Having been to Paris before and having seen all the usual sights, this visit gave is the chance to see some of the sights off the beaten track. But the time has come to say goodbye but it has been a blast.
The big bonus had been the beautiful summery weather, from our last visit in Winter it has been a totally different experience. We’ve been couch surfing with our friend Guillaume who couch surfed with us back in Australia. The last time we visited he had a little apartment on the 7th floor of an old renaissance style building which was accessed by a tiny spiral staircase. The best part about his flat was it had views of the Eiffel Tower. These days he lives in an apartment block in a residential suburb of Paris on the 5th floor with a lift, so no more trudging up stairs, yippee.
Staying with Guillaume has been great because Michele got to get back in the kitchen and do some cooking which she really has missed. Most days we have been waking at 9 and whilst the coffee is brewing I slip down to the Boulangerie on the corner to pick up some fresh baguettes, croissants or Swiss pain (flaky pastry filled with custard and chocolate yummy). Yeh it’s a good life.
After breakfast there’s always something to do…..hey it’s Paris.
This week we’ve visited Montmatre for a walking tour, Versailles Palace, Château De Vaux Le Vicomte,Jardin Claude Monet, Montmatre for a food tour, a night tour of Paris, and today we visited Paris to conduct our own walking tour.
The balance was great some days in the city and others we went out of the city to explore further, while we had the motorbike they are accessible by public transport as well.
The added bonus was each night has been full of fun and laughter., starting with either Michele, Guillaume or both of them cooking dinner. It’s been great, we’ve feasted on nachos (the Aussie favourite), spaghetti Bolognaise (another Aussie favourite), Guilliams famous galettes and crepes, and Guiliiams famous Quiche Lorraine (he even sold them at a cafe in Melbourne when he was in Australia).
We’ve been playing a crazy French card games, one called “Le Tango De Tarantule” was among others. In the game you turn a card over and have to make the noise of the animal on the preceding card. As you can imagine there’s been all sorts of weird noises coming from the flat. We even discovered different countries have different noises for animals which added to the laughter. The neighbours must think he’s brought some livestock up in the lift and his room is a menagerie. Of course just when you start to get used to the rules Guilliaume added new ones just to keep us laughing.
“Les Batisseurs” was another fun game where the idea was to employ people to build structures which you receive money for. It’s a quick strategic game which I was quite good at unlike my effort with those damn Tarantulas! His friend Camille pops over when she can to join in the madness and we got to introduce her to Skip Bo, a card game we brought all the way from Australia. I think it’s also good for Michele to have another woman around and Camille is a really nice young woman.
But all good thing must come to an end so goodbye Paris it has been a blast….
