It is a very early start to catch our flight to Paris.  We have a 3.20am wake up call!  The flight is uneventful and we effortlessly find our way on the Paris metro to our stop on Line 11, Pyrenees.

Our metro ride is typical with a gypsy singer accompanied by a friend on the piano accordion. She had a beautiful voice and sang familiar French tunes, amplified by a microphone and speaker attached to a suitcase trolley with wheels. Her accompanist hands around a cup for donations before moving onto the next carriage.

Once we arrive at our stop it’s just a short walk to our apartment on the 5^th floor! No lift! Around the fourth floor our luggage seems to treble in weight.

This is a very typical French street with patisseries, fruit and vegetable market and trees shedding their autumn leaves.  There is a supermarket so we do some grocery shopping for the week ahead as we can cook for ourselves in the little 1 bedroom apartment, we can climb the stairs again with the groceries, why not??