Paris, France

Bonjour from Paris. Waking up a little bit worse for wear after one to many cocktails in London, we headed to Kings Cross station to catch the Eurostar to Paris. The English countryside turned to a tunnel of darkness in a flash and before we knew it we were traveling through France. It really is one of those great train trips and infinitely better than flying from London.


Once in Paris it was a ½ hour walk to the apartment which we had booked many months before. I was quite nervous as I really was looking forward to living like Parisian for a week and having a cool apartment was a big part of that. Upon arrival we were not disappointed. I’m going to do a separate blog entry on the top five under rated things to do in Paris so will go into more detail about it there but it was a beautifully renovated one bedder with exposed ceiling beams and a great view. It was also next to an awesome market called Marche Des Enfants Rouges which is where I got some super fresh ingredients to make chicken pasta. Anyway here is a quick summary of the week that we had in Paris.

Friday
Headed out to the convention centre where Tracy picked up her number and running bag. It was a beautiful day so we decided to walk back along the Seine. Shame we did not consider how far it was. 12km’s later and very sore legs we made it home. Headed down to St Germaine for dinner with the marathon support crew.

Saturday
I headed up to the antique markets, Saint Ouen in the north of Paris. These are massive in and outdoor markets selling all types of antiques. They are so much fun to walk through and get lost in a maze of stalls. In the afternoon I checked out the l’Orangerie which has some massive Monet paintings in it. That night I cooked a pre marathon feast.

Sunday
The big day. Was up at the crack of dawn and went to the start line with Tracy. She was pretty pumped up and ready to go. After leaving here, Brenda (Tracy’s sister) and I went and met the rest of the support crew. We then began our amazing race around Paris meeting Tracy at various points around the course. It was a sensational day and everyone was really pumped up to support Tracy and any other Aussies that went past. We had flags and were constantly chanting Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi. Tracy got round the course in just under five hours which was a fantastic effort. That night everyone came back to our pad and it was another cookup for the support crew.

Monday
After a bit of a sleep in we decided to explore the area around the apartment. We soon found out that most of the shops were closed. Gotta love the French. We headed west and made it to some more touristy areas where the shops were open. We spent some time in an awesome record shop and I had a good dose of retail therapy on BF day. That afternoon we headed to the Pompidou Centre and got cultural with its awesome collection of modern art. That evening we had our first taste of French cooking going to a little restaurant behind our apartment.


Tuesday
Having got cultural fatigue at the Pompidou we decided to hit today’s museum in the morning while we still had some energy. Headed down to Invalides to see the Musee de L’Armee and Napoleons Grave. The war museum was one of the better ones that I have been to. It was really well organised and seemed to give quite a neutral commentary of the two World Wars. That afternoon we ventured round the art shops of St Germaine and then walked back up through the narrow streets of Le Marais to our apartment. Neither of us could resist the roast chickens cooking on the footpath so we demolished one of those with a bunch of roast spuds that night.

Wednesday
Our last day in Paris. Had a really chilled time walking up the Canal Saint Martin. From here we headed out into the burbs to an area called Belleville. This is a bit of a melting pot of Chinatown and various Africa cultures. A very colorful spot with an awesome street full of graffiti called Rue Denoyez. Headed home for a bit of a rest then it was off to dinner the Eiffel Tower lights show.

Thursday
Bless the French and their train strike. We had tried to buy tickets several days before to get the train to Avignon however they were not selling tickets. We rocked up and got on the train along with a million other people. There were that many people on it they ended up getting another train twice as long. Got moving an hour later and were very happy with the free train trip down (Tix normally 80 euros a pop). From Avignon we picked up a car and headed to Gordes. Will pick this up in a later blog on Provence.