The Diary - She Continues...

Wednesday, 1 Jan 2019 - The sales cometh. In a completely unspontaneous fashion, France goes on sale on 8 January - not the 7th, not the 9th, but the 8th. The other day, whilst buying that entirely unneccessary €1 coat in the Marais, we took a look in another vintage shop and saw a pair of sheepskin boots and a very cute 'hat with the flaps' - but at €25 and €15 respectively - they seemed a bit rich. Today, with almost everything shut, it seemed the vintage shops were doing a roaring trade and the shop in question decided to jump early with regard to sales. They had reduced all their boots to €10 and the hat we liked to €10 as well - what luck! An instant 50% reduction - so just had to have them. Can even argue they were necessary purchases as my current Ugg boots are being held together with superglue and wishful thinking and my current 'hat with the flaps' was left in Ireland as surplus to current requirements. As it turns out there have been some very cold nights where it would have come in handy. Wore the hat home - toasty.

Thursday, 2 Jan 2020, The strike, she continues. We are getting fitter and moving further and faster every day. Today's adventure destination was the Museum of Modern Art - another of the City of Paris's free museums. To even get to the museum we had a long and enjoyable walk along the banks of the Seine and visited the Liberty torch that marks the site of Princess Diana's tragic accident. There are still fresh flowers being placed on this memorial. As it turned out the Museum was a bit of a fizzer - three quarters of it was closed due to staff having difficulty getting to work due to the strike. Not the paid exhibitions obviously - always enough staff on hand to run them. We visited another museum on the way back, the Legion of Honour museum. This was fascinating even though medals aren't something I'm particularly interested in. The highlight of the museum was the phenomenal collection of international medals - drawer after drawer of beautiful collections from every country in the world. It was a massive day - 16,000 steps and over 12 kms.

Friday, 3 Jan 2020 - Recovery day. A spot of provisioning down Eat Street. More than enough activity.

Saturday, 4 Jan 2020 - A jaunt to Marks & Spencers then onwards to the Luxembourg Gardens - a good look around and statue-mania was well in evidence. We seem to be, albeit accidentally, on the trail of the Statue of Liberty. We had our 3rd sighting here at the gardens. Our next stop was Deyrolle - a Paris secret combined with a semi-museum like store. Deyrolle are taxidermists (and have been since 1831) - in fact they have a polar bear for sale in their window - €25,000 if you're interested. The downstairs shop is nothing special, but up the curving staircase the magic begins and we felt like we'd stepped back in time into a Victorian natural history museum. Their collections of shells, butterflies, insects and minerals were also stunning - the lions and tigers also impressive. We finally headed home, still can't believe how many things there are to see in this astounding city.

Sunday, 5 Jan 2020 - Not just any Sunday - oh no! Today was FREE SUNDAY! (Drum roll please). Having been too stuffed last night to utilise 'Free 1st Saturday of the month at the Louvre', we had a nutritious dinner and an early night. To make up for missing the Louvre (again), we had our walking shoes ready to go and our gears laid out - warm coats, hats etc but lightweight clothes for inside the museums, lest we kark it from heat exhaustion. Free Sunday dawned a bit gray and a bit cool - perfect museuming weather (though when we can save around €100 between us, any weather is perfect museuming weather). Free Sunday and military invasions have two things in common. Neither can work without a plan (and no plan survives first contact with the enemy) - flexibility is key. First off we visited the Conciergerie, next door to St Chapelle. We can only presume the Conciergerie was being restored during our first visit to Paris in late 2012 - as we'd have no reason for not having seen it on our Paris Pass way back then. Many people have said to us over the years - "oh no - don't go on free day - the crowds are horrendous". Fortunately a lot of people must believe the naysayers. There was a very small 'crowd' of about 5 people in the 'queue' to enter the Conciergerie. We survived. They had a well curated exhibition about Marie Antoinette when we visited - as she spent her last weeks a prisoner in the Conciergerie before her fateful date with the guillotine. Fascinating stuff and we think we missed school that day - really knew nothing about it. Can't say I have any clear memory of the Maori Wars either - but somehow that was more important for 6th form history than, you know, the French Revolution. Next stop, easy walk next door to the Chapel of Chapels - the stained glass miracle that is 'St Chapelle'. We saw it 7 years ago and are still blown away by it's beauty - even on a cloudy day the colours of the glass are absolutely luminescent. Onwards and upwards (well cross wards anyway), we walked the rest of the way across Ile de Cite and along the left bank to the Musee D'Orsay - officially, without a doubt, our favourite museum in Paris. We've visited a couple of times before but never get tired of this stunning building - a glorious homage to its early days as a railway station. This is the epicentre of impressionism in Paris but as much as we love it we're never quite keen to part with €30 to visit - so free day it is. We finally found one of those 'free day' crowds but in fairness, there's always a queue outside the d'Orsay. We only queued for 20 minutes and it was quite a relaxed and civilised affair. We heard the security man humming a tune - the theme to the old TV show - Hawaii 5-O - so had a chat with him. All good and once inside, just as fabulous as ever. We made it out and were suitably tired by this point - the challenge was to Just. Keep. Going. This time around I was the one lagging and James very cleverly said if he could find us a boulangerie immediately, could I manage to kick on and make the walk to The Rodin Museum (new for us). I heaved and sighed and he turned me around on a corner in the 6th and voila! There was a boulangerie right in front of us. Clever magic that was. We sat in a neighbourhood park and enjoyed our ham and cheese baguettes before (somewhat refuelled) we hoofed it to The Rodin. It's set in one of the many historic 'hotels' or aristocratic mansions of Paris and Rodin actually kept a studio/lived there at one point during his career. The Thinker (apparently also known as the Frustrated Musician) and The Kiss were both high points of the museum, but just walking through the gardens and seeing his masterpieces close up, outdoors in daylight - as they were intended to be seen - was outstanding. Suffice to say, it was a beautiful (via Rue de Rivoli) but long walk home. A very successful Free Sunday outing and certainly slept well that night.

Monday, 6 Jan 2020 - Not surprisingly, a very quiet day with just a bit of shopping for the sake of getting out of the Hardie Hobbit Hole (aka - the house).

Tuesday, 7 Jan 2020 - Lidl - Within Paris there are squillions of supermarkets, big, small and everything in between - and then there are the Lidls. It's a pleasant 20-25 minute dawdle up Rue St Denis to get to our closest Lidl and once we load up the shopping trolley a bit of a slower slog back - but for the prices - definitely worth it. We did a big shop today for James's birthday and stocked up on bubbles, 10 year old port, assorted gourmet goodies and then a tray of mixed cheese from the cheese joint on eat street. Having turned the apartment into a gourmet paradise, we took an evening stroll through the Marais.

Wednesday, 8 Jan 2020 - When your bags are full and sitting on top weight, what better outing for a birthday that to go vintage shopping in the Marais. Rather cleverly 'twas I who ended up with a new shearling coat, though we did manage to find a cosy long sleeve tee from Ralph Lauren for James (albeit for €1 vs the €20 my shearling cost). On a positive note my shearling was from a designer in Belgium - so would have cost around €400 brand new. We pushed the boat out and had all the expensive things on the menu at Boullion Julien in the evening - including wine, still lucky to break the €50 barrier. Love Paris, just love it.

Thursday, 9 Jan 2020 - It's Thursday so it's St Eustache Market day - time for a visit to our African nonna for a stockup for dinners for the next few nights. The market doesn't kick off until about 11.30 am on a Thursday, so conveniently timed to coincide with us eventually finishing our breakfast and reading the news of the world online. Back to the hobbit hole to drop off the dinners and have a tiny bit of lunch then we walked to Ile St Louis for another look at a fascinating jewellery store run by some lovely folks from Afghanistan. Shut! Shut? 4 pm - Why shut? No one knew. Supposed to have been open until 7 pm. Perhaps it was a sign? In any event, despite a forecast to the contrary, it started to rain and then kept on raining for our entire walk home through the back alleyways of the Marais. Thankfully we had a choice of beef satay, Colombo pork or ginger chicken for dinner. Easy peasy.

Friday, 10 Jan 2020 - We have been making a point of visiting all of the free museums in Paris, generally run by the City of Paris. Some are closed for renovations over the winter period which is great in that there will be free museums to visit on our next trip to Paris. One that was open was the Musee de la Vie Romantique / Museum of the Romantic Life, tucked into the base of Montmartre. With our newly acquired 'transport strike' fitness regime it was a grand jaunt there one way and back another and for a free museum featuring by and large the possessions and art of the owner of the posh house - very interesting though by no means life changing. On the way back, having studiously avoided going in until now, we finally visited a glove shop or 'gantier'. A pair of fingerless+flip mitten shearling gloves have been calling to me for weeks - pretty much since we arrived in Paris - and finally they were on sale. Still 'stupid' expensive, but we were keen for a try on. As it turned out the mens gloves were on sale, the ladies... not so much. But the owner was keen to help us out and make a sale, so she knocked €20 off the price. Better than a poke in the eye and finally, I had warm finger tips. Good day altogether.

Saturday, 11 Jan 2020 - Honestly, no sooner than the entire country is more or less back to work after the holidays and it's another 'f**k up France' day. Between the actual protests, pre-protest get togethers, post-protest knees ups, out of town protest support groups, ad adfinitum ad nauseum, we ending up staying close to home and battening down the hatches. Got by with a trundle up the road to Lidl and the vege shop and even then had to avoid swathes of strange folk along the way. When it comes to strange folk, we usually use a different F word - and, to give each other a heads up that there is a strange f**ker about... we refer to them discreetly as SF or San Francisco - Heaven forbid some SF actually figure out we're talkng about their strange selves. Not even a full moon.

Sunday, 12 Jan 2020 - Lazy day, got away with a walk in the Tuileries just for a leg stretch.

Monday, 13 Jan 2020 - Montmartre. Whilst we did stop for a photo of the Moulin Rouge (and to roll our eyes at the hair raising prices to go to a show), the walk to Montmartre and Sacre Coeur ended up showing us at least two of Montmartre's other moulins - or windmills. They would have been everywhere back in the day, now not so much, but lovely to see. We are particularly chuffed to have made the climb up via Rue des Abbesses and Rue l'epic without huffing and puffing like steam trains. We visited the 'I Love You' wall - with the phrase written in every language, had lunch in a park, declined to have our portraits sketched by at least a dozen different artists in Place de Tertre and strolled around the infamous white church. We were always curious how it could stay so white what with the air pollution and age aside from anything else. Turns out the type of stone releases a form of bleach everytime it rains - it's essentially a self-cleaning church. Bet the creators of the Taj Mahal would have liked to have known about that since it's only been recently that the massive cleaning and restoration works were completed and now she glows white again... just like Sacre Coeur

Tuesday, 14 Jan 2020 - We don't know about the City of Lights, but Paris is definitely the City of Food, seems like a day does not go by when we're not getting fresh bread from the boulangerie and fresh and exotic fruit from our pet fruiterer (pineapples, raspberries... so good). Today's walking extravaganza (not counting the daily outing for vittels), was an evening extravaganza via yet another of Paris's lesser known passages - this time, the passage of the anchor or 'Passage l'ancre'. We continue to find it amazing that these quiet corners of Paris exist, literally almost on top of main roads clogged with traffic. We continued on to the Arts & Metiers museum which we hope to visit on this trip (it's free from 6 pm on Fridays each week... but it's proving difficult to be motivated at that time and staffing is being affected by the strike - next time maybe). The museum and it's church do look amazing though and 'lo - yet another Statue of Liberty to add to our list was right out the front. We ventured down to Porte St Martin - one of Paris's 4 triumphal monumental arches/gates of Paris and sheesh... the neighbourhood really can change in the blink of an eye and the change of arrondissement. As it got dark we ventured back to safer ground and into the 3rd and the Marais - going all the way along Rue du Temple. Who knew (not us) that this street is where to go for wholesale costume jewellery and handbags - we were looking in all sorts of shop windows and though not about to buy anything, disappointed nevertheless that we couldn't - all wholesale only. We found a great patissier with a peach and pistachio tart in the window and waited very patiently as she assisted a blind customer by telling her all the items left in the display case so she could choose some dinner. Not sure we've seen that level of patience anywhere else in the world. Ended up being well over 10 kms tonight and the shared tart was a lovely treat for dessert.

Wednesday, 15 Jan 2020 - Unsurprisingly stuffed. For the sake of leaving the house, hunted a few groceries and then chillaxed. Dinner at Hitomi. Long walk after dinner. Seemed only right.

Thursday, 16 Jan 2020 - One of the few pilgrimages that are de riguer in Paris for native English speakers is a visit to the Shakespeare & Company bookstore in the Latin Quarter. We read the article in The Guardian. We went for a look. It is indeed quaint. And books are expensive. In fact the last time we went old school and bought books from a book exchange was around a year ago, in a back street of Hoi An, Vietnam. And then, only because putting a kindle into a ziploc bag for reading in the bath always seems like a) a drag and b) not entirely guaranteed - one hull breach and the kindle would be a goner. So, as much as we devour books on our kindles, no need to buy actual books - especially at Shakespeare's prices. The bard would turn in his urn at those pricetags. We revisited the narrowest street in Paris, glorified alley that it is, strolled to M&S and walked home via the Rue de Seine, enjoying the interior design festival that has occupied the 6th. Even an 'easy' day is a lot of exercise these days.

Friday, 17 Jan 2020 - Honest to goodness, actual, genuine rest day. Gave in to fatigue and managed exactly 500 steps which was a walk around the corner to our closest boulangerie (and back). Aside from anything else, we have a bag of rats and mice (1, 2 and 5 cent coins) that we can feed down the gullet of their whiz bang cash counter/keeper machine - thus turning loose change into fresh baguette. Truly a magical machine.

Saturday 18 Jan 2020 - With only 10 days left in Paris (sigh... sob... shudder), we are really making the most of seeing this fabulous city on foot. We did some eat street and bread provisioning this morning and came back for lunch then headed off to Ile St Louis on the off chance the invisible jewellery store might be open for business - and it was. We supported the local economy with some sparkling souvenirs of Paris then hoofed it home through the Marais - 16,000 steps. Huge. Massive. Very tired feet.

Sunday, 19 Jan 2020 - It's Sunday so it's off to see our African nonna for a stockup of our exotic hot dinners. We have our firm favourites now from her repertoire, so it's easy to shop. We're afraid they're going to miss us when we disappear in a week. Altogether, aside from our morning walk to the market and an early evening walk down to the Seine, it was an extremely lazy day. Highlights? Watching the latest Terminator movie and the second chapter of IT, the story by Stephen King. Still not convinced - no where near as good as the original bloodcurdling mini-series with Tim Curry as Pennywise the clown. But alright for the price.

Monday, 20 Jan 2020 - A lazy morning and an afternoon walk today. We often think 'definitely seen everything in this area' only to prove ourselves wrong the very next time we leave the house. Today was one of those days. We visited the Galeries Lafayette in December so today headed towards the other well known department store, just next door, Printemps. The sales are still proceeding apace, but the prices are not low enough yet. Was a nice wander though and we popped out a different door and found a pedestrian area (well as much as any area can with scooters and bikes and loons). We ended up near Gare St Lazare, which we're pretty sure is where we usually take the train up to Normandy - so had a good look around the beautiful facade, then spotted a very picturesque McDonalds (of all things). Generally we don't eat there and so pay very little attention to them, but this was one out of the box. We read up on this particular branch of the Golden Arches and found it's the busiest in Paris with 2000 customers per day. The building itself is over 120 years old, in fact an old brewery. McDonalds had a bad trot when it first came to Paris, bad franchisees being the biggest bug bear and when they closed the lot of them down, there was a period of around a year when there were no Golden Arches in the city at all. Apparently, the branch on St Lazare, used to be accessed via the same door as a porn shop. When McDonalds took on the renovation/modernisation of this branch, it actually took two and half months - instead of their usual 4-5 days of closure. On the facade of the elaborate Alsatian, half timbered building it is Gambrinus with a golden crown (the king of beer) who is raising his mug - rather than red-haired Ronald. There is a stork perched on the chimney (unusual, even for Paris). The bill for the restoration was substantial as art restorers were called in - in fact specialists approved by the architects of buildings in France (ABF). Why? Well the roof, the facade and the three rooms on the ground floor are all listed historic monuments. As a for instance, the restorers for the facade had to gently scrape 9 layers of paint of the figure of Gambrinus to reach the original layer and restore the colours to those of the original construction period. The mosaic in the original floor, 'To the glory of the King of Beer' created even more difficulties as tiles of the size and colour are not longer made and 6000 tiles had to be custom made and matched to the original tones in order to fit out the restaurant floor and that of the new lift for the disabled. This job was entrusted to one of the last French mosaic factories - the Emaux de Briare. We may actually have to go and hare a beer there the next time we're in Paris! (Can't say that's possible in most Micky Ds around the world!) Onwards from St Lazare to L'eglise Madeleine and we found a couple of new passages to explore and also the chapel expiatore dedicated to King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. It was designed in 1816 and inaugurated 10 years later and was partially built on the grounds of the Madeleine cemetery where Louis and Marie Antoinette were buried for 21 years after their date with guillotine. They are now buried in the royal tomb at the Basilica of St Denis. It was very pretty as dusk fell and we googled all about it when we got home. Apparently, in 1862 the cypresses around the chapel were cut down and a public park was created around the chapel called Square Louis XVI. From Louis and Marie's square, we finally made it to the Madeleine church and discovered yet another glorious spot for bank account airing (should it ever become necessary) - the Village Royale. A small enclave of designer stores and massive teddy bears made of fairy lights - what's not to love? The danger of such long walks is, as always, that you get tired and then have to walk for miles to get home - but we made it. Just. Thanks be and praise be to our African nonna and our super easy to prepare dinners waiting for us at home.

Tuesday, 21 Jan 2020 - Today we ventured slightly further out, down to Place de la Republique and across to Canal St Martin. Compared to the king of canal towns, Amsterdam, it's obviously rubbish. But as canals in Paris go - it's the best. Originally designed to keep the riff raff well away from the nice people, it's now a very scenic spot for a long walk. Entertainment is provided by the periodic opening and closing of the locks and the nifty 'road' bridges that swing back and forth letting cars and other traffic cross the canal easily. It was a superb day weather-wise and we had a great time meandering along. Eventually got to the point of thinking homeward thoughts and cut across the canal and inwards to Gare de l'est and from there, a very short walk to Gare du Nord. We've not been here since we arrived from Brussels back on 2 December and it was very pretty as dusk fell, but we can see why new arrivals to Paris think the area is a bit (or a lot) skeevy. Very busy indeed and it was nice to be cruising around unencumbered by luggage or anything else nickable. Eventually got on to Rue Lafayette and home via the Palais Royal gardens - our stroll to the canal turned into quite the outing indeed.

Wednesday, 22 Jan 2020 - Over the years, as we've had short visits to Paris, we've always planned for 'the big one' - the visit when we could finally do a lot of things on our 'One Day in Paris' list. Finally, on a chilly but sunny day we walked out to Place de la Bastille, and just a wee bit further to reach the Coulee Verte / Promenade Plantee / Greenway, an elevated park on the top of an old railway viaduct. The park was inaugurated in 1993 and until New York's High Line park opened in 2009, it was the only elevated park in the world. What a fabulous walk we had - no scooters or bikes and only a couple of joggers. We did a couple of kms (the walk totals 4.7 km if you go right to the end) and then did a u-turn and came back part of the way before taking the stairs down to street level and walking along the Viaduc des Arts. The bottom of the viaduct, under the massive arches, is now home to artisans and crafts people of all descriptions for use as studios or 'ateliers' - everything from lamp makers to violin and piano makers.

Thursday, 23 Jan 2020 - A very quiet day indeed. A spot of provisioning, here and there and a quiet evening. Starting to get a little down at the thought of leaving Paris, but still, not as though Budapest is chopped liver.

Friday, 24 Jan 2020 - The weather in Paris has come in veritable waves of mildness and chilliness - today was a chilly one and very gray outside. We contemplated packing in a suitably serious and alarmed manner, accomplished very little then rugged up for a dinner outing to Hitomi - our favourite sushi joint in all the world. It was 'fur hat with the flaps with the flaps down' type cold after dinner and we walked home the long way via the Louvre - freezing cold and freezing fog. You know it is cold when there is literally no one trying to flog you a lighting-up Eiffel tower or a fluffy hat in the Tuileries gardens - even the pyramids at the Louvre were lacking the usual hordes.

Saturday, 25 Jan 2020 - An actual honest to goodness 'Rest Day'. Well except for starting the packing of course. Yay. Packing.

Sunday, 26 Jan 2020 - What to do? Where to go? We are both 100% satisfied and full of Paris happiness. A few museums left for next time - many more places to engage in the art of wandering (to be a Flaneur) - but nowhere we really, absolutely had to, go and see. We are addicted to walking now and knew we had to go somewhere, so settled on a sneaky and free art exhibition at The Institute of France, a stroll into St Germain, a meander around the Luxembourg gardens, chuffing home through the 5th and checking out the Roman baths at the Museum of the Middle Ages/Hotel Cluny. We visited the museum years ago, but somehow missed the Roman bath ruins.

Monday, 27 Jan 2020 - Official Packing Day - the 'big bang in reverse', almost everything wrangled by the time we departed to the Theatre du Chatelet for the production 'Saul'. Brilliant, staging, production, orchestra, costuming, makeup, singing... the works - had a fabulous time - but didn't realise it was going to be well over 3 hours long... shamefully called it quits at the intermission and trundled home - otherwise wouldn't have been in the door until almost midnight (AKA - Pumpkin Hour). We are not big fans of an 8 pm start time for anything - Bucharest kicks off everything at the opera house at 6 pm - thus home and hosed by 10.30 pm.

Tuesday, 28 Jan 2020 - Cleaning, final (final, final) packing, spot of sparkly shopping on Ile St Louis. Cloudy, the weather app said, no need for umbrellas (we assumed)... right up until it poured down the whole way home. Nothing worse that coats being soaked the night before travel day. Fortunately the apartment with its underfloor heating was more than up to the task of drying out my fur coat over night. Pizza for dinner - straight into the oven and out again - no muss, no fuss.

Wednesday, 29 Jan 2020 - It's sad, so sad, it's a sad, sad situation, and it's getting more and more absurd. So sayeth the song, so feeleth the Hardies. We had a car prebooked for the trip to the airport - always easier than the train with big bags involved and we eventually made it to Charles de Gaulle - we didn't remember it being such a long drive. We had our cold pizza ready to go and a coffee at the airport - very relaxed time waiting for Easy Jet to live up to it's name and take us all the way to Budapest. Farewell Paris - you will be missed and missed a lot - until we meet again, au revoir