Hôtel Lutétia and Christmas in the 18eme, Sunday, 29 November

Sunday and just like at home it is cleaning day. No need to bore you with the details.


Something we've been meaning to tell you is about a hotel near Bon Marché. It is the Hôtel Lutétia; one of the great hotels of Paris. It has 220 rooms and has one of the highest ratings for hotels in this city. But there is more to the story than that. During World War II, this magnificent, palatial hotel was the headquarters for the Gestapo. In a wonderful irony, at the war's end, it served as the post-war liberation centre where families could be reunited with members who had sirvived the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps.



Christmas is beginning to move in on us now. As we came back from a short trip today we noticed that our local town hall had its Christmas trees up. A lovely sight and from all we hear it will only get better as December progresses.

The Conciergerie, Saturday, 28 November

We had planned to go to the big department stores, especially Galleries Lafayette and Au Printemps to see their Christmas decorations but as the weather had turned wet and it was a weekend; meaning children in department stores, we decided it would be better to go "cultural." This meant the Conciergerie. This has been both a palace and a prison and now, in addition to being a cultural relic, it is an art gallery. And now for a bit of history.

Numerous prisoners of State were kept in the Conciergerie, so called because when Charles V left the royal residence he appointed a steward or "concierge" to run the palace and the prison. It is probably best known for being the site of the Revolutionary Tribunal which used it as a prison and it was here that Marie Antoinette languished before losing her head.



The lower halls were where the staff and Royal Guard were located; no small number - about 2,000 people. Imagine what it must have been like at meal time. No wonder the fireplaces are as large as they are. The Hall of Men-at-Arms dates from around 1300 and is magnificent. There are four rib vaulted naves and the hall was lit by twin windows. The refectory was heated by four large fireplaces.

The prison has an inner courtyard, the Women's Courtyard, which is surrounded by two floors of cells. The fountain where the women washed their clothes is still there as is one of the stone tables at which they ate, and the corner where they waited in groups of twelve to be taken to the scaffold. Although much of the reconstruction, such as the cell of Marie Antoinette, is of more recent origin, they convey a sense of what it must have been like.



On a completely different note, just about everyone knows that the French for sit down is "asseyez-vous." This is what teachers say to students in a classroom or people say in their home when you are visiting, but when you go to the doctor or the dentist or, more to the point, eat out in a restaurant they say "installez-vous," install yourself. For anyone who has eaten in a French Restaurant and knows how closely packed the tables are, this expression is very appropriate. The waiter whips out the table so that one person can "install" his or her self and then the table is pushed back effectively blocking any hope of exit until the end of the meal. Of course, in the winter, with hats, coats, gloves, scarves and all of the other appropriate accoutrements, heaven help you if you need to visit "la toilette."

A Visit to a Royal Palace, Friday, 27 November

Palais Royale Gardens

There is, of course, a tendency to see the best side of any city one likes and visits. Thus it is with Paris. The buildings have a certain charm and a certain look which we both find attractive. But, make no mistake, there are a lot of really ugly buildings; some of which were designed at great cost. Still, remember that the Eiffel Tower was not merely dismissed by the Paris population it was despised. That was all right though because it was originally planned as a temporary structure. Anyway, here is an example of apartments that hardly make one think of the Paris we normally admire. This, of course, is nothing compared to the Great Arche de La Defense which was so badly built in the Mitterrand years that it is now surrounded by netting to catch the pieces that fall off!

On to other and more magnificent themes. But first, a weather report! It's turning cold and wet. Today it didn't appear to get above eight degrees and all of next week has that as its high. Not only that, rain is about to set in. Still, although it was cold today, the sun was shining and we decided to visit the Palais Royal. For those of you who are old enough to remember the 1960s film, Charade, with Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn, the arcades of the Palais Royal were a great feature. And they are still a great feature.

This was originally built to be the residence of Cardinal Richelieu, the prime minister for Louis XIII. it is now occupied by government offices and while the building itself is not open, the shops that line the arcades are, as are the magnificent public gardens. Unfortunately, at the moment quite a bit of construction is going on, particularly in the main courtyard with the controversial sculpture composed of several hundred striped columns of varying heights. It is said that if you toss a coin and it lands on one of the columns your wish will come true. It is also said that this story was started by the sculptor!

The gardens have a number of features, one of the most popular of which is a small pond. The French seem to be taken with these small ponds; there are several in the Tuilleries as well as in other locations. They always seem to attract people who sit around them reading, eating lunch, or even just napping under an umbrella. One needs, we suppose, to take advantage of a nice warm day of eight degrees!!

Just outside the gardens is what for some reason strikes me as the quintessential French Bistro, Le Bar De L'Entracte. Don't know what there is about it, but I always feel that as long as that particular place is there, Paris will be everything we like about it. Virginia prefers the Cafe Nemour nearby but we'll say more about that in a later blog.

A Visit to Bon Marché, Thursday, 26 November

Bon Marché is Paris’s oldest department store and takes great pride in the fact that it is the only Grand Magasin on the left bank. Although bearing no resemblance to the other work created by one Gustave Eiffel, it is just as enduring a Paris landmark having been around since 1852. “Bon Marché” translates as a bargain, but you are unlikely to find anything of that sort here. This is an ultra chic store, with at least one-third of the ground floor given over to makeup and perfume. There is a separate building for the épicerie or food hall. While Harrod’s still rates our number one for food halls, the Bon Marché is very impressive. And overall, considering the whole of both stores, both Ginnie and I feel that Bon Marché leaves Harrod’s looking pretty shabby.

When we went down there today we spent some time looking at the Christmas windows. Sadly, no pictures could possibly do them justice since they are works of computer art; telling stories, constantly changing, and full of humour and excitement. But there was one thing that the épicerie didn’t have. In fact, we have searched high and low in Paris for it and it seems to be completely unavailable. Would you believe we cannot find barley. Yes, that’s right, plain, ordinary barley for making a soup seems, in Paris, the food capital of the world, to be an unknown quantity.

Ginnie went on to her last day of school with mixed feelings. The school, like the last one she attended a couple of years ago, runs on the basis of a continuous intake; with new students coming into classes every Monday. While they are rigorously tested to establish their ability levels, it is still somewhat confusing. The Alliance Francais is the largest language school in France with hundreds of students from all over the world studying every day. Here they can learn the language from the most basic level to the most technical specialist French such as that used in the law and in medicine.

It appears as if the teachers (all 130 of them) have quite a heavy load, beginning with a meeting at 8.30 in the morning. Classes start an hour later and at Virginia’s level the tutor takes a class for three hours, until 12.30. This is followed after lunch by a class of different students from 1.30 to 4.30 after which there is another meeting of the staff. Remember that each class has about twelve students from all over the world and all teaching at even the most basic level is in French. In the building no language other than French is to be used.

At the same time, many of the students work as hard, if not harder, than the teachers. One of the students in Virginia's class was Eduardo from Colombia. Eduardo is twenty-five years old and he is in France finishing a Masters degree in engineering at the Sorbonne. While here, so as not to waste time, he is doing three hours study in Italian every morning, three hours French every day at the Alliance Francais and then straight to the Sorbonne for three hours every evening. As if that isn't enough he then works in a bar until the small hours in order to help pay for it all. Virginia describes him as "a great guy, full of fun." So the next time I think I complain about my workload, Virginia has promised to remind me of Eduardo.

Whether the continuous intake is good teaching or just a convenience for the school, is difficult to know. It must be very difficult for the teachers and it also means that it is virtually impossible for students to build up any sense of camaraderie with one another. Anyway, whether it is good or bad, doesn’t really matter. That’s the way it is, and maybe that’s the best way of dealing with students from all over the world who have no common language. A very high level of teaching skill is required in such a situation and Virginia, while not always happy with the structure, was in absolute awe of the teachers and the ways in which the communicated to this disparate body of students.

St-Denis, Wednesday, 25 November

St-Denis is on the end of Metro line 13, just outside the 18eme Arondissment and very easy to get to. It is 20 minutes by direct line from the Place de Clichy. It is a "bedroom" suburb of Paris and many of those who work in Paris live in St-Denis. It is also a university area, so the traffic to and fro on the Metro is extremely heavy and there are many delays and much frustration.

For more than twelve centuries, it was the burial place of France's kings. St-Denis itself is an area of mixed population and mixed architecture. Some of the buildings in the older sections of the town are very traditional while in the newer areas, largely inhabited by migrants, there are some awful examples of "modern" architecture. That from the 1970s and 80s is particularly hideous. The main attraction here, however, is the Basilique de St-Denis where, with rare exceptions, all of France's kings and queens, from Dagobert (r. 629-39) to Louis XVIII (r. 1814-24) are buried.

The Basilica, with its single tower, was begun around 1136 and is the earliest example of the Gothic style. It served as a model for a number of 12th century French Cathedrals, including the one at Chartres. Much of what is seen there is the rebuilding begun under Napoleon as the Basilica was devastated during the revolution and the reign of terror. The oldest tombs date from the early 13th century. Those in the crypt are decorated with life-sized figures of the deceased. Some of the funerary sculpture is quite remarkable and constitutes one of Europe's most important collections.

Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette at Prayer

The Basilica is named after the patron saint of France, St Denis (also known as Dionysius of Paris) who introduced Christianity to Paris and was beheaded by the Romans - in Montmartre - for his pains. The story goes that he took his head under his arm and walked to where the Basilica is now located. He makes an appearance on the wonderful carved west portal of Notre Dame. Just look for the saint with his head under his arm!

One thing we noticed both when we stopped for lunch at a local brassierie and when we walked through an older section of the town, was the difference in prices between St-Denis and Paris. At lunch the price was about half of what we would pay in Paris and there was a significant difference in the cost of clothing and other goods with St-Denis running from one-half to about two-thirds the price for equivalent goods in the city.

Some Neighbourhood Photographs, Tuesday, 24 November

Another lovely day, 16 degrees, no wind and clear skies so while Ginnie did her homework I took off with my camera to do a little bit of a neighbourhood photo shoot.



This is the entrance to the building which contains the flat we rent. At a later date I'll do an "internal" photo shoot so you can see what the accommodation is like.


Almost directly across the street from us is a Chinese Restaurant, Chez Yang. We ate there last year and were disappointed with it but it must suit the tastes of some; there's one gentleman who eats there just about every evening.


Underneath our building is Cafe Lola. It is quite posh but very noisy on the weekends, often until 2.00am. The solution to that problem is earplugs.


Around the corner on rue Francoeur are a number of shops including a clothing shop


A Lebanese restaurant


A bookbindery


and, of course, one of our favourites, the Boulangerie.


At the top of rue Francoeur, where it meets rue Caulaincourt is our favourite watering hole Cafe Francoeur.

More about or neighbourhood at a later date.

Dinner with Friends, Monday, 23 November

We started the day with a stroll along rue Lepic, a delightful street with a real Parisian flavour. It is on the other side of the hill on which Sacre Coeur stands and near the Montmartre cemetery where a great many of the famous and infamous are buried. Although not as popular a site to visit as some of the other cemeteries around Paris, fans of Toulouse-Lautrec should make it a point of call just to see the grave of La Goulue, the dancer who featured in his first poster of the Moulin Rouge. He was said to have proudly announced, "my poster is pasted today on the walls of Paris." Others buried there include Nijinsy, Zola, Degas and Berlioz.

We are rather proud of our ability to get around Paris these days, having become familiar with the buses, the Metro, and to a lesser extent the RER. Having a Navigo card makes it that much easier, allowing us to hop on and off as well as between the various modes of transportation. Every so often, we realize that we are quite fortunate in that we are rarely out during rush hour and actually don't have to do too much changing of lines on the Metro. The Metro proudly claims that it is uncommon to have to make more than one change to get wherever it is you are going.

Today, everything that can make a trip difficult hit us at once. A bit of background first. We have friends in the 16eme Arondissment which is a reasonable distance from us. When we visited them before, we took the Metro into the centre of Paris, hopped on a bus which took us along the Seine, and then walked a fairly strenuous up-hill street to their home. This time since Virginia was at school, and I was at home, we came from separate directions although on the same line. We agreed to meet at a bookstore (W. H. Smith's) near Concorde. The trip there, coming from different directions on the No. 12 Metro line, was taken in the height of rush hour and when we each arrived (within minutes of each other) it was pouring and night had fallen. Fortunately, intrepid travellers that we are, we had each packed our "brollies" with us.

Back we went to the station at Concorde, this time to take the No. 1 line to Franklin Delano Roosevelt station, a distance of only two stops, but on a line taking people home from the city. It was packed. I recently read that during rush hour on the London Underground, riding on the tube was the equivalent of packing four people into a moving telephone box. Well, the French must have taken this to heart in their on-going war with the British; this was like travelling in a telephone box with at least six people in it. Now we had to make our second change. This time to line No. 9. Five stops later we were at La Muette. As we came to the surface, we prided ourselves on our successful trip; only to realize we were well ahead of the appointed time and it was still raining.

Fortunately the Metro station is near a number of shops so we did what one does in such a situation and went into a cafe - rather elegant at that - and had a glass of wine and an espresso.


When we finished we upped umbrellas and walked the short distance to our friends. There, once in the building, we took the elevator to their floor. Now we have all seen films - particularly horror films - in which the classic French lift (small, open sided) creaks its wayslowly to the floor while the bad guys run up the stairs. Well, this is that classic lift except that instead of slowly creaking its way upwards; once the double set of doors is closed and the button pressed, it starts with a bang and goes like a rocket. It stops with another bang and once again you untangle yourself through the doors (how you do this with a load of shopping is anyone's guess) you have arrived.

A wonderful warm welcome awaited us from our friends and their dog, Babette. Did you know that in France the name of a dog must start with a first letter designated by the government based on the month of the year in which the animal is registered. This did not seem to bother Babette in the least as she ate the peanuts and whatever else she could get to while enthusiastically enjoying herself. We too enjoyed a delightful dinner and lots of good talk with our friends. What could be a nicer way to spend an evening anywhere in the world. Then it was back to the Metro and home. Fortunately it had stopped raining and the trip was uneventful.

The Bastille Market, Sunday, 22 November

The Bastille Metro

The Bastille Market

Today we went to one of the great open-air French markets. This one is arguably the best such market in Paris. It stretches from the Metro station at the Bastille along Boulevard Richard Lenoir to the Metro station of the same name. Four aisles wide, and probably a kilometer in length, it offered you whatever you could possibly wish to purchase from used sewing machines to the freshest of oysters. No matter how hard you try, no matter how good the pictures, you just cannot capture the liveliness of the market with people spruiking their goods, families buying their foodstuffs and all the noise and excitement that is generated. And the smells - wonderful! The air is saturated with the smell of fresh fish and lovely clementines; not to mention the fresh bread and the wonderful cheeses. Too much for just one picture, so look at the bottom of this blog for a couple more!



After an hour or two there, we were back on the Metro to go to one of our favourite restaurants, La Cremaillere 1900. In an area where most of the restaurants are very much keyed to the tourist trade, with high prices and mediocre food, this particular restaurant seems to have managed to maintain a degree of integrity. Inside it is a bit like stepping into a Bel Epoque dining room with all the extravagent decoration one would expect in such a place.

Lunch is always cheaper than dinner in the Paris restaurants where they do a two or three course fixed price meal. While we waited, the waiter brought peanuts to have with our wine. We both had the Italian salad to start and as Virginia commented, that, with all the lovely sliced ham and cheese in it, along with the bread which invariably accompanies any French meal, was more than sufficent for a meal. Then followed Beouf Bourguignon and lovely tiny potatoes and that in turn by a delicious tart for dessert. All that and a half bottle of the new season Beaujolais went down very nicely during the couple of hours we enjoyed there. Just for those who think how terribly expensive it must be to dine in Paris, this meal in such a lovely environment probably cost us less than it would have in Australia; about $80. But that has as much to do with the exchange rate as anything else.

It was raining when we left so, too stuffed to do much else, we walked down to the flat and had a restful Sunday afternoon, reading and napping, before going out to Cafe Francoeur to check or mail and have a coffee.

A lovely day - Saturday, 21 November

You couldn't find a more perfect day than today. Sixteen degrees, sunshine and a slight warm breeze. This is what we did and would recommend it to all tourists to this city. Go to the Place de Madelaine, walk around it and visit all the posh foodshops. Then walk down the rue Royale to the Place de la Concorde. Pause a minute to take in all the sights, including the huge ferris wheel that is now there. Whether this is to be permanent or not we don't know, it may only have been erected for the Christmas season.

Anyway, take your life in your hands and cross the Place de la Concorde and enter the Tullerie Gardens. Sit around one of the artificial lakes. Have lunch at one of the little cafes in the garden. After lunch proceed towards the Louvre turning right to cross the river Seine on the Pont Royale and proceed to the Place Saint Michel. For any visitor that provides the views of the essential Paris. That's what we did today ending up in Montmartre having a drink at the Place du Tertre of the new vintage of Beaujolais.

Yesterday we included a picture of a sign in a restaurant window advertising the new season Beaujolais. The prices are, of course, restaurant prices. If you go to Monoprix or a local wine merchant, you can get a good bottle for between 3 and 8 Euros or $5 to $13; a great bargain for a wonderful light red!

Beaujolais - Friday, 20 November

Today was a walking day because it is so mild for this time of year. Overnight the temperature only fell to 8 degrees and today it was 15 degrees and sunny. We love the Paris street markets and had read that there was a particularly interesting one near the site of the old market, Les Halles, in the rue Montorgueil, a short street just behind Les Halles. For those who want to come here take the Metro to Sentier and exit at the rue des Petits Carreaux. When we found it, it turned out to be not a market, but rather a street of delightful food shops. Very elegant! Although described as the nearest thing one would find to the old Les Halles, we decided that only applied geographically.

The old market (just like Covent Garden Market) had been closed and relocated to some suburb in modern and more hygienic but less interesting premises in the outer suburbs. Again like Covent Garden, the old facade has been retained and a modern shopping centre erected within its premises. For everyone reading this in Adelaide, remember what happened to the old East End Market and please don't ever let it happen to the Central Market which is unique. From what we have seen of Les Halles and Covent Garden, it has been like ripping the heart out of a major part of the city!

From rue Montorgueil we wound our way to rue de Rivoli and walked east toward the Hotel de Ville which is the Marie for the 1ere Arondissment. Built in the 1870s and 80s, it is a lovely example of neo-Renaissance architecture. Very strict security - we couldn't get past the guards and considering the rather large weapons they were carrying decided it was not a situation in which we wanted to engage in an argument. From there, after a bite of lunch, we walked back and since we needed a couple of items stopped in C&A, an English department store. What was interesting about this was that after the security at the Hotel de Ville we were probably more conscious of it. We noticed a chap standing around with a C&A bag in his hand when we arrived and saw him shortly thereafter in the men’s section and later again in the women’s clothing area. He was not making purchases and was dressed very informally. Since shoplifting in Paris (like most other places in the world) is rife, we suddenly twigged that he was a store security person! This, of course, contributes to a certain paranoia; and we now see security personnel everywhere! Or maybe it is just more obvious. Today, when we went to catch the Metro, there were guards waiting in one of the corridors to catch people who had not purchased tickets. Last week, when I was at the Louvre, there were dozens of guards herding people into specific areas and one of the Metro stations was closed.

For all of you wine lovers the following may be of more relevance to you than it is to us. Apparently the Beaujolais season is upon us and all the cafes have signs up to tell us they have received their consignment. So, tomorrow in the afternoon, we will wend our way to one of our local watering holes (why does one call a place a watering-hole when it is probably the last thing you would drink there) to taste the new vintage.



While we were on our walk this morning we stopped to have a look at the glorious Tour St Jacques. As I mentioned yesterday, it had been wrapped up while they restored it – and what a gorgeous job of restoration. This is the tower of a very old church, Eglise St-Jacques de Boucherie. As the name suggests, it was built by the powerful Butchers' Guild in 1523. The Church wass the starting point for pilgrims setting off for the shrine of St Jame at Santiago de Compostela. Somehow it seems a bit more appropriate, although not as much fun, as The Tabard Inn. The church was demolished in 1797, but the tower was retained to become a shot tower. Cleaned and lovingly restored it is now one of the magnificent monuments that dot this city.

La Grippe! 19 November

Today was an ordinary day with housework, shopping and Virginia going to school. But we want to take an opportunity to tell you about the impact of Swine Flu here in France. This is, of course, the second wave of La Grippe as it is known here in the Northern Hemisphere and the vaccine has just, within the last week or two, become available. We're not sure if this is the same vaccine we used in Australia or a modified version. Whatever the case, there is a great deal of publicity about it and everyone is being encouraged to have Le Jab!

There is no question that the outbreak for this winter has started and the newspapers are reporting on a daily basis the number and where schools are closing. Virginia's school is probably at rather higher than normal risk since it has students enrolled from all over the world. Many of the Asian students at the school wear masks. There are notices everywhere telling people that the best way to avoid the virus is to wash one's hands. Just like in public institutions in Australia, there are hand anti-bacterial dispensers and notices reminding you to cover your face if you sneeze. Of course the great worry is that this second round will mutate and should it do so, that, of course, means that next winter in Australia we will have the all-new super bug to deal with. Still, we have the advantage of the Northern Hemisphere's experience to draw on.

Virginia's School - The Grand Staircase

The weather is mild and tomorrow we are going for a long stroll on the rue de Rivoli. When we were here last, Le Tour Saint Jacques was shrouded and being cleaned, but as we went past it the other day we noticed it is once again looking absolutely fantastic. More about that tomorrow.

By the way, you may remember our comments about the streets being cleaned with water from underground. Well, here is a picture of two Parisians taking full advantage of the bathing opportunity offered by this process.

St Germain-en-Laye, Wednesday, 18 November

Today was Virginia's day off from school so we decided to go to St Germain-en-Laye. This is an easily accessible, very fashionable town close to Paris. To get there we took the RER which is the suburban rail line which interacts with the Metro. We bought our tickets at Charles de Gaulle in the centre of Paris and boarded the train. After one or two stops the train reaches La Defense which is the massive and hideous business district dominated by a huge arch (is it possible to have a square arch?). Many of the international companies have their headquarters here and their highly paid employees live north of the area in the pretty suburbs.

Before reaching those suburbs however the train surfaces from underground and goes through some pretty pedestrian industrial areas; then into the wealthy suburbs. On arrival at St Germain-en-Laye, as you come out of the station and up the stairs, you immediately see the magnificent chateau which dominates the town. It is vastly intimidating; so much so that rather than visit it we wandered around the town.

St Germain-en-Laye is an interesting mix. Many of the buildings are classically French and the shops in the streets are largely from the nineteenth century. Because this is a wealthy area, they are beautifully maintained. There are also a number of very svelte shopping arcades with fine shops. As Christmas is approaching, some of the decorations are up and add a delightful sense of festivity to the town.



Virginia, looking around, announced, "I could live here - this is very nice!" Considering this is the 423rd place in France that she has said this about, I would have been less impressed had I not shared her view. Unfortunately, we have not won the lottery so it looks most unlikly that we will be moving here any time soon.

After a light lunch and a further stroll, we wandered back to the RER and admired the park which extends out from the chateau and, because of the height of the town, has some excellent views of Paris in the distance. As we went down to catch our train, voila, there it was, the tourist office for which we have been searching. All the maps, help; anything we could desire. It had just reopened after lunch and we grabbed handfuls of stuff, chrortling like two demented children.

This was actually our second trip to the town, having come on an earlier visit to France. Then, as now, it was cold and this is the sort of place you really want to come to in warmer weather, but if you are only in Paris for a short time and want to see something of life outside of the Metropolis, this is a very easy way to do so.

Chicken for Dinner, Tuesday, 17 November

Another normal Paris day; shopping in the morning, Virginia had school in the afternoon and I worked on some writing. We lead a very normal life, visitors, rather than tourists. We did, however, decide to try and get those maps we mentioned in an earlier report. We discovered that there was a MAJOR kiosk for such things near the Madeleine just opposite where they set up the flower stalls. So, off we went. Need I say more? No such place existed. I walked around the church square doing a very thorough search, but all to no avail. I did, however, discover that on Tuesday on the other side of the Church, there is a little food market and I stopped long enough to admire the fresh fish stall. I wonder if this might be a seasonal thing since the number of tourists seems to be down at this time of year; at least the large contingent of North Americans are not here for three reasons. First the exchange rate, for them, is lousy. Second it is winter. And third, schools in the United States are in session except for a two-week break around Christmas. Still, one wonders where the South Americans, Australians, and others are. Don't misunderstand. There are still plenty of tourists, but not the wall-to-wall numbers we have seen in the past. Actually it is quite nice.

Late this afternoon I set out to buy a rotisseried chicken for dinner. I always go to the same place because they seem to understand my terrible French when I ask for a "poulet roti pour sept euro." They probably speak better English than I do French, but humour the mad Australian who is trying to use his few carefully memorized words.

It is coming to the end of the year before the three week Christmas break so all of Virginia's teachers are trying to fast sell the last few weeks of instruction, promising that students are perfectly able to progress to the next level where there is a viable class. It is faintly reminiscent of Virginia at the WEA where she always encouraged those of us who taught in her program to cross-sell and pre-sell. What is the old saying? Something like, "it takes one to know one."

While Virginia was at school I hopped aboard the Metro to go down to Saint Michel to get some more reading material. By the time I was ready to come back I decided to take the bus, despite the fact that it was now rush hour. What had taken about fifteen minutes going, took about an hour coming back, but it was worth it. Paris has been called the "City of Lights," and it is clear if you ride on the bus as night falls why that is so. It was a most enjoyable trip. Mind you, I am talking about the lights in the ordinary streets and shops, not the "super-lights" of the Champs Elysees or the other great landmarks. The lights I enjoyed were more homely; more, I felt, of the real Paris.

A Walk in the Tuilleries, 16 November

Here we are, beginning a new week. As usual, much is closed so the morning shopping got done at Monoprix and after lunch Ginnie headed off to her class. As we have said the students are, on the whole, much younger than Ginnie and are very considerate of her. She, on the other hand, remains uncertain as to whether to be complimented or dismayed. Anyway, she had a bit of a cold today and tells me that the youngsters were concerned for her health and that she was OK. They kept fetching water - for which she was grateful as the nearest water is three stories below the classroom. They also brought her lollies for her throat. All in all it was just what she needed to survive the three hour intensive teaching session with a single break limited to ten minutes!

While Ginnie was at school I hopped aboard the Metro and went down to the station at Concorde where we had seen a kiosk with all sorts of useful information. In fact we have seen several of these and they all share one common attribute; they are closed. This one was no exception!

Since the Concorde station is right at one of the entrances to the Tuilleries I decided to take a stroll through those lovely formal gardens. Everywhere you look there is statuary ranging from the most formal classical to the most modern. The weather left something to be desired, but I persevered, getting as far as the Louvre. It was too late to go in as Ginnie gets home around 5.30, so I hopped back on the Metro, changed at Concorde and within fifteen minutes was back at our station Jules Joffrin from where I popped on to an 80 bus which took me within 100 metres of home. There is no question that the public transport system in this city is "fantastique".

And speaking of public transport, I know we have mentioned the little electric Montmartre Bus which runs from Jules Joffrin to the Place du Tertre. Well, here is a picture of it getting recharged. The process takes about fifteen minutes and it needs to be "filled up" every several trips.