a weekend in Paris

Richard and I spent a wonderful long weekend in Paris, basically walking all the time, and eating. I was certain to be about 2kg heavier upon my return, but I was not. 

We arrived on Thursday evening and found our hotel nestled away around a courtyard just off a quiet road in Montparnasse. A lovely surprise. The breakfast buffet was outstanding, too. I forgave them for not letting us change our dates. We had our first dinner at the local fish bistro, just down the road. 

On our first day, we walked from Montparnasse over to the Marché couvert des Enfants Rouges, via the Jardin the Luxembourg, through the Latin Quarter and the Marais. We detoured past Notre Dame but weren’t that bothered about queuing to see the inside. The market is a bit like Borough Market but more cramped, with the narrowest of alleyways between stalls and and eateries. We weren’t actually hungry (big breakfast!) but it was hot and we bought drinks and sat in a nearby park for a bit, watching people play pingpong and other games. We then visited the Centre Pompidou, which is quite an astonishing place. It is due to close for a full refurb soon. There were three temporary exhibitions that were open. The first one we visited was called Énormément Bizarre which it was, enormously weird. A private collection of artefacts and assorted pieces of art. Some were very disturbing, others fascinating. We spent most of our time in the exhibition Paris Noir, which features Black artists in France from the 1950s to 2000. There were some beautiful exhibits, one I wanted to take home but I figured I might get in trouble if I tried. We then meandered back to Montparnasse for a short rest, drinks at the bar next door, then a bowl of pho at a nearby Vietnamese restaurant. 

On our second day, we explore the local market, then walked through St.Germain to Montmartre where we climbed up to Sacré Cœur. We walked around the church but didn't go in because, queues and also there are too many other things to do. You see, I had plans.

Montmartre is were all the fabric shops are. If you like fabric and haberdashery, exploring the many shops is mandatory. I left Richard at a café and made my way to Tissue Reine, where I spent a happy 40 minutes browsing, going up to the third floor and down again. There is a lift with a bench, for the exhausted shopper. It is a fabulous upmarket shop with each floor dedicated to a “genre”. I bought a lot of fabric. I’ll do a round-up at some point. I visited two more shops, one that sold by the metre, the other pre-cuts at bargain prices. Then Richard and I resumed our walk, but I had that niggling feeling that I needed to go back for a fabric I tried not to buy but called out to me. It did, I swear. It is a white broderie anglaise cotton fabric. 

We spent some time in a café, drinking aperitifs. Richard enjoyed a plate of snails. I didn’t feel the pull of the escargot but ate a portion of chips. Then I followed the siren call and returned for the broderie anglaise. I accidentally added a gorgeous pre-cut off African wax fabric to my haul. We took the underground back to the hotel because our feet were on fire. Short rest, then drinks at the local bar followed by dinner at a tiny restaurant around the corner, serving traditional french bistro food. It was the night of the big champions league final with Paris St. Germain winning and Paris went wild. We slept through most of the celebrations but it must have been bonkers, with many injured and two dead. 

On our third day, we wandered over the the Tuilleries past another local market. The produce is just so tempting and it is nice to imagine cooking with it (with the Lidl version of the same produce). Then we visited the Musée de l’Orangerie where we admired Monet’s waterlilies. They are enormous, exhibited in two custom built rooms and arranged on curved walls. I loved going up close to get lost in the blobs of oil paint, then stepping back to bring the painting in focus. There was a temporary exhibition in the museum, “Out of focus” (another vision of art from 1945 to the present day). It was awesome. Once more I wanted to take a painting home but my bumbag was too small and I left it. We then walked along the Seine towards the Botanical Gardens. It was quite a walk but absolutely worth it. We needed to rest up our feet for a bit before exploring the gardens and found a wee café. We stopped in quite a few cafés while in Paris! While chilling out we spotted a market and decided on a detour. We couldn't see from the distance what market it was but it turned out to be an enormous flea market and it was great.

Eventually, we arrived at the Botanical Gardens. It is a stunning place but it was getting quite late and we only explored a small corner. I want to go back, for sure. We trudged back to the hotel for a quick refresh and a final dinner.

On Monday, we enjoyed our last breakfast. Unfortunately a bunch of unruly Italian kids broke the orange juice machine, which was a highlight on the previous days. Alas, the rest was perfect. I boiled my eggs to perfection in the water baths and dipped in pieces of brioche. I mean, it can’t get much better. 

Then we said good bye to Paris and returned to Glasgow. It was an uneventful journey. Nobody was particularly excited to see us back. Annie kept an eye on the teens until Sunday, then Sam took over. The teens can’t be trusted to not wreck the house. They still did a good job at creating a mess and everything was a bit sticky. Richard took Sam home and I spent 90 minutes tidying and cleaning. The fridge was frightening. The little robot had to go over the floors twice, poor thing. Alas, the pets were fed and seemed happy and we had a great time on our Paris adventure. 

We are making plans for our next city break already. 

In other news, Iris got an unconditional offer at college and is now enrolled on a one year full time course in sports and fitness (coaching). 

Thanks for visiting 😊