We're away!

I thought that rather than bombard Facebook with my amateurish photos, plus let my non-Facebook friends share our adventure, I would try my hand at blogging so those who wish to follow may see our trip this way ... so ... we left Melbourne around 9:00 pm Friday night 28/4, bumping into Surrey Hills neighbours Angela and Mark just prior to boarding the same flight!  They transferred to Venice flight in Dubai and we to Paris.

We found Angela & Mark at the airport!

Day 1 (Vendredi et Samedi):
It felt like a very long journey in cattle class but it was OK.  I probably had 3-4 hours' sleep  ... we grabbed a cab easily at Charles de Gaulle and were in our little apartment within 45 minutes (3:15 pm Saturday).  The apartment is in Rue de Montmerency in Le Marais district which is between the 1st and 4th arrondissement.  It's a bohemian sort of neighbourhood - cafes, galleries, bars, the Jewish Quarter and large gay population.  It has all the comforts of home: small kitchen including washing machine, loungeroom, balcony (this was a dream of mine, to have a Paris apartment with a balcony but these come at a price ... nevertheless I was thrilled to find one in our budget - what do you think of the view? Sucked in Rutherford.  Aaaah who cares?

My 'special' balcony surrounded by fairly ugly buildings and weeds not far below.

We freshened up and hit the street, first to a little bar for happy hour then dinner in a quirky restaurant called La Mangerie.  I would really recommend this to anyone with a sense of humour.  The entrance to the dining area is via a wardrobe!  You need to almost climb over others' chairs but everyone is friendly and we quickly got chatting to others around us, lubricated by our host's complimentary shot of rum and ginger and other things.

Damien at Happy Hour at Lizard Lounge

Dinner at La Mangerie

Damien re-enacts the entrance via the wardrobe (look carefully in the background)

Little but pussed by the time we got home saw me in bed by 8:30 pm (awake from 2-5) then we were both up at 8).  My awake time gave me a chance to plan the next (this very) day which was a fantastic choice - walk to Marché Richard Lenoir then jump (or hop) on the Hop-On-Hop-Off bus to see the sights from the top deck.  

Day 2 (Dimanche):

We had a great walk to the market ...

... and it was everything I dreamed it would be. There were probably about 100 stalls in a closed off street full of a foodie's fantasies. Locals were stocking up, the fresh produce looked superb - and we have great fresh produce at home - but it was something very special, not to mention the flowers! (I thought of our peonie-grower friends Bernie & Virginia).

White asparagus everywhere!

Belle fromage!

Strawberries

Crêpes for breakfast

Damien is saying 'Oh my God'!

The peonies are amazing, everywhere

We walked 20 minutes or so to Notre Dame to join the bus and climbed up to the top level.  It afforded us a fantastic view and informative commentary of the highlights of this beautiful city.

A few shots from the bus ... 

Notre Dame

 I forget ... a great old pile though

First glimpse of the most visited landmark on earth (we will visit that properly on Tuesday)

Grande Palais

This is for Grace, who wants us to visit this macaron store

I did say I was an amateur

A nice golden statue

Guess?

Bonaparte is interred here: Hotel des Invalides

The one mistake we made on a fantastique day was not buying produce at that market - will kick myself for EVER! (we thought we were out for the day and didn't want to be lugging stuff).  As it was we did come back to the apartment before heading off on the tour and afterwards we stopped at the corner supermarket for some third rate tomatoes, quite nice cheese, OK baguette etc etc and made some rolls for late lunch.  Oh well.

So we're in for the night, Damien might like to add some comments.  Au revoir for Sunday xxx