Paris…eat and be eaten!

Arriving in Paris having spent over two months in English speaking nations was a good challenge. We managed to lug our baggage and ourselves from Gare du Nord to the Metro at Musee D’Orsay.  Our apartment was located just down from the Musee, overlooking the Seine and the Louvre beyond. With some trepidation we mounted the first lot of stairs to the apartment.  Like many French apartments, pretty on the outside, but very old and rundown in the main passage and stairway .  Thankfully there was a lift so we sent up the luggage.

The apartment was small (not enough room to swing le chat!) but adequate (hey, it was fairly cheap for Paris

so we weren’t expecting too much) and the views were to die for …The Basilica of Sacré Coeur in the distance, which looked gorgeous all lit up at night.  That wasn’t the only sight of note in the evening however.  When the night tour boat trips came up the Seine shining their spotlights on the windows of the buildings, the tourists probably got more than they bargained for. A man in his undies, laptop perched on the window sill, seeking an open network connection.

(This apartment was advertised as having wifi but when we got there it wasn’t working. We later found a café around the corner that had wifi and thus spent a small fortune on café au lait and Oranginas as a result!)

Unfortunately the evening brought out more than the tourists.  We all got eaten alive by mosquitoes after leaving the windows open. But some good teamwork had it sorted, we bought spray, the girls spray personal repellent, Ed with torch in hand sought out and splatted mozzies against the wall and Lois cleaned off the blood splattered walls in the morning.

So we were feasted upon, but do not fear, we did plenty of feasting ourselves!  Oh, the pastries, brioche and Rhubarb jam, nutella crepes,  wines and cheeses….ooh la la.

We had a lovely dinner out at a Thai restaurant near the Eiffel Tower for Sasha’s birthday – Sasha has written up about it in “Sasha’s Birthday.”

Anyway, so much to see in Paris, so little time to work! …

We walked everywhere.  Lois got up earlier most mornings and walked (even jogged!) in the gardens next to the Louvre, over the footbridge across the Seine.  Mind you, the five floors back up the apartment (major claustrophobia in the lift made for one petite person) was a great thighblaster workout and had us gasping for air at our apartment door.

We got on fine with our smattering of French. As is often said, if you appear to make an effort you are mostly met halfway.  Lois was admonished by a vendor for asking for une Coca-Cola “UN”!  (well, obviously…with that curvaceous bottle and all. Sheesh!!!)  For Lois, sometimes the high school French kicked in but other times her recall jumped to Japanese words instead – not very helpful!

We went up the Eiffel Tower on Sasha’s birthday after enjoying two cakes each for a little tea party underneath the Tower.

We visited the Louve and Musee D’Orsay.  Lois and Sasha loved the Degas ballet paintings and his statue of a little dancer. Just gorgeous.

We saw many of the sights of Paris by day and night and just loved it.  Next stop, Bordeaux to a place with horses.