Well, childfree for a bit, little cherubs...
After realising that getting around Paris by foot, on and off trains, etc was pretty slow with two small ones (and often not only slow), I went back to our apartment and Googled. The wonders of the internet! Within 6 hours we'd lined up a babysitter for one night and the next afternoon! Who was she? I don't know! Did she show me references? NO! But she seemed nice enough... and the kids needed to get away from us as much as we needed a break from them. And she was BRILLIANT! A gorgeous Finish girl with perfect English (and French, and I'm guessing Finish and no doubt more languages), as multi-lingual as I am not. So while gorgeous Annie had the kids eating icecream and riding on merry-go-rounds (yes, one sick tummy did result), Rod and I went out for lunch...
The restaurant Rod found has been a cafe/ restaurant for 400 years. Rod chose a dish that was on the original menu...
...casseroled calf's head. It was divine.
I had the most tender and delicious duck breast with sweet sliced peaches and polenta...
...mmmmm. Wonderful.
We then wandered down to the Sine, picking up a bag of goodies on the way...
(that's one side of the Louvre over there) and by the Sine we enjoyed what was inside...
Macaroons with ganache filling. The flavours were:
Pink- Rose Petal
Green- Pistachio
Light Brown- Salted Caramel (ohh my favourite)
Dark Brown- Chocolate
White- Vanilla
Yellow- Lemon
A taste sensation to be sure.
This was on our last day in Paris. Before we found Annie we did some serious sight seeing as a family. Here is the Louvre, with a line of people which we didn't join...
And, of course, we saw that tower...
It is truly ENORMOUS!! But what surprised me the most was that it was brown. I had expected it to be like a dark metal grey colour. Brown. It was a mid-milk-chocolate brown.
And for a steel structure, actually very beautiful.
So we spent four nights in a shoe box in Paris. Admittedly, a well positioned shoe box ('in middle o' road'... sorry, could't help myself) with a view like this through the window...
...and a view like this leaning out of the window and looking down the street...
With a street view like that, you know you're in Paris. And this apartment was around the corner from EVERYTHING.
Not too shabby.
Another fantastic stop on our tour with more to come...
