Day 1 - Emma's arrival
We are starting this blog from the evening that Emma arrived in Europe. Having already been in Paris for a few days by myself, with just my book and several somewhat antisocial Parisian cafe proprietors to keep me company, I spent most of Saturday eagerly awaiting Emma's arrival. Fortunately I had wifi internet access in our excellent apartment (thanks Hugette!), and was able to literally follow her flight on the radar. At one point over Iraq the plane disappeared for a few hours which I found a little concerning, but it later reappeared and landed safely at Charles de Gaulle.
Emma's flight landed at about 8pm, but because of track works on the RER she was forced to catch the very slow bus, and by the time we finally found each other and got back to the apartment it was after 11.
We then feasted on the cheese, macaroons and Champagne that I had prepared earlier and collapsed into bed.
Here are some snaps from the apartment:
DAY 2
Today began, fairly impressively for someone who the night before got off a 24 hour flight and downed half a bottle of champagne, with a run around the 11th arrondissement. After returning from the run and having a lovely French breakfast of muesli we took to the streets.
First was a walk into the centre to explore the Pompidou Centre, which Emma had never been inside of, and I hadn't for a long time. On the way it began to rain, and we stopped for a coffee in the touristy Bastille area. The coffee was one of the 'push the button and the machine does the rest' varieties for 4.50 euros each. That's about AUD$7 per shit coffee FYI.
When we got to the Pompidou Centre, there was a line a mile long out the front and we decided to give it a miss. Instead there was a free exhibition next door of a Hungarian sculptor which was much less crowded and interesting for half an hour.
We decided, seeing as we were on a museum roll, to head for the Musee de l'Orangerie which houses the most famous Monet water lilly paintings. When we arrived there there was another enormous line out the front and we guessed that it would take well over an hour to get in. So, assuming that the queues were due to the fact that it was a Sunday, we decided to come back tomorrow. We later found out that the queues were because it was the first Sunday of the month, and all museum entries were free. Bummer.
We then opted to walk the fairly substantial distance back home, stopping at my favourite felafel shop in the world, L'as du falafel in the Marais for late lunch. The felafels were piping hot and delicious as ever and Emma was suitably impressed! We then walked the rest of the way back to the apartment and rested our weary legs for a couple of hours. We must have walked about 10kms at least today, not to mention the run in the morning... not a sign of things to come.
This evening we met up with Emma's French friend Isabelle from Berlin who has now moved back to Paris; and Emma's Australian friend Andre who is studying in Paris for 6 months. We met in the 11th arr and ate dinner and drank wine at a cute little restaurant called 'Cafe des Angels' on Rue Roquette.
Over and out.
We are starting this blog from the evening that Emma arrived in Europe. Having already been in Paris for a few days by myself, with just my book and several somewhat antisocial Parisian cafe proprietors to keep me company, I spent most of Saturday eagerly awaiting Emma's arrival. Fortunately I had wifi internet access in our excellent apartment (thanks Hugette!), and was able to literally follow her flight on the radar. At one point over Iraq the plane disappeared for a few hours which I found a little concerning, but it later reappeared and landed safely at Charles de Gaulle.
Emma's flight landed at about 8pm, but because of track works on the RER she was forced to catch the very slow bus, and by the time we finally found each other and got back to the apartment it was after 11.
We then feasted on the cheese, macaroons and Champagne that I had prepared earlier and collapsed into bed.
Here are some snaps from the apartment:
DAY 2
Today began, fairly impressively for someone who the night before got off a 24 hour flight and downed half a bottle of champagne, with a run around the 11th arrondissement. After returning from the run and having a lovely French breakfast of muesli we took to the streets.
First was a walk into the centre to explore the Pompidou Centre, which Emma had never been inside of, and I hadn't for a long time. On the way it began to rain, and we stopped for a coffee in the touristy Bastille area. The coffee was one of the 'push the button and the machine does the rest' varieties for 4.50 euros each. That's about AUD$7 per shit coffee FYI.
When we got to the Pompidou Centre, there was a line a mile long out the front and we decided to give it a miss. Instead there was a free exhibition next door of a Hungarian sculptor which was much less crowded and interesting for half an hour.
We decided, seeing as we were on a museum roll, to head for the Musee de l'Orangerie which houses the most famous Monet water lilly paintings. When we arrived there there was another enormous line out the front and we guessed that it would take well over an hour to get in. So, assuming that the queues were due to the fact that it was a Sunday, we decided to come back tomorrow. We later found out that the queues were because it was the first Sunday of the month, and all museum entries were free. Bummer.
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| A self take in the Jardin de? Tuilleries |
This evening we met up with Emma's French friend Isabelle from Berlin who has now moved back to Paris; and Emma's Australian friend Andre who is studying in Paris for 6 months. We met in the 11th arr and ate dinner and drank wine at a cute little restaurant called 'Cafe des Angels' on Rue Roquette.
Over and out.
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