Monday 30 May

We had plans to go to the Jardin des Plantes today, and then to Place des Vosges. No musee open today, Monday is day off!  What a relief.

We headed out in our rain gear but by the time we got to the metro, we realised that this was a futile exercise.  It’s just too wet, windy and cold to go anywhere.  So we headed home again.  Early afternoon we braved the elements again and had a bowl of onion soup (surely I don’t need to insert French there) and again we got wet.  The television in the very classy luncheon place indicated to we non-French speaking ignorami that the metro is on strike so we probably wouldn’t have got anywhere anyway, except on foot and that was far too slushy.   On the way back to our apartment Cherrie popped into a hairdresser and had a trim. Sign language works wonders; it was a good trim too.

Dinner back in our local tonight, Chez France.  It’s a lovely small bistrot with great friendly service and a nice selection of food and wine, all reasonably priced. That’s a find in Paris, it really is a very expensive city.  Parisian food, in fact French food, is not what it used to be.  We remember when it was nearly impossible to find a bad meal in France.  Now it’s done a complete turnaround.

Tuesday 31 May

It rained heavily all night and still very wet this morning. But, we were not going to lose another day in Paris so once again we donned the wet weather gear and headed out on foot.  Cherrie’s umbrella may have got a little too much use recently and will be relegated to a Parisian rubbish bin when we leave!

 First to the Musee du Quai Branly.  This is the building which boasts the vertical garden wall which we saw on our first day in Paris

The museum opened in 2006 and is dedicated to the civilisations and arts of Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas.  We are particularly interested in seeing the Australian Aboriginal works.  We got there early to be sure to have our tickets for the 9.30am opening.  It doesn’t open until 11am!  So, we wandered the beautiful gardens in the rain.

 

It’s a large area and beautifully landscaped, mostly with trees and grasses.  But hang on, what’s that?

 Why, it’s a living fossil.  From Wollemi, right here in Paris.  This is a remarkably peaceful garden and the clear double glazed wall separating us from the busy Quay d’Orsay outside provides a complete sound barrier.  Finally it got too wet for us so we retreated to the coffee shop, which fortunately opens before the museum. The collection is very beautifully displayed with some nice Australian works by Rover Thomas, Mick Tjapaltarri and Kathleen Petyarre, amongst others

 There are terrific woven carpets from the Middle East, ornate robes from South East Asia and lots of carvings from Africa, the Polynesian and Melanesian islands, and all those in between

 I wanted to take a photo of the voo-doo dolls but Cherrie counselled me against it.  However I did spy this actress in ornate costume.  Garry and Genevieve, I believe that you have worked with her?

 

Leaving the Branly we crossed river on foot, well over a bridge on foot, heading to the metro.  The Seine is up and has breached its banks

This is the wettest May since 1873!

The metro is back working today, although we take Line 1 which is the one metro line in Paris least likely to be affected by the strikes, as these are driverless trains.  They pull up precisely to doorways on the platform, which only open to give access to the train once the computer says yes.

We walk around the oldest planned square in Paris, the lovely Place des Vosges

And through the narrow streets of the Marais

The rain isn’t putting off all the tourists.  These ones are planning to pray for a miracle break in the weather in the Notre Dame.  The photo doesn’t show the length of the queue, this is just one line of four around the square

Finally, it gets too much for us and we get the train to Invalides and walk home.  The tower is not so visible today

Wednesday 1 June

It’s not raining!  We take the train (as opposed to the metro) to the Jardin des Plantes, the main botanic garden in France. Set on 28ha it was originally signed off on by Louis XIII as a medicinal garden.  Whilst it’s not spectacularly maintained, Cherrie really liked it.  She loved the fact that there are demonstration gardens, with great displays of decorative plants.  Everything is really well labelled, making this a great educational garden, possibly because the school of horticulture is based here.

The rose garden is particularly spectacular

 But the recent rain has taken its toll

We spent quite a long time in these gardens, memorising names of plants that we recognised but couldn’t put actually articulate, but thanks to the excellent labelling we were fully qualified.  For a few minutes.

 We came across this magnificent Cedar of Lebanon, planted in 1734 and still growing strong

 Look at that canopy

 While we’ve been in France we have observed the very different light than that which we have in Australia.  The European light is so much more subtle, and we can see the influence the Australian light had on the Heidelberg school.

We’ve seen them before, but here is another home for insects.  Their security detail seem distracted

 Look at the size of that artichoke

Within the gardens is also a zoo, with an amazing array of animals.  I can’t bear to see animals in cages so we didn’t go in, but the kids can have a fun time on the carousel riding animals they have seen  in the zoo

 The weather closed in mid-afternoon and so we headed home.

We were so looking forward to meeting up with our friends from Woodhill, Bryan and Mary, for lunch tomorrow in Paris. They are just starting their 3 month holiday as we end ours.  We have been planning this lunch since Christmas.  But those bloody strikes have got in the way and Bryan rang from Singapore to say their flight has been delayed by 51/2 hours and they now arrive in Paris an hour before we leave.  If they arrive.  If we leave.

So our plans for tomorrow must change and we are so disappointed.  We have a cab booked for 3pm to take us to the airport. We shall decide in the morning what we do.  The weather will be influential in our decision.  Tonight we pack.

Thursday 2 June

We are at a complete loss as to what to do this morning!  We have so long planned this day, meeting up with Mary and Bryan in the Place des Vosges at 11am followed by lunch at Ma Bourgogne, and then back to the flat for a 2.45pm check out.  Now everything is grey, the skies and our day.  Mary and Bryan are on a plane right now, en route to Paris and we hope they land as planned at 5pm.  Our checking of the BA website promises that our flight will depart as scheduled at 6.05pm. We fly first to London where we have the pleasure of 3 hours at Heathrow before departing at 10.30pm for Sydney, via Singapore.

We’re all packed up, with nowhere to go.  It’s not a walking sort of day, drizzly and grey again.  So we’ve decided to walk to the metro and go to La Defence, the business district, where there is the square arch through which we can see all the way through the Arch de Triomphe, down the Champs Elysees, to the Louvre.  But we know there will be a ferris wheel in the way.

 We take the driverless train, line 1, to La Defence.  What a different, new side of Paris this is.

The Grande Arch is under renovation, of course, and we can’t go up it.

Maybe we’ll come back in 2020.

So much for our view of the ferris wheel, but if you look carefully, you can see the Arc

 Brr.  It’s cold out here and sprinkling with rain.  We went down into the foyer of the building which was like a ghost town.  This must be the quietest side of Paris as well as the newest

 Back at Invalides, the wind is blowing a gale and it is cold.

So for lunch we have that famous Parisian speciality pizza and head to the apartment for the last time.  We missed you Bryan and Mary.

 As I write this it is 5pm local time and we are at Charles de Gaulle Aeroport and all checked in.  So far, we are supposed to take off on time.  We put our faith in the French unions to get us to London, oh and in BA of course!

And so it is that we head home after 3½ months of travel.   We have had some wonderful adventures (particularly in the Arctic Circle), seen some wonderful sights (particularly the ice breaking on the St Lawrence River), strolled some beautiful gardens (particularly those in the Loire Valley), caught up with friends (particularly in New York), laughed a lot (particularly with Garry and Di on the boat), eaten some fabulous food (particularly with Gus in the Languedoc), faced some challenges (particularly the theft of Cherrie’s handbag and therefore her identity),  had some frustrations (particularly with the insurance company, who still have not accepted Cherrie’s claim because she cannot provide proof of purchase of her late mother’s jewellery case or the jewellery inside it), increased our waistlines considerably and survived the French transport system.

It has been an adventure and a wonderful way for me to transition from work to not so work.  We have loved our holiday and now we are both ready for home a new and different life.  Maybe.

Thanks to all of you who have followed this blog.  It’s been written for us, as our personal record, and if it has provided any of you with any little enjoyment, then we are delighted.

We hope to catch up with you all soon.

Au Revoir

The 2Cs

The holiday gets the thumbs up from us