Paris with Parents
We started Paris the same way we finished the parent's trip - with food at Killyjen's. After all we had determined it was literally under our hotel. Unfortunately they weren't serving their African food which I had looked forward to but it was of course delicious nonetheless less and we were even sat in the same place as before! Little less squishy without all the bags.
Mum and Dad went for an explore of central Paris while I picked up Richard and took him to Manu's parents place. It was supposed to be my last visit to take things away, but just as we'd finished I noticed a small stack in a corner in a different room *sigh*. We had a superb lunch, they really distill the best in French living. I think Richard was most taken with the fresh rabbit terrine bought from the markets. Over the pungent cheese (Richard) and delicious cured goats cheese (me), we all discussed the fact that despite French custom of bringing out the best and oldest reds at this point in fact white wine made a lot of sense. It is fun to be in a country which takes its culinary delights seriously, while enjoying them if course. Luckily we were as delayed and Mum and Dad so we all arrived at the Louvre together, but we had a bit of difficulty meeting up as I incorrectly thought that the Louvre pyramids metro stop was actually in the Pyramid. Despite the delay, we still had ample time to wander as it is open until 9pm on Friday nights. Our magic prepaid tickets let us in quickly and easily. Initially we thought we'd only stay til 7:30 or so but the Louvre has a way of drawing you in. The place itself is magnificent and we thoroughly enjoyed seeing some of the treasures- the map quite wisely has 'highlights' marked for those visitors with less time. We had a lovely, fancy afternoon tea with little macaroons- Mum's chocolate came in a little jug- in a beautiful sitting room to keep us going. Wisely we knew when enough was enough and headed out - only getting slightly lost along the way. We (well, I) worried about finding a table that late but it was of course absolutely fine. In fact people kept turning up to start their meal the whole time we were there. We had dinner in the place in the St Michel fountain, where dozens of restaurants fight for your custom.
Saturday we got up leisurely and went to Versailles. We'd bought the prepaid tickets so we thought it would be relatively easy to get in. No such luck. Turns out that the massive queue snaking backwards and forth on the massive square in the blazing sun was for us. The bottleneck was that they had relatively few scanning machines. They really should consider tickets with times on them, similar to the Eiffel tour. Or at least allow street hawkers to sell water and silly hats to keep the sun off! I felt particularly bad for one family who waited with us the whole time only to discover at the end they were in the wrong queue. I was usefully occupied, using Skype to hire my last camp leader.
The palace was of course magnificient and opulent. But ever so slightly overcrowded - that is what comes of going in peak season. Still it meant that for the first time Mum and I we able to visit the hall of mirrors :) It was wonderful to be in such a historic place and quite something to see, massive shoe made of pots and pans notwithstanding. We looked to have lunch and Mum quite sensibly looked at relative queuing lines and to ok as to the restaurant which was a haven of calm and refinement. The other place had people all sitting in the corridor and making a terrible racket ;). So we all got to feel like royalty eating in a castle sitting room with quiet attentive waiters and lovely salads.
Our ticket said 'all of castle' but apparently that doesn't include the gardens, which was a shame. I remember when the gardens used to be free and we could come out for a day visit! Feels like Floriade all over again, with people restricting access to make money and essentially blocking a large number of people who live there. Unwilling to queue up again in the blinding sun owning gravel we escaped and went for a wander into Versailles itself. The wander culminated with Richard having a much deserved beer and Mum and I having the best banana splits of the trip - which is saving a lot really. The only thing was that the banana wasn't actually split :p
Having returned from Versailles and recuperated a little, we headed out to eat near our hotel. Richard and I had good memories of the place we took Debra to for her last night so we looked for it again. It still had the clean interior with the slightly steam punk vibe with the burnished clocks and the great menu and snappy waiters. We were a little surprised to see that the was space for us but anyways. The food was still delicious but halfway into our meal they started playing the kind of music that is barely tolerable at 3am when clubbing. The waiters were bobbing along to it but the clash was jarring with the food and place. We soldiered on since the food was after all ordered and good. After dinner one of the waiters noticed Mum's shirt from Mont St Michel and got really excited because he was from Normandy. So he ran over with a 'trou Normand' for us all, which was truly delicious liqueur made from apples. He stayed to chat a bit and found out Richard was froNew Zealand and got even more excited. After some broken chat about rugby and soccer he left us to our desserts. In the middle of eating it the music changed to the sound of cheers which was odd but not completely unbelievable given the overall quality of the music to date. Richard looked up and said it rather sounded like the crowd at a rugby match. At that point the haka sounded and we saw the waiter grinning at us for m across the room. He's hurried back to find it and put it on. Halfway through another waiter walked it in with a rather bemused look on his face and the haka died away but it was a rather special moment all the same. Richard was even lobbed a packet of coffee beans in guise of a football on the way out, which he managed to catch despite no warning.
Sunday I had planned an excursion out to Monet's garden. It was something I had done years ago and had really good memories of, so I wanted to share it with everyone. I had done the pre-booking thing, but hadn't realised just how popular it had become as an excursion in the intervening time. There were not enough buses to actually take us iut there from the train station, even the rent a bikes were all snatched up. I had visions of us being crushed in the gardens like at Versailles and of us missing the bus back and therefore the train for Richard's return. So we sensibly decided not to go after all.
We found a local place serving delicious, decadent French lunches and stayed in the airconditioning for a while. We wandered around the town, and Richard promptly fell in live with Normandy - even looking up house prices out of curiosity ;) It was a rather beautiful town and a brillian sunshiny day which was a little exhausting again. Having enjoyed our trip to Vernon we headed back and saw Richard safely to the train with all his luggage. We were still a bit full from lunch so we ate at a Japanese-themed restaurant - Mum was brave and tried the cheese-filled beef skewer.
We needed to buy Mum and Dad a new suitcase since they were sending one back with me with things for the gite. This was a great excuse for Mum and I to have a shopping excursion day on the Monday, on yet another brilliant, sunshiney day. We walked through the middle arrondissements of Paris: visiting BHV, then Galleries Lafayette which actually felt like the Asian market in Sydney with crowded booths and extra levels. The building is still amazing but it is not the department store of old. Printemps seems to be Golding out against this evolution and was lovely. We found Dad a new shirt and I discovered that there are suits for sale without external stitching which was nice although not sure our wedding budget stretches to Yves St Laurent suits. The top floor has a restaurant with an amazing view over Paris and an iced water machine - much recommended.
The walk through old Paris was lovely and elegant and interesting. However when we decided to walk back along Rue de Rivoli we discovered it was now the realm of tacky, over-stuffed souvenir shops. Not quite what I was expecting. Having walked all day we treated ourselves and Dad to a dinner of meat cooked n a hot so me in the middle of the table, which I had been longing for since th abortive attempt to eat it in Bordeaux :)
On the Tuesday I showed off my old schools haunts, including rue Mouffetard and the Pantheon. We looked at going to the Musee du Moyen Age but it was closed so we investigated Gilbert Joseph and then Shakesoeare and Co. for books. Shopping along the side of the Seine with views of Norte dame... Such a chore... ;) We ended up at the base of the Eiffel tower where I dropped Mum and Dad for their romantic Seine cruise. I'll confess to having more Japanese food that night, the freshness was most appealing.
Wednesday we had one last French breakfast and then I took off home to Switzerland with many bags. We went out for Spanish tapas that evening but no deep fried squid for me this time. The food was just a delicious as the year before. I was a bit slow to get started on the Thursday and had more booking to do (I seem to have been doing that for months) but made it to Zurich time for some scanning and to wish Alok's a happy post-doc by the lake. We couldn't stay late because we had a busy day of travel the next day - Friday the 27th of July was our 1/3/5 anniversary and we had a trip to Ardèche planned.
