Eglise Saint-Benoît

Latin Quarter, Paris, Monday Oct 14th

After an amazing couple of months, we are finally back in Paris where will have a final three days before the long journey back to Australia. Over the past few days we have been making our way back north again after our time on the Mediterranean Coast. Our time spent at Cassis was priceless. It was something of a chance decision to stay there but it turned out to be another highlight of an amazing trip. Cassis is situated on the Mediterranean about 30 mins (and a world away) from Marseilles. It is surrounded by steep cliffs and the streets down to the port all have gradients of 20% or more. It is quite a workout walking down to the water and back up again but the port itself is delightful. We were also blessed with superb weather for our entire stay. Every day greeted us with crystal clear blue skies and warm sunshine and each night there were dozens of waterfront restaurants to choose to eat at.

Upon leaving Cassis we quickly managed to get lost on the surrounding roads and spent about 60 mins trying to find the correct way out of town. We had planned to bypass the huge city of Marseilles but somehow due to a succession of navigational mishaps we found our way right into the middle of its traffic nightmare. This also turned out to be the only place in France where we were tooted for not driving fast enough (not just once but three times). I felt like getting out and saying "Don't you realise that we are lost ?" In spite of the minor perturbation in our plans we eventually found our way onto the right tollway and arrived safely at Nimes.

Our hotel was a lovely place in a restored old Abbey on the edge of town. After dark we decided to drive in search of somewhere to eat. Once again a minor missed turn found us locked onto a tollway where there was no chance to exit for about 30 km. A ten minute drive became about a 90 min and 90 km effort. We were relieved when we finally found our way back to the hotel.

The next day was the final day with our rental car, which we had arranged to drop off at Toulouse. Most of the way was via high speed (140 kph) tollways so it did not take long to drive the 300 or more km from Nimes. Our car was a Toyota Aurius hybrid which returned the amazing figures of under 5 l//100 km. Even though the petrol was dearer than in Australia the fantastic economy of the car meant that our fuel costs were very low. It was something of a relief to find the Europcar Rental depot in the middle of a large and crowded city. After thousands of km of driving around the country we had come through safe and sound.

We broke the journey back to Paris into two stages stopping overnight at the lovely city of Limoges. This city is famous for its production of porcelain and the Musee de Porcelain was really well worth the visit. The next day involved another train trip from Limoges to Paris. It was not a "high speed train" but it still reached speeds up to 200 kph and was extremely clean and comfortable. We arrived back in Paris at about 2 pm and walked the 1.5km to our hotel in the Latin Quarter. This was where our trip began all those weeks ago. So much had happened since then that it now seems like a lifetime ago.

The weather has also moved deep into Autumn and the mini skirts and shorts have now been replaced with distinctly winter type gear. This afternoon we walked about 6 km and were once again entranced by the life and drama that always is Paris. What a city !

Accommodation - Hotel Cujas PantheonRead more