France

Last night after the flight delay, we didn’t check in to the hotel till after midnight (after walking 1.8 kms through terminal 2 to get to the little train shuttle that took us to terminal 3 where our hotel is!!) so we slept in till about 8.30 this morning, and felt very leisurely as we didn’t have to pack or check out…

We got the RER to the city, and our first mission was to collect a watch Amr had taken when we first arrived for repair…long story, but it hadn’t come back from where it was sent…(I wonder if Amr will ever see it again..), but they were officially closed today and at first were very offhand till one person tried to be helpful…so that wasn’t a great start to the day, but then things improved greatly! The watch people said May 20 is a French holiday - they didn’t know why, and I must look it up…but anyway, Paris was surprisingly manageable, and not fighting crowds etc, which was good.

Our next goal was to go to Chez Denise to see if we could make a reservation for dinner tonight…but when we arrived the whole entrance was blocked off with black covers..and they were filming..(we found out it was for a film about de Gaulle)…we couldn’t even enquire or go in at all…one person said she thought they would be open tonight…so that was another not so good thing, but we did keep positive about the chance of going tonight, but it was an uncertainty! Then we stopped for coffee and pastries having not had dinner last night, and only a mandarin and banana at the hotel, much needed.

After that we had a shopping mission to Galeries Lafayette…quite a session there - the enfant floor to find something for Amr’s godson Harry’s daughter, the Mariage Freres section for Amr’s special teas, and the perfume section for Denise….After that we (I) was weak from hunger and shopping (not really my thing) and we went to a favourite cafe near the Opera and had a perfect “French” lunch of onion soup and a goat’s cheese salad and a glass of rosé. That was perfect, and we were both rejuvenated. Even enough to have a look into Uniqlo! On our way from there to the Tuileries where we planned to sit and read, Amr spotted a man carrying a TWG bag, which is a very special tea shop that he didn’t know was in Paris. So he asked the man where it was and it is a special shop in the Ritz, in their gallery of special shops!! So with heads held high we marched into the Ritz, asked where to find it and walked the hallowed halls…very beautiful, and Amr bought more tea, and also coffee at another shop!!

After all that excitement we did go and sit and read on chairs round the pond in the Tuileries until the weather changed (which had been predicted - we even took umbrellas) so we scuttled with everyone before there was a downpour, and found a cafe where we took refuge in an upstairs hideaway, had a drink and didn’t actually notice much rain, but when we emerged there were puddles everywhere, but again we were lucky as it stopped by then and I never did use my umbrella!

We then thought we’d try our luck with Chez Denise, found it open - or not open, but people there and all the film covers gone, and made a booking for 7.30…a wait of about 45 minutes..so we wandered in the Forum Les Halle’s which is now an enormous Westfield mall and rather ghastly, but we discovered we could pick up the RER back to CDG from there - the dread Chatelet/Les Halles metro and RER interchange which we have many times got lost in - but it looked straightforward- and after dinner we tried it and it worked and we were expressed back to the hotel.

To fill in more time till 7.30 we looked into the enormous church we always see near there - St Eustache…it is huge, and beautiful, and we managed to see and admire before it closed for the day. Then we went back to Chez Denise and had, as usual, a wonderful meal. You always get chatting to your neighbours as you are so close, and we had 2 Frenchmen next to us, then at their table a young couple from HongKong were seated next to them…so they were delighted to have Australia on one side and HongKong on the other, and very good ambiance. We had the chef’s terrine and the kidneys (they are big servings and we now know to share) and I had to have their enormous ile flottante!! I have to add that I don’t have my phone with me so Amr is in charge of the pics and will not wait till you are posed and smiling…)

Anyway, a lovely end to the day, now back and semi packed ready to start the big flights home tomorrow morning.Read more