Last word on Paris……..

………. Paris has to be the most beautiful city we have visited to date. It has so many faces and each one of them has its own charm – even the homeless with their makeshift living arrangements do it with Parisian style – pets, wine in glasses and other little refinements. A makeshift hovel at the edge of the marina would have washing out each day to dry……. There weren’t huge amounts of graffiti, but even the graffiti expressed an urban ‘edginess’ that didn’t invoke the rage that so much graffiti does. There is a ‘joie de vie’ in Paris that seems to over ride the constant presence of armed gendarme, but I don’t think we’d ever get used to seeing ‘youth’ fully armed. Modern buildings snuggle amongst their gracious forebears…….I’ll admit that when on holiday one has rose tinted glasses…but Paris…..aaahhhhhh……….meanwhile life ‘as a servant’ continues…..more about that later………… …we’ve had lots of visitors which always brings us in touch with home and who we are…….lots of love xxxxxxx

Cities are about people……

…….and Paris is no exception. The people are wonderful, it is no longer true that Parisians are difficult or aloof, we have found them to be the exact opposite warm, friendly and funny. The guy with the leaves behind his ears was running a vegetable stall at the market and was trying to get us to buy his stuff – we did!!! We came across several sets of ‘brides’ being hauled around the place by their ‘friends’.
We loved the old guys playing petanque or just chatting – they were everywhere, sitting drinking wine or coffee, smoking and communicating vociferously with passion.
The ethnic mix of Europe, and Paris in particular, is a reminder of the proximity to North Africa and other exotic countries – running off to join the Foreign Legion must have had a reciprocal effect!
We’ll close with “on ya bike”…which in Paris has a whole different meaning. The line of ‘velos’ is a highly popular form of public transport – we never quite figured out the logistics, but basically you put your money in the slot thing and ride until your money runs out and hopefully you are where you want to be or by another ‘station’ where you leave your velo…mysterious but civilized, no one seems to steal them or deface them and our ignorance is merely a language prob as there are no instructions in English, it’s assumed you know………..to be continued……..

Shopping in Paris……..

….. not something we did a lot of, but there are some things you have to experience like the markets. Parts of them are the same as anywhere – lots of tat – but the food is gorgeous, it is not only delicious, it looks amazing. If you are there at the end of the market, you get all manner of fresh fruit etc pushed at you for ridiculous prices. The thing about Parisienne markets is that they start and finish early – it’s all over by 1pm. Certain ones do open again at 4pm until 8pm. The French have sussed “work life balance’ which is great. As we arrived on the Eurostar at the Gare de Nord, we found we were unable to catch a Metro to the Seine where we were meeting John & Jennifer -there was a strike. One thing we have learnt in a year, is the importance of travelling “light” so off we set on foot. We came upon the protest march and as we walked, for over an hour, the march kept coming and coming, it was the hugest march we have ever seen. It was very loud and all good humour. The ‘protest’? – working hours. Most people work 36 hours a week and don’t want to work more – “right on” I say.
We visited Galeries Lafayettes department store – sort of a beautiful Smith & Caughey – what I thought was incredibly civilized was a “Moet Bar” – my line was “bye darling – see you at the “Moet Bar” in half an hour!!!” We didn’t buy anything……all a bit overwhelming really AND we really do travel light!!!...........this is still to be continued!!!!!………..xxxx

Continuing Paris ………..

……..this could go on for weeks!!!!!! Visiting the Louvre, was for us, a dream come true…..it is possible to literally spend days there and still not see everything there is to see. I view at a much faster rate than Rod……whipping through exhibitions, pausing only to see what takes my fancy, not so Rod, he studies EVERYTHING, which is a bit of a sticking point for us…with this in mind…… we usually split up and agree to meet at a certain point at a certain time. This generally works quite well, except in the Louvre – which is vast. We had agreed to meet at 1pm for lunch – 12.50pm I thought, “ right off I go”…… wrong – 20 minutes later I was still trying to figure out where on earth I was, in relation to where I was supposed to be!!!!
Napoleon’s “petite apartments” are preserved in the Louvre – if this was his little simple place one can’t help wondering what his larger place of residence was like??….How could it be more sumptuous????? After spending the day wandering amongst superlative art, which previously we had only read about and seen in books, we found ourselves transported to a totally different ‘plane of existence’. It was a rude awakening to walk by the ubiquitous Starbucks within the precinct of the Louvre…like the aforementioned presence of Parisienne dogs, they truly are everywhere!!!!!!........to be continued………..

Paris continued………..

……there is no doubt that Paris is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It was completely redesigned in the 1800’s by Napoleon III, he commissioned Haussman to “modernize” the city, creating wide tree lined boulevards. As an ex city council employee….I can’t help wondering who paid for it! You wander along the banks of the Seine and through beautiful tree lined streets marveling at the glorious architecture, BUT, and here’s the thing – at all times you must watch your feet – Parisiennes love their dogs and because most of them live “sans jardin maison” – they walk their dogs regularly and nobody ever ‘picks up’. It’s astonishing, in a population of 2.15 million people, over 200,000 are dog owners. That’s not counting the 30,000 homeless people – most of whom we saw had dogs or a cat on a leash. I can think of worse places to be homeless. Being homeless in Paris for some, means you get to reside in the most desirable of locations……check out the dude who lives by the Seine with his dogs. He lives in a sort of hole in the wall and sits outside in the lovely weather, drinking his aperitif, watching the world go by - c'est bien! A lot of the homeless camp along the Seine in very smart one person tents forming little communities, they don’t appear to drink meths or anything that isn’t half way decent…some even have little tables set up with wine glasses and table cloths.....comment les français!.........to be continued……….

Aaaaaaaah….Paris…….

……we have just returned from 10 glorious days in Paris. We had intended (with Jennifer & John on their new boat) to spend a few days in Paris and then cruise the canals as we did last year. We got to Paris and the penny dropped…. “why don’t we just stay here?”
We moored the boat in the Porte de Plaisance de Paris-Arsenal, at the foot of the Colonne de Juillet (July Column), in Bastille, the heart of one of the trendiest parts of the city and proceeded to cram as much as we could into 10 days. Being in Paris is like being in the middle of the most fascinating museum you can possibly imagine……everywhere you turn you are face to face with astonishing buildings, beauty and history. Staying with John and Jennifer on the boat was amazing, each morning we would have a leisurely breakfast and watch the world go by….one morning it was a turtle – excuse me!...in the middle of Paris???? A family of ducks also became our breakfast companions as did a cheeky sparrow…….there is so much to share….will continue tomorrow…..