A month in Paris. A month in Paris. A month in Paris… so sayeth the wheels of the train wending its way through verdant (overgrown?) French countryside from Caen to the Gare St Lazare. Finally. On our way.

The plan? A month of enjoying Paris, then training to Barcelona for a month before jumping on the cruise to South America on 22 November. The forthcoming period is actually how housesitters spend their holidays - ie, no housesitting in our immediate future. Why? The three months in Ireland took it out of us this time around. We figure we've seen / done / investigated just about every free and affordable thing to do in Paris and still, we're not bored. We plan on just enjoying ourselves, walking the neighbourhoods, eating the food, seeing the sights and visiting markets.

We are fortunate indeed to be able to say "it's our favourite city, heck, let's just go there" - no housesit, no nothing. We booked our AirBnb months ago - which was lucky, though we only had 2 massive bags back when we booked it. After hoisting four x 23kg+ bags up 4 flights of (Parisian) stairs and finding the apartment left a lot to be desired, we looked online and found at this late stage there was only 1 other option available for the forthcoming 28 days… and it was A$10,000 (vs the A$2900 we paid for this). There are so many pesky things wrong with it (like not having a kettle, coffee machine broken, tv not working, 'cleaned' by sight-impaired housekeepers, leaking bottle of laundry detergent decanting itself onto the bedroom floor, dirty wet mop in a bucket of water… yada yada yada…) Apparently that's what you get for €70 a night in Paris. (I know… right… bargain… should be grateful.)

As it turns out Paris Fashion Week started two days ago - who knew… Paris is bursting at the seams. We can't just blame Fashion Week, in addition to the bean poles in statement outfits, most of the population of the USA seems to be here right now enjoying the value of the soaring American dollar. We're quite central, just down the road to the Gare de l'est in the 10th - a very colourful area. As of night one we made a rule that we turn right when leaving the complex - this took us down to the canal which was a compeltely different vibe to the turn left/station option.

As you'll see from the stories in the blog, including the small diamond hoop earrings for €1 in Cherbourg, I've become a certified (certifiable?) thrift store treasure hunter over recent months - it's the thrill of the chase. There's an excellent Red Cross shop just off Republique that is my new hunting ground. I bought a beautiful silver and coral filigree brooch there last Christmas so it was always going to be our first port of call on this visit. On our first full day we damn near emptied out their jewellery cabinet. I am now the proud owner of a couple of Swedish silver brooches made 70+ years ago. Is 2 a collection? Perhaps a small collection. I found it fascinating that since the 1750s Sweden has mandated that all pieces of silver or gold have to have 5 stamps specifying date / place / maker / metal type / and 'Sweden' . One of the brooches was made in Malmo in 1946… and 76 years later it's now made it, in one piece, into an Australian's hands in Paris. History on the hoof, that's what that is. Also three pieces of silver and amber jewellery - a brooch, a ring and a pendant. The polishing alone kept me amused for hours. We also found an electric kettle for the Airbnb. Only €5.50. Amortised over 28 days, it's less than 20 cents per day. Other treasures found during our stay include some garnet and amethyst earrings set in silver, an art deco filigree brooch, vintage French silver niello cufflinks, sterling earring jackets, Murat formal shirt buttons in gold plate and mother of pearl. Perks me up no end buying new pieces for around €6 euro each - usually because the metal is black and tarnished and no one else sees the value. The Swedish brooches alone would go for €100+ each on Etsy/Ebay etc. Though as James says… they'd have to be ripped from my cold, dead hands first…

Early in the stay we visited our all time favourite area of the city - Le Marais. Keeping in mind the 4 massive bags, we knew buying anything at all at the vintage shops was sheer folly. So on our first walk we found a couple of stunning shearling coats… only €105 the pair. Bargain. Obviously didn't buy them as we'd first need €2 million odd to buy a place in Malta, get our Maltese passports and then buy a small pad in Paris to keep our coat collection. So €2,000,105 roughly for the coats. Not so much of a bargain then. Other shopping? In the usual course of a stay we'd do an initial big shop to stock a week or two's meals in the apartment. This time we're being very Parisian and picking up dinners and groceries as we go along. It doesn't matter how little we buy though, we're invariably lugging heavy grocery bags up the stairs. Given the weight of glass, this time around, we're drinking our French wine from Chateau Cardboard which has made a big difference.

Saturday 31 Sept was Nuit Blanche 2022 or 'sleepless night' this year… We went for a wending walk through Le Marais, had a fabulous dinner at Pharamond, watched swing dancers opposite the Louvre and were blown away with the sheer volume of people in Paris. We even 'joined in' in Place Vendome and hung around with the hordes to maybe see someone, maybe famous, maybe leaving one of the fabulous hotels. Long, long long day - 20,000 steps. The last 100 odd up to our 4th floor pad were just the icing on the exercise cake.

Sunday 1 October being the first Sunday of the month and thus 'Free Museum day', we would usually see 3 or 4 museums - and even back in December, we managed this - despite Covid, Omicron and all that jazz. Today we spent 15 minutes queueing for the Musee d'Orsay to find at the front of the queue that the tickets (albeit free) had to be booked online and were sold out. Trap for small players that one. Instead we enjoyed a baguette with ham and cheese in the Tuileries Garden. We walked home via the Afghani/Algerien chicken guys and the Turkish bread guy. We like the 10th (a lot better than the 18th) - but still… arrondissements 1-4 would be our choice come a big windfall. It was a warm, sunny and humid morning, then poured with rain on the way home. So warm, gray, wet and humid in the afternoon - truly the weather is all over the place. It is warming up instead of cooling down - which would be the normal course of affairs as France heads into Autumn and Winter.

We took it easy on Monday 2 Oct. Having walked 35,000 odd steps over the weekend, by Monday morning we were feeling it. We both phoned home for our weekly catchup and eventually puttered down the four floors of fitness and went hunting… to the Red Cross. Today's find was the gorgeous pair of garnet and amethyst earrings set in silver - black when I bought them for a few euros - polishing took a while but was very worthwhile. We also (because obviously we don't have nearly enough stuff) bought James a pair of unworn Zadig & Voltaire suede shoes which he's stretching and breaking in a bit. They looked expensive and at €12.50 in the Red Cross we figured it was a snazzy brand and I was sure I'd seen the boutique in our strollings… Crazy money brand new - €350 odd / A$500. For shoes. We explored outward from there and headed along a new street (to us) to the local Lidl. Not the cheapest place for everything - but certainly cheapest on most things. It doesn't matter how little we buy… it's always heavy by the top of the stairs. The 700ml bottle of Amaretto was very heavy indeed. We netflixed. We chilled. We cooked risoni/orzo with garlic and white wine to accompany our Afghani roast chicken. A good day altogether.

You might have noticed we seem to be not quite as driven as some Paris stays in the past. It seems to be a pattern (and a cruel irony) that when I'm in Paris, I get sick. I was sick when we were here in January (and we both had Covid in Morocco in June… which was 3.5 months ago… so immunity probably waning and the cases are rising up again here so… hmmm). Once more I'm a bit under the weather. I had a screeching sore throat 8-10 days ago when we were in Normandy with friends - so took to my bed for a day of reading and napping and that seemed to cure it - but it's back with a vengeance - and all the other stuff - nose, head etc… so medicated up to the eyeballs and having a quiet day online (and psyching myself into doing tax returns as they've been on the to do list for 3 months now). Truly Covid is such a c-word these days, but it was probably covid though feels like a slightly lesser version than Marrakesh. We enjoyed a couple of rest days on Tuesday and Wednesday, though by then James had started to get sick with me. It's a journey all right. Titanic was a journey.

We were finally out and about on Thursday 6 October. We wanted to stock up on easy eats and we walked down to the market behind St Eustache to buy our fill of African food. We used to buy from this family when we were here in December 2019… more or less ate from their stall every night for 8 weeks, so it was good to see them back again. Dinner was therefore outstanding - an African dish called Mafe de Bouef. Like a rich satay beef. We added cous cous and beans - luscious. It was a huge day out in the end and we walked home via my hunting ground, the Red Cross. Today's absolute treasure, found in all places, the box of old buttons on the counter, was the pair of silver cufflinks, almost black and definitely not buttons but I could see a tiny stamp and they felt like silver. We figured for €2 it was suck it and see. They were 'fixed' cufflinks which neither of us had encountered before (and probably why they were in the button box). Polishing and research kept me amused in the evening and now I know about the niello finish on silver. Live and learn. Also bought a strand of carnelian beads which look like butterscotch and, from the button box, an actual antique button of mother of pearl with abalone inlay. Only €1, a good cause and so much fun.

It's a real spot it, grab it, buy it system - there was a vintage Longchamps leather bag there one morning for €6 - just the sort of thing I'd pick up if I lived here. It was gone by the early afternoon - snaffled by another hunter it seems. We spotted a double layer, pure linen t-shirt for James for €3 by a French company called Majestic Filatures… yet another crowd we hadn't heard of - but the quality was evident - he tried it on when we reached home and says it feels like wearing spiderwebs (in a fabulous way). Not sure we'd ever pay €165 odd/ A$250 for a t-shirt, even a stunning one such as this. The issue we'd have is as follows: if the t-shirt is €165, then how much do you spend on the jacket or the shoes… Oh that's right, €350 from Zadig & Voltaire.

Friday 7 October was gazetted to be 'a big day'. Not because we hoofed it to Turkish bread guy. Not because we found a set of 3 gold plated formal shirt buttons by Murat (in the button box). But because ages ago we booked tickets to see a performance at the Opera Garnier for the very first time and it was outstanding. Rossini's version of Cenerentola / Cinderella. 3 hours and 40 minutes including a 30 minute intermission for leg stretching (pictured). Huge treat for us to have surtitles in English and French (as it was sung in Italian). Usually we get them in Romanian or something equally unhelpful. It was quite a minimalist production but we were in the centre of the top balcony and had central views (albeit distant) of the whole stage. Great acoustics and we were not unduly crippled by the seats - though we looked longingly down at the premium seating in the big velvet armchairs and relievedly up at the €10 'worst seats in the house' up above us. It's all a spectrum and we were there! By the time we walked home and settled into bed it was after midnight and sleep ins all around on Saturday morning. James was officially sick by then after heading downhill during Friday. It was therefore a complete rest day - we didn't leave the apartment at all.

Sunday 9 October was a stunning Autumnal day for our glorious morning walk along Canal St Martin to the Marche de Joinville for fruit and veges… our old stomping ground. This was a cracking street market even in the depths of Covid/Omicron in December 2021 when we were housesitting 2 puddy-tats on the opposite side of the canal. The market was much bigger and more peopley today in the brilliant sunshine - still good buying that's for sure and we picked up all the fancy food we could carry - raspberries, pineapples, pomegranates, muscatel grapes, green grapes, mangoes and some razors and washing up liquid just to finish off with - about €15 all up. We popped into our old local boulangerie and it was nice to see the same couple running it - and busy on a Sunday morning. We swapped canal sides for the walk home and dropped in to a Picard for some beans and rum and raisin icecream. Just the necessities of life. 8000 steps done and home for lunch. Will have to see how the afternoon pans out as we're both still under the weather. If 'the weather' was a semi-trailer and had parked on top of us.

Monday 10 October. We learned a lesson today; one should never, ever visit Lidl on a Monday. They are closed on Sundays and there is pent up demand and empty shelves on a Monday morning. It was just too people-y verging on a nightmare. We got to the end of the first aisle and had just enough in our trolley (having seen the checkout queues), to feel like we'd invested too much time to quit at that point. We survived. We lugged bags home and up the damn stairs and then we chilled, a lot. And napped. And, albeit late starters, we gorged on Netflix's show 'The Kominsky Method' with Michael Douglas and a pantheon of other brilliant actors - addictive.

On Tuesday we didn't get out of the house until 11.30 am. It was a slow morning as we're both still recovering from likely-covid. Realising this as we pottered along the Grand Boulevards heading into town, my back up plan turned into the actual plan and we thought "Bouillon Chartier… your time has come". Probably the most well known of Paris's bouillons but we have never gotten around to it. There was no queue as it was only 12 noonish so we were straight into this tumultuous eating establishment. We were seated at a table with a lovely couple from Poland who spoke some, but not a lot of English. They also spoke Russian and German and Polish. We felt a tiny bit inadequate, but still had a good time. Food was fine and their €1 soup to start was probably the best dish. Nice experience but won't tempt us away from our favourite - Le Petit Bouillon Pharamond. So - out of the house (tick), lunch (tick) and onwards to Paris's prettiest shop, the Galeries Lafayette. We made the pilgrimage to the roof for the outstanding views and it was a very bright, sunshiney day. I saw a black felt hat with a good brim at the Red Cross the other day and didn't buy it. Non-buyer's remorse has kicked in and I've realised, I need a suitable winter hat as the sun is blazing, killing our eyes as we go from shade to sun to shade. The hat-lookings continue. We had no luck finding me a replacement phone case, so we'll probably order it online and have it delivered to Barcelona. It seems insane what people will pay for a phone and then only 'invest' €10 on a case - but it seems a lot of cheaper Android phones are in use - so cheap phone/cheap case mentality.

Wednesday 12 October and it was clear the only answer to the winter sunhat question is 'Le Marais'. We know, we know… 4 huge bags in tow and shopping for anything is a luxury - let alone for a hat I have only recently discovered I needed. Whether it is a shearling or fur coat or a hat, Le Marais came to the party and at our favourite and very first shop, Coiffure, we found 50+ hats. I pulled a dozen possibles off the shelf and found the perfect hat almost immediately. €5. Bargain. There was a chill in the air and James fancied a light weight scarf - and 'lo there went another €1. The last of the big-spenders - we were 100% happy. We had a look in a couple of other haunts, picked up a fresh baguette and ventured to Anne Frank Park for a look - somewhere we hadn't been before. Brilliant actually - slightly less secret than the little park off Rue des Rosiers, but it did have a public toilet. Which is a huge feature in a park. We tootled homewards via Lidl which was much more civilised. Today we stocked up on 'necessities'. Peanut butter, Normandy cidre, bubbles, wine and chocolates. We felt a bit like Rockefellers with our conveyor belt full of luxuries (nothing there that wasn't bubbly or brown).

We visited the Red Cross on Thursday 13 October prior to a stock-up-jaunt to St Eustache for African food. Sadly the jewellery hunting season has finished and the window is full of teddy bears. Ah well… it was good while it lasted. Friday saw (more) shopping but this was an actual, honest to goodness 'need'. James's second bag had been in a roof in Ireland for 6 odd years, a bit of damp obviously got in. It got a sprinkle of rain on it in Normandy and has been sitting in a grimy little Paris apartment for a couple of weeks. Seemingly overnight, the extreme humidity from the recent rains had turned it into a garden of mouldy business. The contents were all fine, but, pissing rain or no we had to leave the house to buy a new bag (which we wrapped throroughly in two layers of plastic bags to get it home dry. We were soaked, everything was damp and the apartment was steamier than an Amazon jungle summer. But the new bag was dry. Success.

Sometimes it's the way. You don't know what you don't know until, if you're lucky, you get a hint and can find out more. We were walking and saw a single sign at the end of a side street saying parking was not available on the weekend because of a brocante. Woo hoo! Flea market here we come. So we saw the sign on Wednesday, once. Obviously all the locals who need to know about the monthly(?) street market, already know - as it was packed on the Saturday morning when we finally rolled out of the house at 11 am or so and remembered the market. Great fun. Huge. 99% of the stalls were overpriced (by our demanding standards), but there were loads of antiques, bric-a-brac and vintage clothes. Vintage. It's a technical term for 'overpriced second hand'. Be that as it may, there was one stall that we gravitated to like bees to nectar. The guys usually run a shop out at St Ouen, the massive flea market on the outskirts of Paris which we found to be a bit too big when we visited it years ago. So they had 3 tables of jewellery, small silver and what not and it took a good long while to choose my first treasure, a hefty silver pendant with an inset citrine. Haggling was accomplished and we were all as happy as possible with the final price of €25. Given that I usually hunt in the wild and pay only a few euros for anything it seemed ruinously expensive, but a fraction of what a jeweller would charge and it actually completes a set. Funnily enough, we were discussing the purchase when we got home and James said he never would have chosen it for me, rather he would have chosen the pair of amber earrings he'd shown me. This confused the hell out of me as I never saw them, though he'd showed me 3 amber pendants at one point (didn't need pendants). It turned out 2 were identical and he saw them immediately as earrings. Sigh… So that's what we did first thng on Sunday. We headed to the brocante as they were laying out their stock for the day and the haggling commenced. Rather than €30 I paid €20 and to sweeten the deal threw in a couple of silver rings I had found on the streets over the years. Horse trading extraordinaire. With the not-quite-earrings tucked in a pocket we continued on with our day and walked down the canal to the Joinville market for a big stock up on cut rate luxury fruit - including a kilo of figs, kilo of black grapes, raspberries etc. For the prices they charge we were more than happy to lug it all home (albeit less happy with lugging it up 4 flights of stairs). We had lunch and I'm afraid it was back to the brocante. We'd seen a silver and amber, art nouveau style bangle on our one and only stall - but needed to take another look. They weren't tired of our business yet and we negotiated €60 to €40. The boss obviously recognised a good customer and gave us the business card for their shop at St Ouen. Good stuff. A great dea of polishing occured in the evening and it's safe to say the amber and silver collection is now, probably, right-sized.

After a hard weekend of bargain hunting, horse trading and haggling, we had a rest day on Monday and pottered about at home. The cupboard's were Mother Hubbard on Tuesday so we ventured to our favourite street in the 10th for Turkish bread and roasted chicken and in the evening treated ourselves to dinner at Hitomi - our official Japanese extravaganze in Paris with a cook to order buffet. Gyoza, sushi, so good. We've been going there for 8 years now and seen it change hands from the old guard to the new and still love it.

Wednesday 19 October. The upshot of a couple of somewhat lazy days and an evening of decadence at Hitomi is that we were in the mood for a big walk by today. And this one was a doozy - all the way across town via the glorious covered passages to the Elysee Palace at the very end of Rue St Honore. We almost passed out at the furthest point from the scent of money, thick in the air. St Honore is the most fabulous street to dream upon - the upscale bags, clothing and jewellery - Oh my stars and whiskers… the diamonds at Graff. We ended up on the gardens of the Palais Royale for our baguette/ham/cheese lunch. It's the first time we've ever seen it with the gardens a riotous mass of flowers. The only downside? Lots of flowers means lots of warmth and sunshine and far, far too many people. We got home via Le Marais and made 17,000 steps in the end. Phew!

When we've walked a long way, the only option sometimes is to do it all again the following day. Thursday 20 October saw another 17,000 step day. We went down the canal in the opposite direction to usual and came across Marche Bastille which was huge. We picked up some inexpensive toiletry products and carried on via Bastille to reach Rue Cremieux. This colourful village type street was a feast for the senses. We finally reached our destination for the day, a reccie of Gare de Lyon. Home via Canal St Martin where it joins the Seine and we hunted a baguette en route and had lunch in Place de Vosges and explored multiple little parks on our way home.

When we first arrived in Paris on this trip I saw a billboard advertising a free(!) exhibition of jewellery by FRED, The Jeweller. Everything we know about FRED could have been written on the back of a small postage stamp and amounted to 'Pretty Woman'. As in, that's where the ruby necklace came from that Richard Gere gave to Julia Roberts - AKA 'Vivienne'. So we got online and discovered the exhibition was indeed free, though required booking online and was being held at the Palais de Tokyo. The only available space was near the end of our stay so we snaffled two spots for Friday 21 October and the day finally arrived. It was, without a doubt, a stunning exhibition. We had no idea the man was actually born in France, migrated to Argentina and returned to France when he was 16 and went on to become an international jewellery icon. They had around 400 pieces on display and it was retina scarring in its level of sparkle. Astonishingly good outing. And of course, on the other side of town. Another 17,000 steps. Officially exhaustipated by the time we got home in the early evening.

After a few days of walking ourselves stupid, Saturday 22 October saw us 'only' do 6000 steps. Pretty close to a rest day. Just a jaunt to Lidl and Picard for some last necessities. And some serious thinking about packing. Bloody packing. Also a ticket for the Euromillions which was up to €115 million… with that amount of dosh we'd have people for packing.

Sunday 23 October we had planned to do things. Can't think what so can't have been too important and we can't have been too motivated. Instead we spent the morning gardening our reservations - the expression for keeping an eye on on the travel bookings. We filled out forms for the forthcoming cruises, made sure they hadn't changed any port visits and double checked the excursions. What can we say… Brazil really ignites the urge to travel in groups and under the direct supervision and protection of the cruise company - and not particularly expensive. The rest of the day was devoted to precisely that, rest. All that admin work took it out of us.

Monday 24 October we figured we'd enjoyed the rest day so much on Sunday that we'd do some more. Though in fairness we did make it out in the late afternoon for our final visit to the Turkish bread guy. So as usual our 'rest' day was 6000 steps. Tuesday passed in a blur of final packing, and with regret we stowed our magical memory foam mattress toppers into the bags. One night without them (probably) wouldn't kill us. Wednesday 26 October - Our last day in Paris dawned - theoretically… it was still pitch black at 7.45 when James hauled the bags down the 4 flights of stairs which was much harder than taking them up surprisingly. The time has come, yada yada, chatty walruses etc, and we were off! Down to Gare de Lyon for the next exciting instalment of the adventure. A massive bon voyage to us for forthcoming train trip to Barcelona, Spain.