre apartment of our mutual friends, Marg and Rob.  

The Ruinart NV champagne which Brian took, and the canapés prepared by Marg were wonderful, served in a beautiful sunlit living room.  




We all then walked to the Albion, a wine shop / restaurant owned by a delightful young man from New Zealand.  It was great fun to catch up with our Aussie mates and the restaurant was great.

Then finally back "home" on the Metro.  This business of being on holidays is completely exhausting!

Shopping in Paris...

This morning we were awake by 6am and wandered down our little street just after 7am to a  very busy traditional Parisian cafe for breakfast (waiters all male wearing long, starched, pure white aprons), with the French version of Manuel looking after us.  Our fabulous breakfast of freshly squeezed orange juice, soft boiled egg, toast, croissant and coffee was ordered and delivered to our table within what seemed like seconds!

Then a visit to the little general store across the road from our apartment for a few essentials (fruit, wine etc) and a long walk down Boulevard Saint-Germain to buy phone cards, metro passes and flowers before meeting our gorgeous landlord Othello for our official check-in at 11am, and heading off on the metro for the 8th arrondissement.

While taking the metro is certainly very efficient with the trains arriving every couple of minutes, we did spend a lot of time walking around the subway system, getting on the wrong trains, changing platforms, and finding the correct exit etc.  We finally popped out of the ground at Concorde, walked around the Madeleine to Place St-Augustin for lunch at a traditional bistro/cafe (sans tourists) where we each had a Croque Monsieur au Chèvre (ham and goats cheese toasted sandwich) with some of those fabulous French fries and salad, and a small bottle of muscadet during a torrential downpour (the only real rain of the day).

Then a short walk to Printemps for some serious shopping until Brian fell asleep in a comfortable leather chair in one of the millions of designer fashion sections!  Galleries Lafayette will have to wait for another day...

We arrived back at the apartment at about 4pm and decided to have a short afternoon nap before dinner.  It was almost 11pm when Brian woke me - but this is Paris.  We found a little bistro a few metres from our apartment and had a simple dinner of fabulous terrine served with some pickled beetroot and a cabbage salad, some good bread and a large bottle of sparkling water! Perfect.

It's now after 1am, our little street is completely silent, we've had a glass of wine each, Brian's finished his diary for the day and we are both completely exhausted. Time for bed.

Perth to Paris

It's been a very long day - with Tuesday lasting for a total of 30 hours!  We were collected by our Emirates chauffeur at 3:30am, waved off by Oliver in his bath robe, and joined the check-in queue just ahead of Julie & Danny (they were on the same flight to Dubai).  We all resisted the temptation to partake in the free-flowing champagne at the Emirates lounge and opted instead for some pre-breakfast snacks (they turned out to be superior to the breakfast served on the flight) with non-alcoholic drinks!

The 11 hour flight from Perth to Dubai was mostly very rough, but the flat beds were a blessing and Brian and I both loved watching the movie "Quartet" at different times.  There was a short stop-over at Dubai with just enough time for a quick farewell drink with Julie & Danny before we boarded the A380 for the 7 hour flight to Paris.  By contrast, this flight was almost completely devoid of bumps and our top-deck cabin was amazingly quiet and very comfortable. We spent the first hour at the bar and had great fun with the gorgeous crew (they gave us Dom Perignon champagne meant for 1st class passengers) and another passenger before we were called for our second lunch of the day - followed by yet another afternoon nap on flat beds.

Charles De Gaulle airport was chaotic but we finally managed to find our luggage and then our delightful Emirates chauffeur and were delivered to our apartment on the Isle St Louis.  We've unpacked, got a few euros from a nearby teller machine and now it's 11:45pm in Paris and we can hardly keep our eyes open. It's such a thrill to be back in this beautiful city - and fantastic to be staying in this perfect apartment on the most exquisite Rue St Louis.

Here we go again...

We're almost ready to set off for France & Italy again - 8 destinations in 8 weeks:

1. Isle St Louis, Paris
2. Mareuil-sur-Ay, Champagne
3. Bouilland, Burgundy
4. Hameau de Serres, Provence
5. Monforte d'Alba
6. San Polo, Venice
7. Cortona, Tuscany
8. Tivoli, Rome