Tourists on Champs Elysees and locals in the 3rd

A full and fun day! In spite of the neighbours upstairs partying till all hours I slept well (God bless the creator of earplugs), as did Paul.


Winter wonderland on Champs Elysees

He wanted to walk down Champs Elysees so we took the Metro.

 The Christmas markets were just so cute. Paris certainly dresses up well! Had loads of fun exploring stalls and shops, Paul bought the most elegant hat, and we did the obligatory photos with Arc de Triomphe in the background - and a clown?!

Dancing on Champs Elysees



Champs Elysees Christmas markets


Stopped for pizza today at a traditional Italian place where their French was about as good as mine!  Very nice food.

Another walk down the famous street, Amelia found a dress for her birthday, plus perfume plus a tiara (kind of) so she was a happy shopper.




Home for a cuppa and rest stop, then back out to our local shops, which will mostly be closed tomorrow. First up was the Boucherie where Amelia and I queued with the local ladies and bought trois cent grams de beouf filet for tomorrow's lunch. On to the Monoprix for balsamic vinegar and other essentials, then to the Fruits et Legumes for a few days' worth of veges.
Pretty laden by now, so home via the lovely little wine shop where we bought another vin rouge to go with our steak.
Tonight is ham and tomato on toast - life is pretty good. Lots of walking, lots of laughs. Tres bon! 
 
 

My man is here and all is well

So glad to wake up and know that Paul arrives this morning. We had emailed him a note to give the taxi driver with the address - I sat at the window to see his cab turn into Rue Pecquay at 8am. Instead I saw a large truck stop and the street closed off! At 8.30 I headed down to wait on the corner - always hoping I wasn't giving the wrong impression - I did receive a number of friendly greetings from French men, hmmmm. At last Paul's taxi pulled up, he saw the closed street before he saw me and started to panic. Big hugs, eventually let him go so he could take off his seat belt and leave the car!

After a cuppa the 3 of us headed out to show Paul the Paris we love. First up, Place des Vosges, the Hotel du Sully, the Seine, over to Ile St Louis where we stopped for café et croissants. Across to Ile de la Cite and Notre Dame, then past Hotel de Ville and home. Paul and I went to our little local wine shop to choose a nice red.


While Paul took a welcome shower, Amelia and I cooked chicken stir-fry and rice for lunch. Nice.
Paul had a wee nap on the couch, then another cuppa and back out to Forum des Halles to keep him awake till 5pm.
Now he's unpacking, I've poured us some vin rouge, and all is right with my world. 
 
 

One more sleep till Paul comes!

Yey, 1 more sleep!

Good to chat with both Paul and Ali before they left NZ - Ali on his way to Sydney, then Bangkok, then here in Paris next Thursday. Paul retracing the route Amelia and I took 2 1/2 weeks ago via Auckland and Kuala Lumpur.

So today was a day of preparation. Changing sheets and towels (bathroom looks like a Laundromat), and the dreaded cleaning. Amelia took over the bathroom and did a sterling job, I tackled the loo and kitchen. A quick vac through and we were done. Even cleaning here is interesting (yes, that's right!) because all the materials are just that bit different. The vac has a  sharply triangular head - brilliant for doing along walls and into corners. Why isn't mine like that at home (do I even care?).

Amelia was having a foot-rest day, her ankle was very swollen last night, so I shot up to the Monoprix and bought a few day's supplies, plus some little treats I know Paul likes. Struggled home with my bags, stopping at our favourite patisserie for baguettes for lunch. Felt like a French housewife! Queued up with the locals and delivered my order, hoping that I was clear enough to require no return conversation. C'est bon!

After lunch and cleaning duties were complete we both headed out so I could have removed the bright red nail treatment Paul had given me for my birthday, which was starting to look a bit sad. Slightly intimidated by the very glamorous salon, I hoped I had explained myself sufficiently so I wouldn't end up with bright blue or similar. Again, c'est bon, must be getting good at this. No doubt pride comes before a fall.

On the way home we stopped at our little local flower shop (my man loves flowers) and bought a couple of bunches. Now, flower arranging is one of those arts I do not have at all - my method is more like pick-up-sticks, but I don't think Paul will mind.




Home again - all ready, roll on 6.20am tomorrow morning!
  
 

Hunting for a cafe for Amelia's birthday dinner

This was meant to be a simple task, preceded by a quick visit to the Post Office to send the box to NZ (otherwise known as getting rid of the evidence before Paul arrives on Friday).

Champs Elysees with the Arc de Triomphe

We had narrowed dinner down to 3 options by previous experience, walking our neighbourhood and reading guide books. Wouldn't you know it, Amelia found a rue Amelie in the 7th, so we decided to check that out as a possible venue also.

Fabulous buskers on the metro today

First up, we considered a café on a corner of our local area. Nice, reasonable menu, but not really special - and as this dinner is the primary purpose of our whole trip, with family  coming from London and NZ, special is important. Next was a Metro trip to rue Amelie. The Paris Metro is superb - fast, frequent, reliable (usually), and cheap - just over 1 Euro to cross Paris - once you're in the Metro you can change as many lines as you want until you emerge back to street level. Pretty darn good, and Dove Myer Robinson must be turning in his grave at the powers that be dismissing his goal for the same kind of system for Auckland in the 70's. Today we had one change - but when we swapped lines way underground we found our second leg had been cancelled due to a 'grave accident to a passenger'. Rather sobering.

Wonderful decor, pity about the food.

Instead of waiting indefinitely we switched and went to Champs Elysee to check out the second option - a lovely quaint café where Lynette and I ate last year. Ambience was wonderful, service superb, food disappointing. On with the search.

Rue Amelie booked for dinner.

Metro now clear, we headed towards Tour Eiffel, and hunted out rue Amelie. What a gorgeous little street, full of wee shops, cafes, restaurants, hotels. We entered chez Pierrot and loved the atmosphere - seating about 20 people, it is intimate and has a great menu. Decision made, we booked for dinner for Saturday 7th December and heaved a sigh of relief. We took the 10 minute walk from rue Amelie to the Tour Eiffel and planned where to come for photos.
Amelia's foot was pretty sore by now, so we  took the Metro back across Paris to our own little neighbourhood.
Home for cuppa and a rest! Blue skies today, hope they continue until Paul arrives. 2 more sleeps!

9 sleeps to go! Is it sad that I've already packed .... let me count ...... 3 times. SO much to do to plan and organise. 3 months away is a long time - I can't wait for it to start, but I really don't want to forget anything.
Today I mailed a box of Christmas stocking pressies to London - it cost more than the monetary value of the pressies, but will add to the day immeasurably.
So - Kindle loaded with 45 books; 2 x 32gb memory card for camera; new Tablet bought and practised; new camera ditto; blog set up. How IT am I?!
Roll on Nov 12th. Paris here I come.