2008: Week 47

This was a week filled with museum visits - we bought a 6 day Paris Museum Pass and then tried to fit in as many places as possible. Highlights included the Musée de Moyen Age located in Roman baths just down the street from where we were staying, seeing Monet's massive waterlily rooms at l'Orangerie, and Musée de Arts et Metiers with its eclectic collection of scientific and industrial history. We also saw some small museums including the rather odd sewer museum and some excavations under the forecourt of Notre Dame.

We also ate and drank well. On Thursday we visited a local restaurant that was serving mussels (beautifully cooked in a slightly creamy sauce), and were treated to a free glass of Beaujolais Nouveau. Beaujolais Nouveau is new season wine, released on the 3rd Thursday of November each year, and an occasion (excuse?) for lots of merriment. We arrived at the restaurant quite late, and discovered that the staff had already joined the celebrations!

Best of the week
- Musée d'Orsay, Musée des Plans-reliefs, Musée de Louvre, Sainte Chapelle.
- Good food and wine.
- Lots of walking through interesting neighbourhoods.

Worst of the week
- Visiting the Louvre twice, and still seeing only a tiny fraction of the exhibits.
- French supermarkets and their weird opening hours - doors locked at least 15 min before closing time, and random closures (in this case for a protest march passing by).

2008: Week 46

After just a week in Zurich we packed our bags again, and caught the TGV train to Paris. A quick ride on the metro, up a LOT of stairs, and we were home for the next 2 1/2 weeks.

The next day we wandered our neighbourhood (close to the Luxembourg Garden) and picked up a few food supplies. I was very excited to find passionfruit flavoured Pim's - chocolate and passionfruit, does it get any better? We also visited our local boulangerie to buy pain (lit. bread, a slightly larger version of a baguette) and croissants.

We also managed to fit in a little sight-seeing. On Thursday we went for a very long walk across town, finally ending up in Montmartre to enjoy the view across town from Sacre Coeur. Then on Friday we had a very different view of Paris with a visit to the Catacombes, a series of underground tunnels which house the bones of thousands of Parisians - the bones were moved from cemeteries that had become over-crowded. The tunnels were also used by the Frecnh resistance during WW2. We finished the week with a visit to the flea market at Porte de Vanves, an evening walk along the Seine, and a pleasant afternoon with a good friend who was in town for the day.

Best of the week

- Finally being in a country where I don't have to ask everyone if they speak English.

- Catching up with Laurent.

- Baguettes, pain, croissants, patisseries, good cheap wine ... you get the idea.

Worst of the week

- Needing to exercise self control with all the good food.

- Wishing my French was better. There has been a lot of improvement in the last year, but there is a long way still to go.