Day 28 Leaving to come home

Terry at the Armory in Invalides


I am sitting in a lounge at Paris airport waiting for our flight to board. I am tired already and we haven't even left yet. This is the worst non fun bit. It is about 7 at night here so we have been awake awhile lol.
This morning we slept as long as we could after our night out last night. Then had our last croissant in Paris, packed the last few things and left our bags at the hotel. The owner suggested we visit 'Invalides' which we hadn't done and it is nearby so was a good choice. It is a huge building that houses everything military related including a nursing home for ex personnel.
It houses a military museum that is enormous and includes not only the tomb of Napolean but an amazing collection of knights armor dating back as long as you want to go.
It is amazing how intricately detailed they all are. There were rooms and rooms of armor [I was strangely reminded of Dr Who while looking at them lol]
We walked around the gardens a bit and had a look at Napoleans Tomb then headed back to the hotel. We had organised a taxi and it is a long drive. Just under an hour [and that's driving Paris style] Unforunately had to wait a little before checking in and then had trouble finding the lounge which British Airways assured us was here. Of course thats because it is the American lounge that they use but none of the signs say that.
By this time we actually are hungry but there is not much food choice here and limited drinks. I am too tired for alcohol yet lol. We go to London first [about an hour flight] and then have to change to the flight to hongkong. Then i don't hink I will have any trouble sleeping lol.
More later.
Ok we are at hong kong now in the not so really first class first class lounge. The flight form London was good but long [11 hrs] thank god for us ringing to talk to someone about seats before we left australia as because terry is platimum they were very very helpful and todays british Airwyas flight we had the exit row with just 2 seats. more legroom then you need and no one in front so u could stand as oyu please. It was so good although without a footrest I still had trouble sleeping at all. i really need to lay to do that. Terry managed to look alseep for a large chunk but as we have 7 hrs here at the airport before the last leg he had to go for a walk to stay awake
i have my feet up which is prob not good but I don't care lol
the chairs are not all in even fair condition so i don't think it matters. We have a few more people in here now but it was basically just us and one other man who comes and goes a bit when we got here.
we leave at 11 15 pm hong kong time and get back thurs morning aust time at 10 in the morning. I figure a glass of wine before boarding then maybe a movie which i am sure will put me to sleep.
Oh i can't wait for the bed or at least my chair lol. We really should be sitting out in the sun and staying up then bed early evening but not sure we will last that long. Ok need to stretch i am far too comfy here and terry is not here so don't want to nod of and start snoring or they might kick me out lol

Day 27 Paris

we also stuck our head in the Peugeot store to see what our next car should be lol




Our last Day in Paris and for our holiday. Monday and another crystal clear beautiful day. we decided today to visit the other tall building experience apart from the eiffel tower. Tour Montparnasse and Tour in french means tower. basically it has a superfast elevator that zips you up to the 56th floor in seconds. You have a 360 degree view of paris including a great view of the eiffel tower. you can also walk up another few metres to a viewing deck on the top. Altogether a pretty cool view although a bit overdone as a tourist gimic.

They have a film [pretty bad lol but I am talking sound and resolution] i think it is time it was redone. The tourist souvenir shop closes for an hour at 1 lol.
After that we got the train to the Arch de triomphe and had a wander around it then down the Champs de Elysees. stopped for coffee then headed towards home when terry spotted the Lido.
For some crazy reason this morning instead of just getting a day transport ticket he got the day visite pass. But it turned out this gives you 50% off the price of a champagne and show at the lido. that is a 50 euro saving each just for an 8 euro transport ticket which also got us around all day. By this time i am totally feeling like sitting but he convinced me to come back out at 9 for the show.
We made our way to the hotel.packed by bag fully and terry's pretty much,showered and headed back. You get half a bottle of champagne each so we had a whole bottle and disappointingly it was much like our normal pretty bad ones in australia [Lido Brut] and not at all like champagnes champagne. it was however cold and fitting the occasion. We had a great seat and the show was entertaining. Terry enjoyed it far more then me probably but even he said it was totally not worth the full price. It was an interesting show a mix of the traditional feathers and breasts with some amazingly good acrobatic circue du soleil style acts and then some interesting male dancers lol. The first half hour at least was bizarre, men mixed in with the woman in the feather costumes and then heaps of leather and chains. It really did seem for awhile that the Lido had been transformed into some sort of gay cabaret. some of your friends really would have enjoyed it Kieran lol. I am probably far too critical but the general dancers were far too uncoordinated and lacking life. kahlee you could have done 100% better then 90% of them lol.

Anyway it was an experience and made terry's last night in Paris. We bought him a program so he can tell you all about it lol.

Back to hotel really late and to bed for our last night in our comfy doona wonderland.

Day 26 Paris

Took a bit of waking up this morning after our long day yesterday. Met up with Sandra and Adrienne at 10:30 at their hotel. Being a Sunday most shops and markets were shut, so we decided to have a walk along the river bank. The weather had again turned out for the best, being bright blue skies with no clouds. Another success for the Aussies bringing good weather wherever we go!!!

Near the Eiffel Tower we saw a number of old cars and horse drawn carriages. Then when we got closer to the Eiffel Tower we saw that there was something being filmed at the bottom of the Tower. Not sure if it was a movie but lots of people were dressed in period costume, ie late 19th century and one guy who seemed to be a main actor was wearing a pith helmet. They were speaking in French so it didn't make much sense????? Couldn't see any George Clooney's or Brad Pitt's for the girls or an Angela Jolie for me so so we decided to push on.

We were near the boat rides so we decided to take one of the hour long cruises with commentary. It was quite interesting as the boat went past the major buildings and bridges along the Seine such as the Musee D'Orsay, Louvre Museum, Pont Neuf Bridge, Notre Dame Cathedral to name a few. The commentary was entertaining if a bit over the top going on about the "City of Love"!!!! Anyway it was an extremely pleasant way to spend an hour and sharon got heaps of photos again. Thank God for digital cameras and computer technology. The bill for camera film and developing photos would have astronomic!!!!!!

Time for lunch so we strolled back to Rue Cler and our favourite French restaurant so we could show our Belgian friends what we have been talking about. There was just space for the four of us. French people obviously love their food and dining our as it was close to full again. This time fish for Sharon and rigatonni with truffle cream for me with profiteroles for desert for Sharon (as she hadn't had any all trip so far) and a pear tart with chocolate sauce for me. Yum yum!!!

Unfortunatley it was now time for Sandra and Adrienne to go home so we decided to take a metro ride with them for part of the way until they joined up with the RER. Again Sharon's ticket didn't work in the turnstiles. I don't know what it is about her. maybe she's highly magnetic and affects the strip on the ticket. I know she's highly charged and lights me up!!!!![OMG leave him to write and this is what happens lol]

Back to the hotel room to have a rest before we decided what we were going to do for the night. Finished off our grapes and the red wine we had been keeping for a while. Sharon caught up with managing the photos and some of the earlier blogs that we were behind on and I got to watch the Rugby on TV. Stade Francais (with Mark Gasnier, the ex Australian League centre for those who know/remember) versus Bath from England in the European Cup. Entertaining game with Stade Francais winning in the final minute with (yet) another penalty goal.

All for now, as it's time for a snooze before heading out tonight. Au revoir from 2 aussies in Paris.

[Ihave to add that it was the most beautiful day you could imagine here today. Crystal clear skies but the sun was warm and everyone was out taking advantage of it.

Day 25 Paris [Champagne and Disney]

Sandra, Adrienne and terry in the champagen Cellar at G.H.Martel

Risotto Parisienne style.Today we had a very special day organised as our new best friends from Brussels are coming down to spend the weekend with us. They drove down to euro disney and we caught the train out there [it is around 40 mins out of paris] Sandra is totally addicted to everyhting Mickey. [nothing wrong with that lol]It was a bit of a miserable cry cloudy day. We were going to have dinner there but the restaurant was booked out. We did however get to browse through the shops outside the actual park which was interesting and we picked up some cool things for christmas presents. We then made our way to sandras very nice new lancia [a company car as she works for Ernst Young [a top tier accounting frim] We drove to Riems whcioh is in the heart of champagne. the weather was overcast and drizzly.
First stop was Notre Dame cathedral [one of four Notre dames[ for a look at the beautiful stained glass and decorative external facade. You would not believe but we parked in a carpark and when we walked out the sun was out. It was quite wierd lol but great as we could see the glass and the reflections in the church were amazing.
Next we went to lunch - ordering a toasted sandwich and getting an absolutely enormous piece of foccaccio covered on top with tomato ham and cheese and herbs. It was delicious but had probably a months surply of cheese on it.
replenished we went on to find a champagne celarl to do a tour. Unfortunately the one they had chaosen for us was full for the tour but it turned out well as Adrienne rang around and we got the last places in one on a french tour. as wr had translaters this was not a problem lol. it was actually they said more informative and less walking and stairs and we also got to taste 3 champagnes. Only champagne made in this area is legally allowed to be called Champagne. [the name is copyrighted]. the town on Riems was built over years of cutting blocks of stone to build the buildings. this resulted in 200km of tunnels with all the stone cut out. It is a maze of access tunnels they used to get the blocks of stone out. Some clever monks realised this was the perfect place [temperature and humidity ] to use as cellars. The grapes are grown through the champagne area and then in th emiddle of town are all the cellars where the champagne is made. They use chardonney and pinot noir grapes. it is an interesting process. Firstly, most houses will take a selection of still wines made from the grapes of more than one area, as this far north it is not commercially viable to rely on just one or two individual vineyards. Most Champagne is white, and may be made from any combination of the three grapes above. The pulp, and therefore the juice, of the two black grapes is white, so a white wine is obtained form these grapes by gentle pressing and taking the juice off the skins before they have had time to impart any colour. Once the wines are assembled, the cellar-master of the house will decide how they should be blended, before the bubbles are created by the Méthode Champenoise.

A recipe for making fizz (Méthode Champenoise):

Step 1: take one bottle of still wine, appropriately blended so as to maintain the house style. Ensure the glass is thick and strong to resist the increased pressure that will be created in the bottle.

Step 2: add a dose of sugar solution and yeast, known as liqueur de tirage, and seal the bottle with a good fitting cap - like a beer bottle cap.

Step 3: wait for the yeast to ferment the added sugar, creating more alcohol and, more importantly, carbon dioxide. As this gas cannot escape and is held under pressure, it will dissolve in the wine. This is where the bubbles come from. The pressure inside the bottle is now perhaps 80-90psi, equivalent to three or four times the pressure in the tyres on the average car.

Step 4: leave the wine for some time, perhaps several years. The lees (dead yeast cells) will impart richness to the wine.

Step 5: gradual turn and tap the bottle over time, so that eventually it is facing neck down, with the dead yeast cells sitting in the neck. This is known as remuage, or riddling.

Step 6: dip the neck in freezing brine to create a frozen plug of wine, containing the dead yeast cells, in the neck of the bottle. Pop the cap and the plug, complete with lees, flies out. This is known as dégorgement.

Step 7: top up with a dosage of sweetish wine, seal with a cork, wire capsule and foil, and sell it for a handsome profit.

The more pinot Noir grapes in the stronger flavored the champagne is.
The tunnels were dug between the fourth and fifth centuries.
I am not really a champagne lover but this was beautiful. I will be looking out for osme french champagne now.
By now it was around 6 so we headed pack to the train station at euro disney and got the train back together to paris. We went to the ladies hotel first to check in and then walked back to the other side of the eiffel tower where we are staying. Of course after doing that our favourite restaurant was overfull even at 10 but we luckily got a table at the one next door lso full of locals. We ahd a beautiful dinner. my Risotto was so good I even took a photo. we had wine and of course dessert and it was all good.
It was way past our bed times now so Terry walked them aprt way home while I went back to our hotel and turned the heater on.
Overall we had a long but wonderful day. poor Sandra drove about 600 kms so we really appreciated them doing it. To make the day even better they bought us real Belgian chocolate.

Day 24 Paris

For the second full day in Paris we decided to go to the Musee d'Orsay, which is another famous art museum in Paris. The building is an old converted train station. Very beautiful inside and full of different art pieces predominantly of the 19th century. As Sharon told me, pre-Impressionism to Post-Impressionism, with some Romanticism, Realism, and Art Nouveau. It was very enlightening showing the development of Impressionism. The Art Nouveau wasn't really paintings but more furniture, vases etc. (Do I sound like an Art Expert yet!!!)[NB it was decorative arts lol]

We went through the entire museum and boy were we tired afterward. We had planned initially to go to another museum, but after not finishing the d'Orsay until 4 pm we decided that was a bad joke and strolled over the Seine instead to the Jardin des Tuileries, the formal gardens between the L'ouvre and the Place de la Concorde (which is at the bottom end of the Champs Elysees. It's a place where Parisiennes often go to relax.

We had brought some food with us and had a late lunch consisting of baguette, camembert cheese, grapes, strawberries, some sort of big berries like a loganberry (big mulberry and some apricots. A very French lunch, missing only some red wine which we forgot to bring. Sacre bleu!!!We only had Diet Coke (or Coke Light as they are called here). Sacrilege!!! Whatever, it is delicious. I've decided to set up a Paris office of Capworks Management so I can work here. But Sharon prefers Florence. So we could do both and I'll become Director of the European Office!!!

By this time we had decided a wine was in order, [or as I said it was wine o'clock] so headed back "home" to Rue Cler to have some Bordeaux. Before we headed back to the hotel room, some desserts from the patisserie next door. Very nice way to finish the day.

Yay blog up to date
Terry with Whistlers mother. very strange that such a famous american artists most known painting is in paris. Terry also is making me tell you that he knows this one is just a copy as Mr Bean destroyed the original.

He forgot to tell you that this gallery is awesome as you are allowed to take photos without a flash. I was going to take one of every single painting lol [and frame] but gave that idea up after a few hundred.


Inside the main hall of the gallery

Day 23 Paris

Our first full day in paris. We started with the oligatory breakfast of croissant and a roll with homemade jam. [best croissants ever at our hotel and home made jam by the owner. Todays adventure was first to Notre dame cathedral [this also involved us working out the transport tickets and the RER.]
It is free to get in but pretty crowded. there was actually a mass on while we were there and I got totally sick of people who ignored the very obvious signs to not use a flash. In these tourist churches they always rope of the middle parts during mass and you would not believe thwe people who go past the ropes plonk themselves down and take photos even woth a flash. A few even went right down the front [to the side atleats] and it is a long church took flash photos right towards the priest. UNBELIEVABLE> Anyway I refuse to take any photos of anywhere in the middle during mass instead we just joined in and terry had communion. then when it was over we got a couple photos. A little lesson in photography here - a flash will not light up the ceiling metres above you lol nor will it light up the river meters ahead of you. Can you tell it is a pet hate of mine. Buy a good camera that works in low light [will be all of a couple hundred dollars , work out how to tuern of the flash before you go and turn of the sound so it doesn't go rrr rrrr while you are in a church or gallery. GRRRRRR
Ok enough of rant.
Notre Dame is quite beautiful inside and th3e outside is even more interesting. It was an amazing design concept. It has huge flying buttresses [like a part of an arch]/these actually support the main high part of the church but also have the added advantage that the water running down them goes straight into the mouths of the gargoyles.
You can see them in this photo which is actually of a model


The real thing is of course far more impressive. Terry of course has a story to tell. Apparently Joe DiMaggio once said 'There are 2 great rear views in the world - my wife's backside [he was married to marilyn Monroe at the time] and the back of Notre dame in paris'
he was right - the back is awesome.

We had a bit of a saunter around the back and the gardens and then made our way to Sainte Chapellle. It is a 2 storey chapel within the grounds of what was the royalalace but is now the French Supreme court. this whole area was once a palace with the chapel in the middle of the courtyard. The Palai de la Cite was the residence and seat of royal power from the tenth to fourteenth centuries. The building has 2 levels on top of each other - the lower one for the palace staff and the upper level which is predominently leadlight was for the king etc.
As part of this visit we also got to see the Conciergerie which is basically the old jail. The main claim to fame was it was sued to hold prisoners during the revolution including Marie Antoinette.
It was quite brisk after that so we made our way home stopping in rue Cler for coffee and terry had tea and toast. Then we had a beer and wine as we were sitting right under a really warm heater lol. We wandered a bit picking up some cheese fuits and drinks to leave in the fridge the hotel provides.
back tot eh room and then after resting we went out for dinner picking the cafe we saw the hotel owner sitting at [good pick you could tell it was good because at 8 it was very crowded.]We had a fabulous dinner. I had roast duck [yummmmmmm] and beautiful garlicky slices of roasted potatoes and a green salad. terry had some fish and the best green beans so we shared vegies between us. It was very well priced os we had dessert as well and by now just had to go back to sleep. I have been reading an autobiography of Peggy Guggenheil we bought when we were in venice and I really wanted to read the chapters about her marriage to max ernst [ the painter] but I only lasted a few pages.
It is very cold here tonight as the skies are clear and it is expected to be zero tonight.
Oh nearly forgot the best bit iof the day. When we were ehading home we had a quick look at the antique book dealers who are spread along the riverbank. they have little metal boxes that they open up to sell their books and prints etc from. we saw hundreds of them when we were driving to our hotel. we stopped at one who had probably 400 vintage postcards in shoeboxes. after browisng through them forever lol I bought one for 2 euro. i am going to have to make time to go back lol.

day 22 Guess where

Pretty easy to guess - Paris. We woke to a perfectly blue clear sky again in Geneva packed everything up and then left bags in hotel to head out for an hour or so before mnaking our way to the train station. It was actually very cold around 13 degrees according to one building lol. I got just a slight bit sidetracked browsng through a market of antique books and prints form books and postcards. Had fun looking for ages but didnt buy anything. the postcards were around 15 euros each. Ebay may be a better option lol.

We grabbed somethting to eat on train form the dept store with our last swiss coins - got our our bags and got the tram to the station and as we were early had coffee while we were waiting.the train journey was again beautiful - not so much alps but following a river for ages with little towns and then the beautiful french countryside. we got to paris around 5 and grabbed a taxi to our hotel. Put our bags in and headed out for a walk along the river. The sun was going down and there was a really interesting exposition of photographs along the boardwalk. forgot to say we walked first up and down the rue Cker street market which is a street away from our hotel We headed along the river towards the eiffel tower which by now was starting to show its lights. Fought of the hordes of guys selling glowing tourist relics. We wandered back [ the very long way as Terry was not yet orientated and wouldn't hand ovef the map] stopping for steak and bearnaise sauce, chips and wine for dinner. We even had a nice english soaking man on a bike offer is directions on one of the many corners terry stood on looking at the map. The trouble is he showed us where we were but I think may have become confused when terry said we wanted ti get to the big red dot lol [which marked the hotel] he mayvbe should have said Rue Cler or rue Valadon our street because we ended up walking in pretty much the opposite direction to home. I guess at least it meant we were out late enough to see the tower twinkle which it does on the hour from 8. It sorta looked stranbge though flashing lights. i think we were a bit too close.Anyway we are safely in the hotel which is a lovely small one more like a bed and breakfast. The owners are so sweet they left a bunch of roses and a card in the room wishing us happy birthday and happy anniversary.
We agian have free wifi so hopefully can keep up to date. we are both a little sad that we are in our last stop on the journey to home. having seen that it is 35 in brisbane we really wnayt to stay here. paris was actually a little warmer than geneva as the wind was not as cold. There is a cold swell coming down through europe with early snow expected in some places around the alps so if it snows in geneva we will be very anoyed. May be if we wish really hard we can have snow on the eiffel tower.