In Paris 1

It's taken me a little time but I'm determined to catch up on my very late blogs!


Having established our arrival in Paris, I guess some info is needed about being there.  Paris is always Paris (and yes, we'll always have Paris and I love it in the springtime and I'm still waiting to drive through it in a sports car with the warm wind in my hair .......... shame about the age of 37!).  It was great to be there and also to experience it a tad on the chilly side but with the great advantage that brings, of it not being completely overrun by other touros.


It was hard to know where to start, having "done" lots of the major crowd-pullers such as the Louvre, D'Orsay, Eiffel, L'Orangerie on previous visits.  In a way that took the pressure off and Deb and I decided that a lot of our fun this time would be drawn from just being there and cruising the cafes and the restaurants in our patch in the Marais - absorbing Paris through our pores (and alimentary canals).

Now this is a TV

One of the things that really struck me this visit was that the strength of the $Oz seemed to make Paris relatively cheap and you didn't need a third mortgage to eat out at reasonable places, of which there are a plethora in the Marais.




One of our first visits was to the Musee des Artes et Metiers which had been strongly recomended to me by a work acquaintance, just around the corner from home and, while it was good, it wasn't earth shatteringly great. The good things were the kitchenalia, glassware and the section on cameras, radios, TVs, watches etc.  There was lots of beautiful pottery, ceramics and glassware too.  One thing I'll say for though - it's not foot-numbingly big so you can take it in without wearing your legs down to the knees!

Beautiful in the Gardens

Later that day, we wandered around the Luxumbourg Gardens but it was really a little too cold to enjoy much.  I guess one should be impressed by the existance of such a long serving symbol of democracy (the French Senate sits in the formerLuxumbourg palace) but I thought the best thing there was some of the sculpture.


Next stop was the Montparnasse Cemetery, which I had somehow convinced myself was where Oscar and Jimmy were buried.  Wrong again.  Still a nice wander until the chill penetrated a little too deep here.

Mmmmmm

One of the few things we had planned for Paris was our anniversary/my birthday dinner at Restaurant Astier, just a 10 min stroll from our little apartment.  It had been recommended by a fellow food blogger of Deb's called David Lebovitz and his judgement was impeccable.  You can read all about it on Deb's blog (debsravingrecipes.blogspot.com) but the service, food and wine were terrific ( I had a veal terrine, magret de canard followed by a beautiful vanilla creme dessert.  We struck up a conversation with our very propinquitous neighbours at the next table, who proved to be from Dusselldorf and the conversation never stopped.  A great night.