We are undoubtedly very lucky and happy to be a world away from the bushfire disaster, extreme heat and smoke of Australia (and now, the extreme rain, storm and flooding). At this point in time, November in Ireland seems so far away, as does the long weekend in Brussels when we kicked off our festive season at their superb advent markets. Dare we say it, after 2 months in Paris, it seemed like home.

We arrived in Paris on 2 December and 'home' is massive. Our Haussmanian apartment was built in the 1800s and has three bedrooms - so large by Paris standards we're surprised it doesn't have it's own postcode. It has been fabulous to stay in a well proportioned and spacious home - to the point where we share the master bedroom but have another bedroom each as a dressing room/clothes storage spot. There is a gracious curving staircase leading to the second floor that seems to beg for a ballgown vs. the jeans it normally encounters. There are massive beams holding up the ceiling/second floor and a creaky floor that is positively Addams family-esque - even the kitty cat can create a herd of elephants effect if he pounds around upstairs during an attack of the zoomies. Otherwise we are living in an oasis of peace. The building sits on a quiet side street and through the massive entry doors is a courtyard filled with Mercedes, BMW and Tesla - a small but high end car yard it seems, then we are at the back of the courtyard - very quiet indeed. We are a mere 5 minutes walk to the Palais Royal gardens and the Louvre Museum and invariably cut through the grounds as we walk down to the Seine. We've always wondered what it would be like to live in a grand Paris apartment and are absolutely privileged to be here given the monthly rental is €4,100... or A$70,000 odd per annum. Our purpose in life here in Paris is 14 years old, Riki - black, shorthaired, quite possibly might enjoy long walks on the beach - but no one will ever know it as he is the world's most introverted cat. A complete sweetheart but resembles nothing so much as a black hole with green eyes, thought it might have something to do with the apartment's lighting scheme being towards the 'atmospheric' end of the spectrum between dark and light.

Well, what have we been up to? With the whole transport strike thing, which ended just a few days before we left Paris, we walked a lot, everywhere, all the time. Frightfully good for us - not sure if we lost weight - it was Paris afterall - but definitely lost 'waist' which was great. We've always been huge fans of the Paris Metro and whizzed all over the place with it, but walking above ground has been a lovely way to see the city and we did an average of 8 kms or 10,000 steps a day - if not a lot more most days. One day we managed 14 kms through sheer necessity as one of our favourite restaurants was around 2.5 km return on foot. Sadly my UGG boots died around two weeks into our Paris stay - for outdoor walking at least - that's what comes of wearing slippers for 135 kms of walking... they just don't make them like they used to. I managed to cobble together the major coming apart issues with a whole tube of super glue and they were relegated to indoor use only. Probably lucky they died when they did - we ended up doing around 480 kms during our 2 month Paris stay - only a few hours if driven - but a dang long way on shanks's pony.

What have we been up to aside from pounding the pavements? So much, so here goes in broad strokes.

Culture: We saw on one of the blogs we follow that there was a production at the Theatre du Chatelet of 'An American in Paris' - based on Gershwin brothers music - it won Tony awards back in 2014 and has been touring for the last 5 years. So we walked (of course) down to the box office and snaffled 2 tix up in the Gods (could have done with some snazzy opera glasses). We had a ball! We were humming show tunes for days after the show. We ended up booking tix for their next production the minute we got home that evening - 'Saul' - Old testament stuff, David has just killed Goliath - scored with Handel's oratorio - including the Hallelujah Chorus.

Sparklies: As anyone who knows me, knows well, I love sparkly things (and James is close behind me) - magpie genes maybe. The same blog tipped us off to a jewellery exhibition of the Lacloche makers - as famous in their day as Cartier, Boucheron etc. It was held at the School of Jewellery Arts and sponsored by another big name - Van Cleef & Arpels. Pieces were on loan from private collections all around the world - it was superb - even the catalogue was a work of art and it seemed criminal when we had to throw it away. We did wonder how good the security could be at a school exhibition - however they did quite an amazing job - first the front desk, then into an elevator, then the front desk of the exhibition, then through another door, down some stairs, through a camera and security code door, past the guard and the bag search and then up some stairs via the guard at the displays and finally we were there - and understood all the security. The pieces on display were incredible - one in particular, a cuff of diamonds looked like it could have been made yesterday and completely up to the minute in style.

Museums, Gardens, Statues and Buildings: We visited many of Paris's great and some lesser known museums - the Cognaq Jay, the Bibliotecque Forney, the Conciergerie, St Chapelle, Musee d'Orsay, the Rodin Museum and the Musee de la Vie Romantique. We surveyed the major gardens - The Tuileries and the Luxembourg Gardens and every little square, side street and public garden we came across. We were fascinated with the little details of Paris - like the moat goats used in the Tuileries to eat away the overgrowth in the hard to reach spots. Aside from being a wonderful and symmetrical park - very good for our OCD - the Tuileries (and the rest of Paris) are home to hundreds (thousands?) of statues. They went through a phase back in the day known as statue-mania and foundries were pumping out bronzes 24/7. No where was spared. One of our favourite collections of statues exist on top of a Police building near the Promenade Plantee. Speaking of buildings, what can we say - with all the scooters, bikes, unicycles and other contraptions squealing about during the strike, we wanted to live (obviously) but also had to have our heads on swivels to see all the amazing architecture in this, one of the most beautiful of cities in the world.

Passages: The buildings of Paris delighted our eyes and so did the gaps between. That is - the passages of Paris. Some passages are ornate and full of high-end boutiques, others more so 'mid range' methods of getting from one street to another with convenient stores in the middle. In the earliest and most beautiful passages, they were the undercover shopping malls of their era. When we lived in Sydney, the Strand Arcade was one of our favourite places to be - who knew Paris was full of such amazing spots. Some are bigger than others of course and for every high end one, there is a less glorious one in a lesser suburb full of indian restaurants, dodgy handbags or cheap jeans - didn't stop us squealing 'passage!' and diving in for a look however.

Watering Holes: Whilst Paris is full of bars, that's actually not what we mean. Thankfully it was winter, and staying hydrated not an issue (the more dehydrated the better actually - less need of finding a loo). Had it been summer of course, we could have refreshed ourselves at the hundreds of drinking fountains (still and sparkling) around Paris. The most fascinating of the fountains, for us at least, were the Wallace Fountains. The drinking water in Paris was so woeful at one point that everyone but the very wealthy were better off drinking alcohol. The philanthropist Richard Wallace was very keen indeed on keeping the poor people off the booze and designed and funded a series of temperance fountains. Nowadays it's quite often the homeless who benefit most from having access to the clean fresh water. There were four designs and we happily played 'spot the fountain' during our wandering travels of Paris.

Food: Food wise (it is Paris afterall!), we've visited one of Paris's hidden secrets several times - Bouillon Julien - a stunning art nouveau restaurant put together in 1906 - can safely have 3 courses with wine for €40-€50 between two - yippee! We also have a Japanese haunt called Hitomi - 'all you can order' for €34 between two. We've visited a total of 3 times during our current Paris sojourn and have visited many times over the last 5 years... they may have posters of us in the kitchen but we usually relax when the table next to us orders enough food for a football team. We think their least favourite clients are teenage males - the foodie equivalent to black holes. We assauge our sushi/gyoza/yakatori urges at Hitomi - after all, one of our many slogans is 'when we think of Paris, we dream of sushi'. For everyday food we visit the twice weekly market just next door to the beautiful church St Eustache - our honorary African nonna cooks up a storm - massive paella type pans of curries, satay, all different... all the time - and works out to €7.50 per evening between us... actually less expensive than cooking and we put together rice/cous-cous/mash etc at home - tres economique et pas cher. We say frequently - whatever else happens in the world, 'Hardie don't starve'. We never leave home without a shopping bag...

The Future: What comes next? At the beginning of the year this was a grey aread of 'Je ne sais pas' and who knew where we would be after 29 January. Then Voila! A suitable housesit surfaced in fabulous Budapest, Hungary. We visited there briefly in 2012 just for a couple of days before a river cruise and loved it. We are now returning for almost 4 weeks comprising an initial 10 day AirBNB stay followed by housesitting a sweet grey cat. After Hungary we might head to Georgia or Romania for some inexpensive living (darn our lack of EU passports - we could sit fulltime in Europe if we weren't limited by the 90 days out of every 180 days rule). Ah well - just bought a ticket in an apartment raffle on the Gold Coast which would give the coffers a top up and facilitate the purchase of an apartment in Lisbon or Porto in Portugal. We would then qualify for their golden residence permit! We're well aware that lotteries are a tax on people bad at maths... but we are the eternal optimists and it's a proven fact that people without tickets are guaranteed not to win.

So that is that - two months in Paris in a nutshell. We kept a diary as we went along with all the gory details!

Our Paris Diary

Monday, 2 Dec 2019 - Arrived from Brussels - absolutely incredible that the train is only 1 hour and 20 minutes. Found our apartment, met our owner and the kitty cat, dropped the bags and hotfooted it across town to Bouillon Julien for incredible dinner in an amazing Art Nouveau restaurant from 1906. Their slogan is everything is beautiful, good and not dear - we'd have to agree.

Tuesday, 3 Dec 2019 - Visited Rue Montorgueil - our local 'Eat Street' and took care of immediate provisioning at various small supermarkets. It is so ingrained in us that small is expensive and big is cheap - but so not true in Paris. There might be a cent or two in it - or it might be the other way around altogether. We visited the Christmas Market in the Tuileries in the evening and took in the Louvre pyramids by night. Walked home via the beautiful Place Vendome and Rue du Rivoli and enjoyed the Christmas lights and decorations.

Wednesday, 4 Dec 2019 - Before the start of the transport strike on 5 Dec we took the opportunity to visit the twice weekly fresh market in the 18th arrondissement, just off the metro station at Barbes. This market is also known as the Arab market due to the demographic of the neighbourhood. Wow! the produce! The prices! Incredible. Weighed down with multiples of everything (2 pineapples for €2!) we jumped back on the metro within the 2 hour window - so a free ride home. Then we visited Picard - the gourmet frozen food joint with shops all over Paris - looking forward to the fish and scallop pie. We took a metro in the evening to the Eiffel Tower then walked home via Rue St Dominique, Rue Cler, a quick metro then home via the Louvre - beautiful at any time of the day or night.

Thursday, 5 Dec 2019 - A couple of years ago we came upon the St Eustache fresh market and were desperately keen to try the large trays of savoury and bubbling homemade food - but it being 8.30 am on a Sunday and us being en route to the Musee d'Orsay - it wasn't practical at the time. Thankfully the same vendor is still here. We figured we'd do our walk and pick some dinners up on the way back. The strike kicked off today and, quelle horreur, the boulangerie around the corner was shut. Why were we not informed? We took a walk around town, starting at the Bourse, over to the left bank to visit the flower market (less than impressed... better flowers at our weekly market). We kept our heads down, whilst simultaneously keeping them on swivels to ensure we didn't accidentally walk into a protest march/mobilisation/demonstration/bunch of yobs breaking windows. We walked to the Ile de Cite, stopping on the way for a couple of pretty and historic churches including the St Germain Auxerrois. We enjoyed the window shopping along the Quay d'Horloge. We've discovered one of the things we love about this city (and there are many) is that a shop can exist in it's own tiny niche, apparently successfully enough to stand the test of time... be it hats or belts or pens or umbrellas... they do one thing and only one thing. We had a couple of targets for our walk and the first was the stunning garden at the Paris public hospital. We never would have known it was there but for a couple of blogs we follow on secret spots in Paris. After the garden we walked past the remnants of Notre Dame - still too soon to say if it will be saved or rebuilt. We visited the Martyrs Memorial - an incredible underground experience - very haunting. We hiked home, getting fitter already and probably a bit deafer - the sirens of Paris on strike were, little did we know, to become a constant accompaniment to our Parisen sojourn. Having been gadding about and enjoying ourselves all day... we returned to the St Eustache market to buy our dinners from our African nonna... only to find she'd sold out and closed up. That learned us.

Friday, 6 Dec 2019 - After yesterdays excessive amounts of exercise we were a bit fatigued. We pottered around the local shops, avoided the rain, bought wine & cheese. Only did 10,800 odd steps. Sheer laziness! Went for a look at the small Christmas market under the Les Halles canopy, nothing flash - unfortunately Brussels ruined us for Christmas markets. We then walked a fair part of Rue St Denis which is quite the red light district in the evening. Never really know whether it's rude to look or rude not to look. Interesting part of town and so very different to our staid and palace filled arrondissement just next door.

Saturday, 7 Dec 2019 - We ventured over the river once more, to the left bank today and the 6th arrondissement, St Germain. We shared a mussels lunch special at Leon (as always, less expensive in Paris than in Brussels), checked out the St Germain Christmas market and the church of St Germain and revisited one of Paris's secret streets - La Cour du Commerce-Saint-Andre. We tootled to the covered market of St Germain - and were ecstatic to find it backs on to a Marks & Spencers - which meant we could top up our fruit mince pie supplies. They also had a great flower selection so we bought a bunch of 10 mauve/pink roses (that ended up lasting 2 weeks) - superb value for €7.50.

Sunday, 8 Dec 2019 - We were finally organised enough to get out of the house, round the corner and over the road to the St Eustache market in good time. (Not before it started and not after it finished... not as easy as it sounds). We stocked up on food at the African nonna's stall - we figured 3 meals on a Thursday, 3 on a Sunday and 1 night of actual cooking each week - perfection! For only €7.50 per meal, split between two and with the addition of green beans and cous cous... Paris is a remarkably inexpensive place to live. After dropping off our provisions at home we headed down Rue St Honore until we reached the church of St Madeleine and enjoyed their 4 pm Sunday Organ Concert. It's not a criticism of that church in particular - they are all equally guilty - it's like they've just ripped off a Hobbit chair factory. We have non-Paris sized bottoms apparently. But the music was grand and quite awe-inspiring. Walked home via the Palais Royal, the Buren Black & White columns and the gardens.

Monday, 9 Dec 2019 - It is a proven fact that despite untold threats to wellbeing, and unless you have a twice weekly cleaner (Vietnam we miss you), then housework just doesn't do itself. We whizzed the hoover and duster around the apartment, wrangled our ever expanding possessions into some semblence of order then decided on an outing. Our massive list of 'Things to Do for Free in Paris' came up with the Fragonard Perfume Museum. This was a fabulous free tour and the company is tucked away in a historic building near the Opera Garnier. The building was once used as a velodrome (hippodrome?) where fashionable ladies of the time could learn to ride the newfangled bicycle invention without fear of displaying flesh to the public. The beams in the roof looked vaguely familiar also - apparently they were made by the Eiffel company. Paris is indeed a small world. Whilst we enjoyed the tour, none of the perfumes appealed particularly and we popped out the other end into a crisp and beautiful dusk. Having just finished watching the latest season of The Crown on Netflix we were interested to find ourself in Edouard 7th's square - just one more stunning building in a city full of them. We saw the statue of Victor Hugo astride Pegasus then trundled home via the garden and columns of the Palais Royal. Very relaxing indeed knowing it was chicken curry a la the African nonna for dinner - just needed to boil the kettle to heat the frozen beans and make the cous cous. The living in Paris is very easy indeed.

Tuesday, 10 Dec 2019 - Aargh! Demonstrations this morning. Yet another 'F**k up France' Day. We headed out on foot nevertheless, confident we would be avoiding the path of the march and the squares at the beginning and end. No such luck. We felt like we were in one of those mazes where you just keep coming to dead end after dead end. Our original destination was the Petit Palais museum, but all paths across Place de la Concorde were blocked and the traffic was even more frustrated than us. We are nothing if not flexible so figured we'd head inland and visited the always stunning Galeries Lafayette - done up in magical pink tones for Christmas and with a stunning Christmas tree reaching up towards the glass dome - it was truly glorious. We oohed and aahed all the designer bags and bling and slowly but surely made our way up to the 6th floor and out onto the incredible open air terrace. The views were outstanding - Sacre Coeur and Montmartre in one direction, the Eiffel Tower in the other and below us, a deputation from one of the unions en route to their kick off point. We puttered home in due course for a lunch and a feets up before heading out again in the early evening to our currently fave French restaurant, Bouillon Julien. 18,000+ steps today. Go the strike!

Wednesday, 11 Dec 2019 - This morning we walked to St Honore's weekly market. Suffering, we presume, from the strike as there were few stalls and no atmosphere, but still, a nice walk. Wandered back via the Place Vendome, the Louvre and a bit of vege shopping on our Eat Street (Rue Montorgueil) as well as a well priced fruiterer on St Denis and a bag full of warm, straight from the oven, Turkish bread from another nearby haunt. Dinner was at Hitomi. We're not sure if we catching up on sushi consumption for 2019 (so far woefully low) or getting a headstart on 2020.

Thursday, 12 Dec 2019 - It's Thursday so it must be St Eustache Market day. We bought our African selection (satay beef, Colombo pork and coco curry chicken, now all firm favourites) then popped home to drop off the eats and have a quick lunch. We then ventured forth into the 3rd arrondissement, Le Marais. Today's destination was the Musee Cognaq Jay. Based in a lovely old building (though purchased for the task and not a place the couple ever lived), we enjoyed the collection of the wealthy but childless couple who founded the Samaritaine department store. We meandered onwards through the Marais until we reached the Place des Vosges then did a u-turn and trotted back quick smart - the rain had arrived at the same time as rush hour and the risk of losing an eye to an umbrella went through the roof on the narrow pavements. We discovered a couple of new boulangeries which will merit revisiting - in particular one on Rue Rambuteau that does invividual quiches for only €2.70. We could say something trite about life not being all about food - but it's Paris - life here really IS all about the food.

Friday, 13 Dec 2019 - Today we aimed for the ruins of a Roman Amphitheatre (yep - Paris really does have it all), however we simply didn't make it as far as the Arenes des Luteces. We had a rough plan of attack and started in the 6th with a visit to The Centaur - a cracking piece of art/statue with a tiny Statue of Liberty protruding from his chest - you'd miss it if you didn't know it was there. We found a boulangerie nearby for fresh bread and then married it up with the ham and cheese we brought from the apartment. We enjoyed our typical Parisien picnic on a park bench in front of the church of St Sulpice. We visited the church briefly - being Dan Brown/Da Vinci code fans, how could we not? Then proceeded on to M&S for a bunch of roses and onwards through the 5th (The Latin Quarter) and the Sorbonne. We had definitely run out of gas by then and cut away from the Arenes plan, instead heading past Notre Dame and via the stunning Hotel de Ville/Town Hall to check out their enchanted Christmas market. And then the phones died - so photos were just not to be. Eventually home through the twisty streets at the back of Les Halles, a spot of African food for dinner, then a final evening walk. Exhaustion was threatening but our owner was home for 4 nights between trips and we didn't want to be underfoot - eventually hit the sack.

Saturday, 14 Dec 2019 - Rest Day. The tiniest spot of shopping on eat street and then home for a solid period of sheer laziness. And now that the house is ours again... Laundry!

Sunday, 15 Dec 2019 - It's Sunday so it's St Eustache Market Day! We stocked up. Back home for dropping off then a pain au chocolat, a bit of baguette and coffee (of course). Then off we went - no messing about - over the river and towards the Arenes. Paris has a fabulous system of public toilets and they are generally easy to find online and acceptably clean. And we were keen for a loo - so hideously disappointed when the system, she didn't work, and we reached a public square with a loo to find it in the process of being dug up and inaccessible. We sucked it up and did a spot of guerilla shopping at a store called 'Bu' and found a nifty little Christmas tree complete with baubles and LED lights - perfect for our requirements. Finally, at the Arenes, we found public toilets - yippee! We had our baguette lunch sitting in the heart of the amphitheatre and from there went past part of the old city walls and on towards the Pantheon, St Guinevere's church and then into the 5th to M&S for a couple of bottles of mulled wine, more fruit mince pies and some Christmas cake. Well laden down and a very long time later we made it home. Very. Sore. Feet.

Monday, 16 Dec 2019 - Went for baguettes. Came back. Did very little. Why? Well! We often see people doing dumb s**t in their travels - the walking along the high fence for no reason, the jumping into the air and doing it over and over again as a long suffering spouse endeavours to snap the perfect photo, the climbing over the fence and ignoring the warning signs to get the perfect selfie... and we usually make the remark 'And that was the last photo they took before the travel insurance claim went in'. We are as safe as safe can be and very conscious that we don't 'bounce' like people younger than us. So I was peeved in so many different directions today when I bent over to pick up an iPad that was charging on the floor (instead of it's usual spot on a little stool). Innocently bending over for heaven's sake. And SNAP! Wallop! Bang! - Very hard to describe actually, was in sudden agony as the left side of my back/backside/thigh - heck, my whole body siezed up in what could fairly be called a spasm. A spasm of agony that is. Fortunately (always looking on the bright side), I was standing right next to the sofa and could just lean over and fall gracelessly into a pile of keening screechiness. James to the rescue with a hot water bottle and a cocktail of painkillers. Can't say we're usually keen to involve ourselves with doctors, hospitals or heaven forbid ambulances - but we were both thinking through the logistics and checking the numbers for the insurers and the local ambulance service. Managed to get into a semi-comfortable position - stayed put for hours until I was absolutely desperate for the toilet and I had to hobble up the stairs with James helping me lift each leg. Darn these fabulous and historic Parisian apartments with grand staircases, two toilets and both of them upstairs.

Tuesday, 17 Dec 2019 - When lying down hurts, when sitting hurts, when getting up hurts, when standing hurts and when walking hurts... options for entertainment are limited. We are self-sufficient little bunnies and with the exception of the 'flu, it's generally 'use it or lose it' though - and it's not as though lying down was helping. With a great deal of patience we managed to get me dressed. It was so bad, James went to the boulangerie around the corner and used all his French to select, purchase and bring home a baguette - I was so proud of him. After breakfast, coffee and a mountain of painkillers we ventured out for a very slow walk to the Tuileries to see the amazing statues. Very. Slow. Really should have nipped to a pharmacy and bought a walking stick, if for no other reason than to stop people walking into me (and to beat them over the head when they did). Saw maybe half of the statues then detoured to a spot just outside Place Vendome to visit the L'Ecole des Arts Joailliers - the school of jewellery arts. One of the French blogs we follow had given rave reviews to a free exhibition being held to honour the little known French brand La Cloche (being sponsored by the very well known brand, Van Cleef & Arpels). It is a foolish person who wonders 'if it's free, how good can it be?' - this be France - there be standards. Wow! What an exhibition. What a cruel joke that after the elevator there were stairs to climb up - then stairs to go down - all via dark suited security staff. Once we were inside the secret squirrel security vault the pieces on display, sourced from private collections all over the world, were stupendous. The development of the brand/design house was detailed - the rise and fall of the fashions - the Egyptian mania after Carter's discovery of Tutankamun's tomb, all diamonds and white metals (the 'deep white silence' after the depression of 1929), the coloured stones rising to prominence after the dreariness of WWII. Aside from us never having heard of them, La Cloche were a household name up there with Cartier, Van Cleef etc. Maybe not all housesholds, but certainly the upper echelon. Great day out - hobbled home very, very slowly. Collapsed onto my dear friend, the sofa.

Wednesday, 18 Dec 2019 - Provisioning day. More hobbling, slightly less pain. Up to Lidl, the Turkish bread man (both the bread and the man who sells it are Turkish), the inexpensive fruiterer, eat street, cheese joint. Was rather hoping back would be improving a bit faster, but at least I was moving.

Thursday, 19 Dec 2019 - So many lovely Christmas delicacies at Lidl and so well priced - we went there again - with the basics dealt with yesterday there was more trolley room for treats (and bottles of wine). Christmas is nigh!

Friday, 20 Dec 2019 - Trundled (slowly) across the river and into the 6th, always a nice walk and we picked up bread from a baker we particularly like and a good bunch of roses from M&S - a bunch of 10 for only €7.50 is an absolute steal.

Saturday, 21 Dec 2019 - Almost a week after my back went 'ker-schnap', I'm at about 60%... slow but sure. We decided to give the 1st a good walking over. Took too many photos of the stunning town hall, enjoyed the Christmas windows at the posh department store BHV Le Marais, visited the box office of the Theatre du Chatelet and picked up some high altitude tickets to their current musical - An American in Paris (bless that travel blog - wouldn't have even known this production was on otherwise). Having scoped out the theatre by day and visited the box office we were excited for the rest of the day at the thought of a show - it had been too long between drinks. Despite loads of fine weather recently, it rained for our walk to the theatre and to add insult to injury, the lift was out of order. The seats were high enough to warrant oxygen bottles and it took a long while for me to climb them, but we had a full view of the stage and the acoustics were fabulous. We should have known it, being a show based on Gershwin brothers songs, but we recognised a great many of the tunes. Luckily we really liked those tunes as we were humming them for days. Great, spontaneous, night out. James went exploring out onto the terrace at intermission. I stayed to save our seats - awful lot of seat-napping goes on when the lights go down - and face it, I was lucky to have made the climb once, didn't plan on moving unnecessarily.

Sunday, 22 Dec 2019 - Walking is becoming less of a chore so we headed out on a big adventure, strolling one of our favourite spots, along the colonnade on Rue de Rivoli and down to the Place de la Concorde (hello obelisk - still fondly remember your pair from Luxor in Egypt). We made it (almost) up one full side of the Champs Elysees - then I figuaratively hit the wall, ran out of gas and conked out. Thankfully, strike or no strike, the driverless metro (line 1) was still working so we whipped out a couple of metro tickets (AKA Get out of Jail Free cards) and did a sardine impression to get home via the overcrowded metro. Worth every penny, though very keen to stay away from the metros until the strikes are finished - the crowding on the driverless line was intense.

Monday, 23 Dec 2019 - We like to finish things we start so today we took the driverless metro to the Arc de Triomphe at the top of the Champs Elysees and walked down the other side of this very long and designer laden street. Lunch was a fresh 'Baguette Tradition' in a park and we meandered via the backstreets around the Elysees Palace and on down Rue Faubourg St Honore. It would have been fairer to the credit cards to have left them at home for this excursion - the designer stores lining Rue St Honore had them shivering in our wallets.

Tuesday, 24 Dec 2019 - Deck the halls with Coquilles St Jacques! And poshy-posh choccies and champagne and roast chicken and veges... Because you know, we're starving most of the time... not. But off we went to Lidl for some final Christmas food - we love being on foot and pottering about with our shopping trolley... more French than the French. We felt no need to air out the bank account for a traditional French Christmas Eve restaurant extravaganza (did that years ago at Club Med in the Alps), so headed off to Hitomi for sushi and yakatori (the least Christmassy of foods ever). Fabulous as always. Took the longest walk home possible to justify over indulgence in all things Japanese, via L'Eglise Madeleine, Place de la Concorde and Rue de Rivoli - almost everything closed - so peaceful and serene.

Wednesday, 25 Dec 2019 - Merry Christmas to us... We found Michael Buble's Christmas album on Youtube, opened our assorted presents and treats under Paris's smallest Christmas tree, gave Riki some extra festive cat treats and had a lazy (lazier than usual) morning. Come lunchtime we heated up the grill and prepared stunning Coquilles St Jacques in the big shells and a glass of Champagne for a light lunch, followed by an assortment of French cheeses. We finished our Tuileries excursion after lunch and visited the rest of it's many and varied sculptures. Luckily the walk made a bit of stomach real estate available and then it was home at dusk to prepare the roast chicken and veges... more luscious food and some serious 'sleeping it off' required. (We had a lovely roast turkey before we left Ireland with all the trimmings 'just in case' so this was our special 'extra' Christmas - two in one year - we are so lucky.)

Thursday, 26 Dec 2019 - Off to the Latin Quarter, the 5th arrondissement today. We've apparently passed it without noticing it a couple of times already, but today's the day we're paying attention and going to actually see Salvador Dali's sundial on the side of the building. Job done, we continued to explore the Latin Quarter, hoofed it into the 6th, then over the bridge and home - by recent standards a very 'slow' day - only 10,000 steps.

Friday, 27 Dec 2019 - We generally venture into the Marais on 'our' side of Rue de Rivoli, but ventured to the far side today to visit the Village of St Paul. In spring and summer this area is apparently pumping with life, colour and activity - today - not so much. But still some pretty antique shops and alleyways to poke around in. From there we proceeded to the Biblioteque Fornay, once the Hotel de Sens. The building dates from the end of the 15th century was was intended to be the home of wealthy archbishops - starting with Salazar the archbishop of Sens. It took so long to build he never actually lived there and many noblemen used the property over the centuries. At one stage it was held by the Royal family until it was confiscated during the French Revolution (there's even a canonball still lodged in the facade - we love these little details). After that it was neglected and was even used by the Saint James Marmelade Factory of all things. Eventually it was purchased by the City of Paris in 1911 and the last of it's ad hoc tenants left in 1928. It has had some very famous guests over the centuries including, most famously, Nostradamus. He was invited to Paris by Queen Catherine of the Medicis in 1555 and lodged at the Townhouse of Sens as it was known. The living was fine at the townhouse, so fine he was struck down with an attack of gout and confined to bed, surrounded by people keen to hear his predictions. The Forney library moved here in 1929 when it outgrew it's old premises. In its current incarnation of library focussing on decorative arts, it was hosting a fascinating exhibition about feeding Paris - including great photos of our neck of the woods, Les Halles. There was also a lot of memorabilia from restaurants and bistros and great vintage advertising items. It was a gray old day, not super cold but it looked like it. Next stop was Paris's 'other' island. Everyone tends to visit the Ile de Cite to see Notre Dame (even now in it's devastated condition), little realising there is another island, a mere bridge crossing away, tucked right in behind it. We were those people. Despite several short visits to Paris in the last 7 years, we've never made it to Ile St Louis and as it turns out, it's gorgeous - small, but perfectly formed. We were getting rained on at this point and made the call to point ourselves homewards - even when 'finished' for the day, we can't help to see new things at every turn - including a half timbered house in the Marais, one of the oldest houses in Paris.

Saturday, 28 Dec 2019 - Due to the lack of major roads to cross and the small and winding streets in its core, it turns out one our our favourite arrondissements of Paris is the Marais. Aside from taking a turn down the Rivoli Colonnade and back via Place Vendome and the Palais Royal, the Marais is our 'go to' for an easy walk. We dawdled down to Place des Vosges, the oldest planned royal square in Paris and in fact a perfect square. It is incredibly picturesque and even has the city's oldest piece of graffiti ground into one of its columns at 11 Place des Vosges "Nicola 1794". We proceeded down a street with the garden of the Hotel de Sully in our sights. Upon arriving and exploring, funnily enough, we stepped through a door at the back of the garden and popped out into Place des Vosges once more - all a bit 'through the looking glass' really. We were out on Rue St Antoine (which is Rue de Rivoli by another name) and came across a vintage shop with, delight of delights, a €1 bin at the front of the shop. Had a rummage, as you do, and found a divine, Matrix-esque, long, black, suede coat with a fur colour - see, want, must have. Wore it home. Heaven knows I don't need another coat - but it cost less than a coffee. We made our next target one of the secret parks of Paris. Obviously not that good of a secret, but we have actually walked past the entrance to the park on Rue des Rosiers at least 3 times. Even with the address of the park in google maps and a route marked, we still walked past it and had to backtrack 3 metres. Eventually made it through the big green door and into the secret garden of Rosiers Joseph Migneret. A haven of peace, tranquility and not very many people funnily enough. Enjoyed our 'Paris Picnic' lunch with a fresh baguette, still warm and married up with the ham and cheese from home. The route home saw us finally find the Stravinsky Fountain - can only imagine how cool it looks when the water is running. It's not been an issue during this very mild December, but the fountains are almost all switched off during winter to avoid issues with frozen pipes.

Sunday, 29 Dec 2019 - Living in Paris is mostly like living in a bread bin. Anytime of the day it's possible to procure freshly baked bread. EXCEPT - on a Sunday. It seems like 99% of boulangeries rest on the sabbath. We found this out during today's outing to one of the City of Paris's free museums - the Petit Palais. It probably is a bit smaller than it's big mate next door, the Grand Palais, but 'small' it is not. Whilst there was a watery sun in the sky, the 'feels like' temperature was barely 1 degree and we were rugged up for our outing. Thankfully the Petit Palais has a great cloakroom and we offloaded coats, hats, bags, gloves - the works. Which made walking around the tropical interior much more pleasant. So lucky to be able to see a Monet, a Renoir and many other works for free and all set in a glorious building with a beautiful back yard. Once redressed we ventured out into the chill again and crossed the Seine at the elaborate and gilded Pont Alexandre II - one of the snazziest bridges in Paris. Then along Winston Churchill Avenue and down the quay all the way back to the Louvre. There was a busker playing Zombie by the Cranberries in the courtyard of the Louvre - great song. Eventually found a 'not bad' baguette at a Franprix supermarket. Not bad considering, but we'll plan ahead in future. Home for a late lunch and a superb kip.

Monday, 30 Dec 2019 - We did a great deal of research before our 2 months in Paris - everything that was interesting, free and fun to do - and then filed it via bookmarks in Safari, sorted by arrondissement. So when we decide to head somewhere to see something, we know 'what else' to see along the way and in the vicinity. Today's target was a riverside sculpture park or 'musee en plein air'. Some very interesting sculptures and when we finished the sculptures we crossed the road into the Jardin des Plantes - it being winter, not at its most lush, but to make up for it they had illuminated sculptures similar to the ones we last saw in Hoi An, Vietnam. Wow - a lovely walk in the sun via the turtles, hermit crabs, coral reefs. We popped out on the far side of the Jardin and came across one of the Wallace fountains I mentioned in passing - in fact the only one remaining of the wall anchored model. The little finds truly enchant us. We sometimes we think we've seen everything to see in one area, but we went on to find a different road and thus a different path through the 5th and homewards.

Tuesday 31 Dec 20 19 - Out with the old, in with the new - New Year's Eve in Paris. We enjoyed a magical sunset stroll down Rue de Rivoli and the glorious Place Vendome. We saw the Eiffel tower start to sparkle against the backdrop of the burnt orange sunset and took far, far too many photos. We're not huge fans of crowds and the crowds forecast down the Champs Elysees did not turn us on at all - peaceful evening indoors, a spot of champagne - safe and sound and ready for 2020.