La Dernière Fois ...

Ah Paris. For our very last European excursion, a few days in Paris seemed exactly what the doctor ordered. Johnny had just finished a very brief but successful bit of contracting and Bec was in her final weeks at Star. Could there be a better way to celebrate than slipping onto the brilliant Eurostar, nipping down to ze city of lurve and tipping vast quantities of good stuff into our tummies? Seems unlikely.

Even better, our Dutch buddies Jen and Erwin had arranged to stay in Paris at the same time. And as Paris-veterans themselves, there was no need to tick off all the "must-dos" - we could just spend some quality Paris-time, soaking it all up and trying to be as French as possible. (The fact that we ended up standing in front of most of the "must-dos" was pure luck ... )

Unfortunately, J & E had made a rookie error: driving into Paris is never easy but on a Friday evening it's tantamount to suicide. Thus we had several hours to kill while they crawled towards our hotel, just around the corner from the Gare Du Nord, so we set off for the Place des Vosges, looking great in the evening light:



Some considerable time later, the exhausted motorists arrived, and we celebrated with a top-notch meal at a nearby internet-recommended restaurant (free WiFi to the rescue yet again).
The main aim of the following day was the flea-markets (or "puces") near the Porte de Clignancourt. Although mostly of dubious quality, selling fake American sportswear brands and shonky shoes, there were pockets of excellence - the antiques sections were brilliant, and Erwin was in 1950s Grand-Prix poster/model car/vintage pocket-watch heaven.


The logical choice after being at the north end of town was to ease our way back down south to our hotel via Montmartre and its obvious attractions, the Sacre Coeur, Place du Tertre (for another delicious meal) and the dodgy red-light area around Pigalle.

We headed out for one more loop, this time towards a certain metal tower that Bec is literally powerless to resist. However knowing that we already have literally hundreds of "regular" Eiffel Tower pictures to choose from, Johnny got a little "creative" - or as creative as you can be with a point-and-shoot camera:


Out last day together saw us heading for the Parc Vert Galant, also known as the pointy bit on the front of the Île de la Cité. Paris had turned on a stunning Sunday, evident from the moment we surfaced from Cité Metro station.



Soon after we had to say goodbye to Jenny and Erwin, as they had a long and undoubtedly-exhausting drive ahead of them. We still had another glorious Parisian evening, and all the photo-opportunities that entails. Ah Paris ...