Paris - Friday, Saturday, Sunday

Hello everyone. The count down has begun until we fly home to Melbourne on Wednesday.  Before we think about that too much, there is much fun to have in this amazing city.

We dropped off our lease car about 2pm Friday afternoon and took a photo of the odometer reading to prove just how far we had driven in our car.

One final photo of driving in Paris.

We really did drive 7422km.

We took a taxi to our hotel and the drive was insane.  Our taxi driver would have been in his mid to late twenties and was a superb driver.  The taxi was a big BMW sedan which he manoeuvred in and out of traffic, through impossibly narrow openings between buses and cars.  At one point we were at an intersection with cars, motorbikes, scooters and bicycles in all directions, somehow he managed to get us out of there.  Walking into the Hotel Chopin was like coming home as we had stayed here before.


As soon as we our bags were in our room we decided to and visit the oldest cookware shop in Paris called E. Dehillerin.  Thank you Derek and Rachel for letting us know about this shop.  We couldn't believe our eyes when we walked in and I hope the following photos give you some small idea of what the shop is like.

These pans were incredibly heavy.

These pots were massive.

I've never seen so many whisks in my life.

I can't explain how much fun it was wandering along the shelves and seeing all the cooking related things you can buy, things I've never seen before.  Even if you aren't a serious cook/chef, this place is still worth visiting.

Saturday we chose to visit the Montmartre area as the weather forecast to be fine.  We followed a walking route as suggested by The Lonely Planet Guide book.  Here are photos from the walk.

 We stopped and had coffee in the cafe featured in the film Amelie.

The following photos are of some of the food shops in the area.  There were many Parisiens out and about doing their food shopping.

Cheese

Fruit flans

This is the apartment where Vincent Van Gogh lived for two years with his brother.

A fabulous piece of industrial art spied in a shop window.

Hair dresser prices displayed in a window.

My new Parisien address....I wish!

This labrador was sitting next to a cafe, was well cared for and obviously lived in the area.  He enjoyed a good scratch under the chin.

The only remaining vineyard in Paris.

The oldest building in Montmartre still standing.

Street artists doing portraits of people.

View of Paris from Montmartre.

La Basilique du Sacre Coeur

Artists of Montmartre at work on the streets near cafes.

This beautiful girl had her portrait done.

I really like this nude, impressionist like in style.

We think these two young very tall and very thin girls were models out enjoying the day.  One was actually eating a fruit salad and ice cream.

After we had seen all that we wanted to, we decided to visit the oldest flea market in Paris which has been around for 200 years.  On the way I had a look in this fabric store.  The quality of the fabrics and the prices were very reasonable, it almost broke my heart considering some of the rubbish we get in Australia.  They have displays of their fabrics made up on small models.

We finally made our way to the flea market.  It was my intention to buy something very small from the market but even the smallest thing I had in mind was way out of my price range.  Here are a couple of photos taken around the stalls.

We had a lovely day but were very glad to get back to the hotel to rest our legs and feet after so much walking.

Today (Sunday) we visited The Lourve.  We hadn't organised tickets in advance so had to wait in a queue for a short while.  These are some of the photos we took.

We thought this fellow was wearing tartan jocks.

The reflection on this photo is really bad but it was the best I could do.  Getting to the front to try and take a photo was like being in a mosh pit.

This is an exceptionally beautiful painting.

I took this photo so I could see the detail in how the lace was painted.

I love this painting, the feelings expressed on the two main characters is incredible.

Michelangelo's rebelling slave.

Michelangelo's dying slave.

Cupid's kiss.

Aphrodite

We chunky thighed women of the world are immortalised in this statue dated 340 - 320 BC.

So ends another glorious day in Paris.

Back with more soon.

Anne  xx