We had planned to celebrate our 4th anniversary on
British soil, due to cost of foreign travel and the amount of travelling we
will be doing in the months ahead; however, a "special deals" leaflet
from Air Miles inspired us to return to the romantic capital of the world,
Paris. (Thank you, Tesco Air Miles).
Now seasoned travellers, we drove to Gatwick airport the night before -
stopping at Arundel along the way for a delicious multi-course Chinese meal -
and checked into the Europa Hotel for a few hours' sleep before our trip to the
airport at 5.00 a.m. on Thursday. |
Arundel town |
On the Metro |
We arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport and
made our way easily to our hotel by metro. We stayed at the Opera Madrid Hotel,
which is situated between the Opera House and Montmartre, placing us within
walking distance of most of the things we wanted to see and do. |
This was the first trip that we had programmed our
itinerary into our Palm Pilots, making us both super organised, high tech
travellers. Nick also beamed me my bingo card - the 49 items I had to find in
Paris were written on the plane journey - and I was able to delete them as they
were found.
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FIREMAN and POLICEMAN were both on
my bingo card. |
Our trip to FNAC afforded us some of our bingo items: Robbie Williams, and a
Jacques Brel CD which I bought for school, plus I picked up our pre-booked
tickets to the Boris Charmatz "Spectacle" we saw at the Pompidou
Centre. The spectacle involved lying alone on top of a "piano" in a
darkened room, a leather pillow, and a panic button. Click here to find out more! |
Boris Charmatz |
Oscar Wilde's tomb |
Edith Piaf |
Next stop was an autumnal walk through the
blustery rain at the Cimetière du Père-Lachaise, where we visited
Oscar Wilde's tomb and searched in vain for the grave of Edith Piaf. Thwarted,
we headed instead for the indoor Musée Edith Piaf, a two-room shrine to
the 'little sparrow' which included her tiny black dress, shoes, letters, and
photographs. This was a valuable excursion for me because of my planned French
Valentine's Day cabaret at school that will feature Piaf songs such as La Vie
en Rose. I was excited to find, later that afternoon, a small music box that
plays La Vie en Rose at a gift shop. I will be able to use it to touching
effect in the musical. |
| Our first evening was spent in my favourite area of
Paris, Montmartre. We visited the Musée de L'Érotisme, which is
packed with objects telling the story of eroticism through the ages. Decidedly
un-seedy, the seven-storey showcase was an interesting diversion aimed at
male/female relationships. Next, we passed the time drinking huge Hoegarten
beers at an outdoor café on Rue des Abbesses. This is what Parisian life
is all about in my opinion, and Nick and I fantasised about moving to France
and living for a year just to soak up this wonderful atmosphere. After drinks,
we had an excellent meal of spinach salad, wild boar casserole and steak,
profiteroles, and rich chocolate mousse at Gille et Gabriel, a friendly,
romantic, and authentically French bistro that was recommended by our
Out
Around Paris guide book. |
Sweet, sweet beer |
Sacré-Coeur
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After dinner, we staggered up the picturesque steps
to and admired the moonlit city below us. We could see the Eiffel Tower lit in
the distance and although it was late, there were still some artists sketching
portraits in the little square.
We ended our first evening at the dark, atmospheric Mec Zone bar and then
headed back to our room for some sleep. |
| The next day, Friday, started out just as rainy as
the previous one, but this didn't deter us from walking down Rue Montmartre to
the Marais area, where we shopped along the rue Ste-Croix-de-la-Bretonnerie
visiting shops with varying stocks of books, kitsch, feathers, leather, and
pastry. We ate lunch at Le Open Café and then at 1.30 Nick went off to
his appointment with Boris Charmatz at the Pompidou Centre. My appointment was
at 2.30 and afterwards we did some more shopping in Marais, checking out the
interesting video shop before going back to our hotel to change for the
evening. |
Nick outside the Pompidou Centre |
Me (and innocent bystander) and the Open Café |
L'Amazonial |
We had a nice dinner including Camembert fondue and
appropriately flaming Calvados crepes at the rather touristy L'Amazonial (again
recommended by our guidebook). After that, we headed for 'Our Bench' on the Ile
Saint Louis to drink a celebrational bottle of champagne beside the Seine. We
even had accordion music this year provided by an elderly man on the bridge.
Full moon, no more rain, accordion music, and champagne? You bet. |
| Next we visited Le Quetzal bar where we got our
money's worth of a 1 Euro coin by playing a Strip Solitaire video game. Despite
winning the game on the very first time, the video model never did remove all
of his clothes; however, we got two free games after that. Realising that we
didn't have much money left, we went to our final destination for the evening,
the dark and familiar Depot. Unfortunately, during our explorations of this
club, Nick had his wallet stolen, but it wasn't nearly as disastrous as it
could have been as he had removed all but one credit card and about 10 Euros
cash before leaving the hotel. When we were leaving, Nick reported the theft at
the desk and it turned out that someone had found and given in Nick's credit
card, so the only thing lost was the actual wallet and a bit of cash. We walked
home, relieved, and playing the 'What If' game, thinking how lucky we were that
there was no passport, plane ticket, or other money in the wallet. |
We saw this painted on the wall of a Marais bar. |
Truffles shop |
This is my favourite photo. Please click on it to see larger! |
Our final day was Saturday and after breakfast and
packing, we headed for the luxurious gourmand area of the city to admire the
beautiful window displays and to sample some of the delicacies. We saw a shop
devoted to truffles and fantastic displays of autumnal fruits and vegetables.
The world-famous Fauchon was similar to Harrods in its array of fine foods and
we admired the rooms full of spices, teas, pastries, mustards, and chocolates.
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Nick outside Fauchon |
Look at this fruit tart! |
My favourite dessert |
The Tea Room at Fauchon |
Mosaic toilet walls in Paris |
I saw these lemons lying artistically in the gutter. |
| We walked back to Marais through the Tuilleries
gardens, basking in sunshine at long last and taking some nice photos. The
Eiffel tower gleamed in the distance, and statuary everywhere was radiant in
the light. We passed the Louvre and saw the beaded Metro entrance. |
The Eiffel Tower from the Tuilleries |
Enjoying the sun |
This statue is of Spartacus |
The Elaborate Metro entrance |
This photo was taken for Joyce and Maurice, who own a sylish Westie named
Bertie. |
Lunch in Marais |
We carried on walking until we reached, after
getting slightly lost and agitated, Rue des Archives, where we ate an excellent
final meal of hamburger and chicken in a creamy sauce (served with tiny bits of
lobster!). Again, we marvelled at how relaxing and cosmopolitan everything
felt. The restaurant next to ours served only fresh bread, but with a huge
array of spreads including chocolate, marmalades, and (object of lust) peanut
butter! It's given us an idea of hosting an at-home bread and spread party, so
watch this space! |
| It's always sad to leave a holiday
destination, but nice to get home. The blustery weather followed us back to
England where we had a comfortable time indoors eating chicken soup in the
warmth of the kitchen, snuggling under the covers watching Jonathan Creek
mysteries and planning for our anniversary celebrations on the 28th. |
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