Day 178-180, 7-9 December 2014, Paris, France. A couple of years ago we spent a week in Paris and saw the vast majority of, well, everything - the galleries, the museums, the monuments, the cruise on the seine, the regional wine-tasting, Versaille and of course, the lights on the Eiffel tower by night. Which was all brilliant. What it means for our current visit is that we can simply pick a neighbourhood or a direction and just head out and explore on a whim. On Sunday we headed down the street and actually tripped over Marche Saint Quentin. A local covered market full of seafood, flowers, fresh Christmas trees and meats. We were fascinated by the various types of fowl with their heads and tail feathers still on - presumably for identification purposes. From there we followed our noses towards the Gare de l'Est - a quick look-see around the marquee of Alsace Christmas foods (Alsatian food?) We then headed to the hip and happening area of Canal St Martin. Checked out some street art and took a stroll - as close as you get to Amsterdam in Paris. A market down a side street caught our eye before we meandered off to Republique. Figuring things out as we went along, we took the Metro to Le Marais to have a browse of the book sellers on the banks of the Seine. Unlike us, there were only a few souls hardy enough to be out in the cold and rain and eventually we gave in and tootled home for a warm up and a feets up. Having covered French cuisine on Friday and Italian on Saturday, Sunday night saw us launch upon a legendary all-you-can-order deal at a local Japanese restaurant. For 16 euros each we could have as much off the menu as we desired - utter magic. Certainly took care of the sushi/teppanyaki/sashimi/tempura urge for a while. Monday was another day and once we decided our feet were good for a bit more walking we metro'ed (can that be a verb???) to the Eiffel Tower and set off on a cross country walking extravaganza - past the Grand Palais (and the massive and imposing Petit Palais over the road), over the Seine, down the Champs Elysees (Christmas market much quieter on a wet week day, up the gardens and through the Louvre then all the way along the Rue de Rivoli - truly the high street of Paris. Without realising we made it back to Le Marais and had a much better look around since the shops were now open. What did we discover about Le Marais? It's a hub for the Lesbian and Gay communities, a mecca for vintage stores and, not coincidentally, home to the largest concentration of teeny black leather shorty-shorts in the world. Hundreds of pairs in almost every store. Yep. Just as strange as it sounds. At this point our feet didn't hurt anymore as they'd already fallen off. There was nothing for it but to continue on and we finally made it to our 'in the vicinity so why not' destination - Bastille. James is more of a history buff than I but we both schlepped back to the hotel and looked up Bastille on Wiki. Very interesting these icons of modern history once we have a reason to investigagte them. We were cold, tired, hungry and homesick for the hotel by 6 pm and headed back with pasta on our minds . Unfortunately the pizza and pasta hole-in-the-wall we'd been aiming for was running on gentlemans hours during our stay. Sometimes open, usually not. Tonight was not. We gave in and headed back to the Restaurant du Paradis for a final 3 course French feast and then, shortly thereafter, 'twas the blanket show. When Tuesday dawned (eventually... 8.30 am before the day showed its colours), we devoted the morning to packing. The exploding backpacks had struck again. Finally done we let the keen housekeeper in just after lunch and set off on a walk-with-a-purpose. Down to Gare du Nord to collect our train tickets for the voyage up to Normandy. Just love it when the ticket dispensers work. Unable to just leave it at that, we took a look at one of the much-loved maps scattered liberally around Paris and decided to go for a look at Sacre Coeur. It was an interesting stroll right up Boulevard Magenta. We've decided it really needs to be rechristened to "Wedding Street". Seemingly dozens of wedding dress, suit and shoe shops. We kept considering a metro ride to save our feet - but eventually made it to the foot of the hill and took in Sacre Coeur in brilliant white contrast to the blue sky behind it. We took the funicular and visited the church, Montmartre and the Dali Gallery last time - no need to go again. We were starting to get peckish and relying solely on the street maps we set off across town and found out way home almost precisely - just a block too far along. It's definitely time to move on. Any longer in Paris and we'll need feet transplants - But it's Just So Pretty. Final Parisian dinner was, bien sur, back to the all you can order Japanese restaurant. If there is one cuisine we just can't afford to enjoy in Sydney, it's Japanese food. We literally have to come to Europe to go a bit frog-wild. After dinner it was time for the very last thing on our Paris list - a quick metro trip to the Louvre to see the glass pyramids by night for the first time. Dan Brown's Da Vinci code novel has a lot to answer for. Magical view and in the distance we could even see the Eiffel Tower lights twinkling - Au revoir Paris - Beinvenue Normandy.