Another beautiful day in Paris, blue skies and 30 degrees C - loving this weather:)

Shirley and I headed of to book our tickets on the TGV to La Rochelle at Gare Montparnasse then have breakfast in St Germaine - quite a pretty and posh part of town.

We chose a quaint little cafe in amongst it all and took a seat. Breakfast was nice and the coffee was good. But all was not good, we realised we were in for some special treatment - spotting the differences between us and the rest of the beautiful people. We were not given plates to butter our baguettes, salt of pepper for the omelette, really slow service when asking for something - clearly we didn't have the right look about us.
The real fun started when I asked for the bill to pay. The waiter was busy and clearly annoyed, cool, I wasn't in a big hurry so I waited 10 mins with my card at the ready while he busied himself with other customers, having caught his eye several times. Ok, time for a new strategy, I put the card away and got out cold hard cash - that should sort it right? Wrong. Waited another 5 mins, then we decided to get up from the table, cash in hand ready to pay only to observe the waiter take a request from another customer who just asked to pay - it was at that point, well beyond my patience level, that Shirley and I just walked off and boy did it feel good!

So after a free posh breakfast with Shirley, Henry and I headed off to pick up our Vespa, while Shirley and Sabrina went shopping and have their hair done - looks like I'll be working well into my sixties:(

I was a bit worried about riding in the Parisian traffic on a Vespa, but actually it was really quite safe. All the drivers here are very bike aware and friendly and although it looks chaotic, it just seems to work if you go with the flow. We cruised the left bank of the Seine, saw the Eiffel Tower and took a few pics. Cruised up the Champs-Élysées, did a lap around the Arc de Triomphe and back down the avenue to the Lourve, crossed over the Seine down thru Saint Germaine and then on out to Montmartre and back past Notre Dame Cathedral to drop our bike off. Doesn't sound like much but that was the better part of 6 solid hours (included a lunch break at KFC - different but surprisingly good)
The day was awesome, especially for Henry who has never been on a motor bike before. He took some video of us scouting through the traffic in and out of the many cobble stone streets in Paris - just brilliant fun. Do it again in a heart beat!

Got home to found the girls all looking good with new hair do's and clothes ready to go to dinner. Picked a Thai restaurant and had Chilli Basil Frogs Legs, and it was really good.
Took another evening stroll with Henry in and around the Montorgueil quarter.
So far have chalked up on this trip 57000 steps which is about 44km's

Tomorrow we are off to Ile de Re to meet up with Matt and his family. Ile de Re is a small island off the west coast of France. Matt's mum has a place there which we are all staying at. Really looking forward to catching up with them and discovering a new spot in France.