Nov 26/27

Full weekend with kidlings. Sat morning me and Jimster modified our walking staffs cum wizard sticks. There was generally a lot of chilling and a fair amount of scratchiness from most parties. Jim and I went to Sainsberrys in the afternoon while the girls got their hair cut and that is about it. Sunday we decided to go out for Sunday lunch so we went to the Lazy Otter up the a10, which I hadn't been to since 1988 when I went with Haggis, Dave and Tony. Kidz were fine, within usual bounds, and I was particularly proud of Jim's behaviour. Came home and played Cluedo. We are Good Parents, we are!!

Oyrostar

Paris - Monday morning

Monday morning there was time for a relaxed breakfast in the hotel before bidding farewell many euros the lighter and taking the Metro, like normal people, from Chemin Vert. Time to buy another bottle of Beaujolais at the station then home. Paris is great, as was the company, and we decided we would come back soon. This photo links to the set on Flickr:

Paris - Sunday

Woke late again, no doubt due to cave-like darkness of room and knackeredness from walking miles round Paree. Stuffed faces with hotel brek again and struck out for Père Lachaise with lovely sun shining. Visited Jim Morrison and Modigliani, but Oscar Wilde was sadly covered up for restoration. C was satisfied with photo in front of Molière, but he did take some finding. The cemetery is a lovely place for a walk - thought-provoking in places, of course, but also beautiful and tranquil. 

After that we took the Metro to Sacré Coeur and mingled with the throngs. There was an African man who seemed to be making a living climbing lampposts while balancing a football on his head. It was so packed up there that we didn't go in or venture into Montmartre itself, but instead headed down the hill to Pigalle, which was interestingly funky. Metro again to Madeleine, from where we walked to Place de la Concorde, through the Tuileries and onto Rivoli at the Louvre, which was still queueing at 6pm. Perfect sunset. Wandered eastwards munching crisps back to the hotel for a nice middle-aged sit down. C doesn't seem too traumatised by being 40. 

Wandered back to the Station Rambuteau opposite the Pompidou Centre, where we had our first Pelforth on arrival on Friday. Had a drink then back to a place called Lino for pizza. Very humble for a 40th. 

Paris - Saturday

Got up v. late and only just made it for brekky before the noon cut-off point. Nice French brek with good bread etc. Sat opposite a strangely familiar looking chap who had an irritatingly confident daughter (I assume) called Olivia. Overheard conversation indicating he is Trinity don. Struck out on foot and covered miles. Pompidou again, Notre Dame, where we both lit candles, the Pantheon (Foucault's pendulum and the graves of Marie Curie, Voltaire etc), Luxembourg gardens and the Tour Montparnasse, from which there was the most stunning view of the low sun over Paris. Then the metro and walk through the Marais back to the hotel, stopping off for a coupe de champagne at the bistro round the corner. Knackering, but good.

Brief break back at the room then out for an extended wander around the Marais and the quartier juif looking for a place to eat. Eventually found a very French looking cafe at which the assiette de charcuterie was fairly underwhelming in a French peasant kind of way but the steak frites was good. So was the Beaujolais nouveau, which I've always avoided, assuming it to be some kind of a scam, bit which we had to have as it is a Caroline birthday "thing" apparently. It went down very well. Came back to the hotel and drank cognac at the honesty bar. We were relatively honest. 

Paris - Friday

Took the 1645 to KX without having told C where we were going. Bumped into Lindsey and Jon on the train, who were off to a gig in that London. As soon as we got to KX it became obvious where we were going, and, well, it turned out that C doesn't really do surprises very well. So the first bit of the Eurostar journey was somewhat fraught. By the time we arrived at the Gare du Nord though, everything was fine. Car to la Pavillon de la Reine was there and the hotel lovely. A little square off Place des Vosges, with which C was very impressed. We went for a random wander and ended up at the Pompidou centre and the very gay area nearby. Sat in a pavement cafe under a heater and had a Pelforth. Excellent.

Location: La Pavillon de la Reine

Wobblies and Wallabies

This was a difficult weekend for some reason. Jim was in a bad mood most of the time, or at least a disruptive argumentative one. When he wasn't Minnie was, so it ended up being a bit trying. Saturday morning we went to the Grafton centre for reasons I can't now remember, writing a week later, but we bought hats for the kids:

And had a coffee in Nero's. Amy was off at the Perse doing a taster morning - much tribulation getting her to go but of course she liked it in the end. Can't remember what we did in the afternoon, which is why I should update blogs more often. Hey ho.

On Sunday I put a hyowge shoulder of lamb in the oven and, it being a nice day, we went to Linton zoo. Zoo was ok, kids liked it, and we got a good view of the snow leopards, unusually. It's a bit small though so we thought we would go over to Colchester another time. Came home and had lunch, followed by a fairly grumpy afternoon. Both C and I had to discipline Jim - he was really pushing at boundaries, for some reason best known to himself - but the day ended happily so all's well etc. I suppose.

Not Oz blog any more

I'm just going to start using this as a normal blog now. Ok? Good.