It’s a fine but cloudy day today. We head early to Rue Cler, a popular Parisian market. The market is where the locals mainly purchase their fresh food such as seafood, fruit and vegetables, cheese, breads and pizza. It really is a gourmet delight. We brought some fresh handmade spinach ravioli and the freshest of vegetables to make a sauce for our dinner. (It was yummy with a little grated French Emmental). Continue reading →

It is a very wet day today so we head out late after an early lunch. Our destination is the Palais De Versailles. The trip requires three train changes and one and half hours in time. It takes a little extra time for us since we hopped quickly on to one train waiting at the station hoping for the best. This never pays and we were heading the wrong way! The problem is easily fixed though. The Metro is brilliant in Paris. Above ground it’s never far to a Gare (station), not complicated to find your way at all, and below ground it must be a web of lines. Added to this we have never waited more than 3 minutes for a train. Continue reading →

My back is so sore after yesterday! There is the Apple Expo 2007 on at the Port de Versailles, so being a showery day, Mark and Justin are keen to go to this, eager to look at the latest gadgets. Seemingly they are very impressed. I enjoy a little walk around the local village and buy the obligatory baguette. Now I feel like a real French woman even though I don’t look like one and I certainly don’t sound like one!! Continue reading →

We woke this morning to drizzle and rain but as the morning wore on blue sky broke through so we decide to take this opportunity to ascend the Eiffel tower. Two trains get us there to Gare (station) Trocadero.  Naturally, there is a queue, no tourist to Paris misses this sight. The queue takes 40 minutes to the ticket office and another 10 to the lift to the second floor.  The view from her is incredible but in actual fact at this point you’re only a quarter of the way up.  So we pay some more money and queue another hour at least.  This hour seems like two as we are in what feels like sub zero temperature due to the altitude and open air. ‘It better be worth it’ is what we are all silently thinking. Worth is it truly is! It is 1000 feet high and towers (excuse the pun) over anything around, nothing in Paris, comes close to it’s the height of the Eiffel Tower. Continue reading →

We woke to a lovely sunny day albeit with a cool breeze.  Our first stop on the Metro is the Champs Elysee with the Arc Du Triomphe towering at one end.  The walk of many blocks is interesting all the way with autumn trees ling the road. Expensive designer stores and street side cafes are pulsing with tourists of all nationalities. The large round about surrounding the Arc De Triomphe is as interesting as the war memorial itself.  There appears to be neither rhyme nor reason to the traffic flow, certainly no lanes are marked even though cars go around four and five deep. So comical was the elderly man in his aged hatchback who, apparently in need of a sleep, simply pulls up, in the middle of the chaos, on the footpath surrounding the Arc Du Triomphe and settles back for a kip! Why not?? Police are patrolling but no one bothers him. Continue reading →

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. Continue reading →