while you're ahead…

You will be glad to see this is the last post about our stay in Paris… as I’m writing this I’m sitting at my kitchen table at home having just been food shopping, having sorted out a locksmith because our front door won’t let us out, sorted out the gate people because they didn’t show up, I’m on the second load of washing and the ironing pile is mounting up.  I need to do a trip to the dump because we miss the bin men when we were away, I need to pick up a parcel from the post office and return a couple of hats to a friend who needs them soon.

I feel like I need another holiday!

Mr M and No 3 told me they need a holiday from the holiday we just had because I made them walk too much…. what????  Wimps.

On the last morning they refused to get out of bed so I took myself on a last stroll trough the streets of Montparnasse and the left bank and it was bliss.

I had a croissant and a cappuccino sat at the counter of a cafe, surrounded by people drinking ‘noisettes’ (expressos with milk) and reading books.  French people read in public a lot.  Also, and this is just wonderful, there are so so many independent bookshops in Paris… I haven’t seen one big chain anywhere… small, independent, small and dark or bright and modern.  Wonderful stuff.

I walked to the Church of St Germain des Pres

then to St Sulspice.  I’m Italian, I can’t help it, I spent half of my days visiting churches there are so many there…  and I like them.  They’re cool in the summer and always different.  And they smell nice.

somebody up there was playing that huge organ and it was magnificent.

I walked till I got to the very French Jardin du Luxembourg… I sat by the big fountain and watch Parisians walk by with their little dogs, with their baguette (a cliche, but true) and soaked the atmosphere…

I had all intention of entering the Pantheon but the queue was too long and I needed to get back to the apartment and pack…

I know that some of you might think we’ve had a strange visit to this city, but it was all intentional.  Mr M and I had both been a couple of times before and we’d done the big sights… The Louvre… The Musee d’Orsay… even the Centre Pompidou… AND No 2   is at an age that he really doesn’t like museums and thinks art is boring.  Most kids go through that and whilst I believe that a certain amount of exposure is good for the soul and the brain, I also don’t believe in forcing them.  I’m sure he’ll come back to Paris when he’s older and he’ll check the ole Mona Lisa out and be disappointed of how small it is like we all were… and he’d marvel at the Impressionists like we all do…  and hopefully he’ll appreciate the whole thing much more.

If you are looking for something different do check out:

The Fondation Louis Vuitton,  and if you have small kids, the area of the park in which the amazing building has been built it’s really good.

Atelier Lumière a different way to look and experience art.  Really worth a visit.

Pere Lachaise Cemetery buy a map from any of the flower shops outside the museum, it’s impossible to navigate/find anything otherwise.

 

Ok then, back to the washing machine.

 

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