J and J's Magical Mystery Tour 2013: 11 Oct - Friday - Paris - move from Tour Hotel and Emma's arrival

On Friday the tour group disbanded. Most went by coach to the airport early in the day. We went to the next Hotel (Les Jardins du Marais) Link for Les Jardins that wonderful Grania had organised for the next two nights. Emma joined us.

The first thing we did was buy our ten trip tickets for use on the Metro ( Euro 13.30) as well as our return tickets for our trip to the Palace of Versailles ( Euro 6.90 each). The paper tickets on the Metro/ Bus are so tiny in Europe - but they work and are so cheap! The photo below shows the size of the tickets in relation to a business card - from our ( later discovered ) favourite bar restaurant - The Acrobatic Cow.

Next, I did my usual thing of finding the local supermarket - about 100 metres from hotel. They also had a Jewish supermarket (same food chain) right next door. I knew I was in Paris, because one of the items was washing powder named (two of the French words I own up to knowing) "Le Chat":

There were a few other things that I would have loved to buy:

This was Heaven but I had to face reality. I couldn't possibly consume any more purchases before we left. Another reason we should have stayed longer!

(Do you know that in Spain Jonathan and I considered it would be cheaper to stock up on wine rather than buy toothpaste? Reluctantly we bought the toothpaste. Ah why are we so sensible.....?)

Then we set about having lunch.

We found a local cafe and Jonathan made use of his French in the ordering process.

We went with the first item for the main course and then, I had to try the dessert. It was superb - and this is from someone (unusual for a Melbourne resident) who does not normally like Tiramisu but I was having it for Michael! (I'm a wonderful mother, aren't I?) Here's the photo! Michael, you would have loved this!

Our next brilliant idea was fantastic! We went on the Discover Walk tour of Trendy Marais that started at the Metro near to our Hotel. What followed was a two hour walk of 'hidden treasures'. We loved it and realised that we should really be staying for at least a week to investigate and explore further. It was truly delightful.

Amongst the places we saw were:

This is public housing

Public housing connects to this private (expensive) housing.

A beautiful area that was promoting breast cancer awareness when we were there.

This was part to the Jewish area

Signs like these are around Paris to indicate the historical significance of the area. This one refers to the Jewish area

A very old building that is now a Youth Hostel. I think it would be a great place to stay though they might baulk at my ability to qualify as "youth" and to mingle with all the school kids on trips to Paris.

One of the oldest fire stations in Paris

And we also saw loads of other things: beautiful parks, wonderful shops (open Sunday when Paris city shops are closed), and many more things..........

The 2 hour tour ended on the bank of the Seine with Notre Dame on the other side. If we had walked direct from the Hotel, it would have been about a 15 min walk. Of course, when we walked back - not quite knowing where to go, it took us about 45 mins. All good for the soul! During the walk, I went over on my ankle -but I'm always doing that so thought nothing of it until the flight home.

Then as we started to walk from the river, I noticed this restaurant - Chez Julien!
I was so happy to see this.

My great uncle Julien who with (great) Aunties Alice, Lucy and Angela looked after Dad and his sisters after their mother died in childbirth, had a French name. He had this as when he was born, it was thought he was weakly and likely to die soon so the priest was called to baptise him. The priest was a visiting priest from France called, Julien Maturin and he gave his name to the baby boy. (Fortunately Uncle Julien (or Uncle Julie as he was always called) lived until his 80s). I was named after him as Julie Anne so I feel a special affinity to him even though I do not have in any way his wonderful skills as a musician. He was also someone with extreme generosity and when he died he gave all relatives (i.e. the first surviving member of the family of his brothers and sisters (in our case Mum, as Dad had predeceased him) a share of his estate.

Not to be outdone, I then found a Jonathon

Later, Emma arrived on the Eurostar and caught the Metro to the Hotel. Then it was time to eat at the bar/restaurant recommended by the Hotel staff that was in the same street about 2 blocks away.

We loved the Acrobatic Cow.

Such a great place for the locals (and the occasional others like us) and fantastic food. I have never, ever had such a fantastic burger and the dessert Emma and I shared was pure Heaven.

(Michael, you would have loved it! I do all this tasting for you. It is so d-i-f-f-i-c-u-l-t! but mother's try to do their best. On this occasion, I had Emma's help.)