Our last day in Parisand the last of these blogs.
We spent most of the day cleaning and saying our goodbyes to people in the flats, at the cafe where we go almost every day and in the shops where we have become known (probably as those crazy Australians). We were very touched by several of the people who expressed shock that we were leaving. One of the lasses who works at the cafe said, "not forever" and when we told her we would be back briefly in April she said it was OK for us to go as long as we would be back before too long. At the Alimentation, one of the men who works there said to Virginia, "How can it be that you are going. You are the quintessential Parisian housewife with your baguette, doing the daily shopping." Of course, Virginia's response was "no, not me, my husband's at home cooking the lunch and cleaning the bathroom!" Hardly French, that.
We went to lunch at the Cafe Franceour and while it was tinged with sadness, we are now looking forward to being back in Australia with our family and friends and the promise of a new grandchild in less than three months. We are not, however, looking forward to getting up at 5.00am tomorrow morning with the temperature well below zero and waiting for a cab to take us to the airport. That's always one of the worst things about travelling, but, if you want to travel you have to, as a young woman once advised us, "put on your 'patience' hat."
So, we leave Paris for now (... but we'll be back on the 31st of March. Only 90 days, but who's counting?). But before returning to Paris we will have a week in London and two weeks in Venice where we are going to study that greatest of all maritime cities. We haven't decided yet whether we are going to blog this next trip, but it is likely we will do so, so, head for the website,
http://www.venice.blogspot.com.
01 January 2010
New Year's Eve, Thursday, 31 December
New Year's Eve and sadly the time has come for us to book into our flights. While we are not looking forward to leaving Paris, we are looking forward to our flight to Singapore on the new A380 airbus. We are told, by friends who have flown on it, that it is quieter and smoother than anything else in the air these days (with the possible exception of a hot air balloon).
Although the weather is turning cold again we took a rather long walk. Partly this was of necessity since, having gotten our boarding passes via the internet, we needed to find a place to print them out. We had checked, some days ago, and found an internet cafe near Abbesses where this could be done and, since we were in the area, we took the funicular up to the Butte for a last look at the Place du Tertre.
In the late afternoon we caught the bus over to the elegant 16eme Arondissment where we spent New Year's Eve with friends. We enjoyed a delightful dinner at the home of our friends but decided to leave before midnight to avoid the crush that would be inevitable on public transport. And it was every bit as busy as we thought it might be. For one thing, all public transport in the city is free on New Year's Eve and into the following day. We travelled by Metro which meant making two transfers and one of the stations is very near the Eiffel Tower. You can imagine the crowds in the stations. Nonetheless, we made it home and watched the lights of the Eiffel Tower on the television - exactly like you could have done in Australia or wherever you are reading this.
To bed around 1.30 knowing that tomorrow is our cleaning and packing day although we may go out for lunch to Cafe Franceour.
A walk through old haunts, Wednesday, 30 December
More spectator sport this morning as the cars outside the flat were impounded. We checked the amount of time it takes to put the straps under the car, lift it onto the back of a truck and drive off. From the moment the truck arrived until the time it departed with the car was just under three minutes. And we thought the process today took a bit longer than usual!
It is a beautiful day with the temperature around 12 degrees - so we decided to take a walk through some of the places we had been in previous years but had not visited this time. We took the Metro to Madeleine and then walked over to the Opera Garnier along the Boulevard de la Madeleine.
From there we headed down the Avenue de l'Opera with a diversion along rue Daunou where we stayed the first time we came to Paris in 1996. Oddly enough it was terribly cold on that short visit; so cold that the water of the fountains froze in their arcs. It hadn't changed much although one of our favourite eating places was gone. Harry's American Bar, where Hemingway and the other expats drank in the 1920s, however remained there at 5 rue Daunou.
Back along Avenue de l'Opera to Palais Royal where we had lunch at Cafe Nemour on Place Colette right next to Comedie Francaise. This is one of Virginia's favourite watering holes. It is definitely the kind of place where you don't sit down, you install yourself in a very tight little corner.
After lunch we strolled down the rue de Rivoli which was crowded with tourists taking advantage of the fine weather while being taken advantage of by the many shopkeepers. We popped into Angelina's to purchase a chocolate gift for friends. It was, as usual, very crowded and the only language that seemed to be in evidence was English. Then on to W. H. Smith to get some reading matter for the trip ahead.
Later in the afternoon we went down to our local shops where we watched people buying up for New Year's Eve with great interest. Wonderful goods on display, particularly shellfish and foie gras which we are told is a New Year's Even tradition. The French seem to celebrate the Reveillon de la Saint-Sylvestre (New Year's Eve) far more seriously than they do Christmas day itself. The celebrations go on until la fete des Rois or twelfth night when the special pastry, la Galette de Rois is eaten and a game to be selected as King and wear the Crown is played.
It is a beautiful day with the temperature around 12 degrees - so we decided to take a walk through some of the places we had been in previous years but had not visited this time. We took the Metro to Madeleine and then walked over to the Opera Garnier along the Boulevard de la Madeleine.
From there we headed down the Avenue de l'Opera with a diversion along rue Daunou where we stayed the first time we came to Paris in 1996. Oddly enough it was terribly cold on that short visit; so cold that the water of the fountains froze in their arcs. It hadn't changed much although one of our favourite eating places was gone. Harry's American Bar, where Hemingway and the other expats drank in the 1920s, however remained there at 5 rue Daunou.
Back along Avenue de l'Opera to Palais Royal where we had lunch at Cafe Nemour on Place Colette right next to Comedie Francaise. This is one of Virginia's favourite watering holes. It is definitely the kind of place where you don't sit down, you install yourself in a very tight little corner.
After lunch we strolled down the rue de Rivoli which was crowded with tourists taking advantage of the fine weather while being taken advantage of by the many shopkeepers. We popped into Angelina's to purchase a chocolate gift for friends. It was, as usual, very crowded and the only language that seemed to be in evidence was English. Then on to W. H. Smith to get some reading matter for the trip ahead.
Later in the afternoon we went down to our local shops where we watched people buying up for New Year's Eve with great interest. Wonderful goods on display, particularly shellfish and foie gras which we are told is a New Year's Even tradition. The French seem to celebrate the Reveillon de la Saint-Sylvestre (New Year's Eve) far more seriously than they do Christmas day itself. The celebrations go on until la fete des Rois or twelfth night when the special pastry, la Galette de Rois is eaten and a game to be selected as King and wear the Crown is played.
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