Another wonderful 7 weeks, albeit tinged with sadness, but we look forward to being home with the gardens in full spring mode and summer just around the corner.

David has completed his goal of the Melbourne marathon, in a remarkable time, and Andrew is happily building a school in Guatemala.

Ian’s project will continue next year so we look forward to a spring and summer in Paris again - and hopefully some travel to other parts of France.

Keep in touch - we love hearing from all our friends and family.

Au revoir for now

Barb

We have enjoyed having so many friends calling in - Paris seems to be the favourite destination at the moment.

Mandy and Tim Cox had just spent a week in Provence - we really will have to venture out of Paris and start driving - it can’t be that difficult, and the villages and markets sounded so amazing.  They will now enjoy Paris for a week - armed with our list of restaurants and places to see.

And Sue and Paul Stephens called in - Sue and I met whilst trying to learn some French at Alliance Francais - what a challenge that was!!!.     

We love showing everyone ‘our’ part of Paris - our market street, the lovely shops and the Ranelagh Gardens at the end of rue de Passy,  leading to the Musee Paul Marmottan with its 65 Monets, and a variety of Renoirs, Manets and Berthe Moriset.

A bientot

Barb

The packing was virtually finished, and with just 2 cards to complete the set, I took the metro to the area of Bercy, towards the east of Paris and a fairly ‘new’ area where the huge Bibliotheque Nationale de France-Francois Mitterand was opened in 1996 to replace the beautiful historic one near the Palais Royale.    But my main focus was on the beautiful park - where, amongst other things, I discovered an allotment of small garden plots with children tending the plants - see photo above.\Always a joy to see children in a garden.

  There was also an orangerie and a glass house and wonderful expanses of grass and trees - perfect for the Parisians who live in apartments.   I nearly didn’t walk to the Cour St Emilion, described on the card as a shopping mall - and imagining a 10 storey building;  but much to my surprise, it was a lovely collection of shops  inside beautiful old stone buildings weathered by time and once used to store wine.    So after a restorative hot chocolate, and time on my side, I headed for the area around the metro station Place d’Italie.

And of course the area has nothing to do with Italy at all, in fact there is a whole area near the station where all the Chinese grocery shops are located.    But I was not here for that.   The area was described in my card as “an odd jumble of old and contemporary architecture, and what an excellent description.   I found low, small buildings, tiny cobbled laneways, and some interesting little shops in the rue de la Butte aux Cailles.     A honey shop, Les Abeilles,  with every conceivable type of honey, including the combs,   a  tiny crepe shop (see photo), and various other restaurants and cafes.  And then down the hill, in a tiny street called Villa Daviel, there is a row of single-family homes - a rarity in Paris, dominated by apartment blocks.    Then back along the rue des Cinq Diamants - what a great name (5 diamonds!) and back to the metro and home to Passy for a glass of vin de rouge and finish the packing.

All in all another great day discovering another facet of Paris and its day to day life.

A bientot

Barb

Last night we met up with Alan Hall and enjoyed a classic French dinner at the L’Epi D’or restaurant down near the Louvre.   And then walked over to see the pyramid lit at night – it is quite spectacular with all the beautiful old buildings spotlighted and the pyramid sparkling in the centre.  Whatever the critics say – and no doubt they say plenty about mixing old and new, it certainly makes a statement.

So walked along to the Tuilleries metro station – 11pm by now, and the trains were as crowded as peak hour – public transport and the metro system are certainly well patronised and so efficient in Paris.

Ian just cooking risotto – blackberry and duck, for lunch then a walk along the river with Tim and Mandy.

A bientot

Barb

I am not sure why I can only get one photo on at a time - so more experimenting coming up!!

Anne and Jean visiting from Bangkok                                    More of the market…..

Whilst we’ve been sleeping in Paris, David has been running in the Melbourne Marathon – 42 kms approximately.     So we have now had a chat and it was a perfect day – blue skies and only a very small wind.     A few of his mates followed on their bikes and he even met up with his cousin Kylie who ran the 10 kms leg for the first time – a great effort Kylie.

David was very pleased with his race – 2 hrs, 38 minutes and 40 secs – Lisa Flint, who won the women’s section, ran it in 2.34 minutes so a terrific effort David – I think the men’s winner ran 2.17 approximately.     So all those long runs, through the winter, in the dark, along the beach, have paid off with a great result – but oh, those poor legs!!!

Just a couple of photos - still experimenting….

A bientot

Barb

It’s Saturday morning when it seems like the whole of Paris sleeps in – it is so quiet when we open our doors onto the balcony. (and even more so on a Sunday morning)

We strolled down to our local cafe for a croissant and our coffee and a read of the International Herald Tribune, then with shopping bags in hand, walked up past the Trocodero – with the best view of the Eiffel Tower, and then down to what is, in our opinion, one of the best street markets in Paris on the Avenue President Wilson.   Open on Wednesday and Saturday mornings, it sets up in the middle of this divided road and is at least 200 metres long full of every conceivably different type of stall – amazing fruit and vegetables from all over Europe, flowers, the occasional jewellery stall and a couple selling beautiful linen tablecloths etc.

And in season right now  are the beautiful little Clementine oranges – small and sweet, and of course many variety of grapes – or raisin blanc/noir in French.

And today we discovered a stall entirely set up for selling mushrooms – girolles – funny shaped and orange in colour which require very careful washing to get all the dirt out.    Then the Cepes – huge field mushrooms which have come straight out of the fields.    Lots and lots of different varieties and would love to have a mushroom cook with me to discuss their various uses.  

In fact last week I did try the girolles – googled for a recipe, washed and wiped them individually, and cooked up a stack of them – very tasty but I did make the mistake of not washing properly enough – the grit gets into their trumpets and is hard to extract.   Still, another new experience in Paris.

We bought a bunch of tiny little red and white radishes –(they are delicious dipped in rock salt)  and the stall holder proceeded to wrap them up in brown paper like a bunch of flowers – what style for a bunch of radishes!!

He also wrapped the bunch of thyme in the same way – and in true French style showing a scant regard for the use of paper bags and wrapping.

Then there is the olives stall –20 different types of olives from the great big plump green ones, to the small little black ones – and denoyautee is the word for ‘ no stones’ if you ever need it.    Took me ages to work out how to find the ones without stones,  and I must admit I would go to the supermarket and squeeze them!!!

Have just been up to ‘our’ local market street and bought the magret canard for Ian’s speciality, blackberry and duck  risotto – Tim and Mandy Cox are in Paris so they will come for lunch tomorrow.     And will try some saucisson (dried sausage) and Ian’s favourite figs, lightly sautéed with feta crumbled on top –a delicious and light entree.

Friends from Melbourne who were joining us for dinner tonight have just had to cancel, so… we will go to The Ritz for an aperitif in their beautiful walled garden,(we have already been to Hemingway’s Bar where the champagne cocktails cost E30!!!)  then walk along the rue de Rivoli to the Restaurant L’Epi D’or – just near the Louvre -  for dinner in a classic French restaurant.    And maybe Alan Hall will be able to join us – he is here from Dubai working for a couple of days.

Well, we have just finished our lunch of small Canard or duck sausages – absolutely delicious and will buy these again.

A bientot

Barb

PS   Well I did manage one photo although it reduced it by cutting off all the edges!!! Still, one step at a time….

And what is interesting is that I have now read some comments that came through last year!!!

Anne Cunningham and her friend Jean have just left for Bangkok after a few days in Paris - mostly shopping but managed to get them to the Paul Marmottan museum for a look at all the marvellous Monets, Renoirs, Manets, etc.   Enjoyed dinner at our favourite Italian restaurant Settebello and last nightI cooked for us all - chicken dish with tomatoes, black olives, red wine, thyme, and lemon zest.  Delicious and easy except that I used tinned black olives and they were not so good as fresh ones.

My birthday today - and Ian is back from Dublin and Milan,  so we will go to dinner tonight at a restaurant in the Odeon district called La Mediteranee.

Then we need to consider the packing as we leave Paris next week to return to Melbourne where it is cold but not wet enough.   

Off for coffee at our favourite bar on the corner

Au revoir - a bientot

Barbara

A few notes on  Berlin – a city which Ian and Andrew visited 18 months ago and really enjoyed.     So with a few days to spare, I flew in to meet Diana, a good friend visiting from Melbourne.

It’s amazing how visiting a city can really bring one’s knowledge into sharp relief – all those history lessons, those anecdotes over the years, and of course the famous time when the wall came down – so hard to imagine when one lives so far away in Aust.    In fact it was 1989 when the people finally stood up to the communist regime and in 1991 the wall started coming down.   What a momentous occasion that must have been for the people of Berlin, especially those living on the East German side.

And it’s only when one studies all the photographs of that period, that you realise the huge difference there was between the two sides of the wall.      And what incredible rebuilding has taken place since then, and in fact it is hard to imagine what it was like then.  

We firstly took the double decker on-off bus – such a great way to get a feel for a city, stopped at the famous Brandenburg Gate, discovered a terrific little Kennedy Museum, then walked to the amazing and very moving Jewish Holocaust museum and memorial park, with its Field of 2 711 concrete stelae representing all those killed during the war.   And underneath is an Information Centre providing information and stories on many of the victims.  A place of silence and contemplation of the atrocities of man on man.

The Reichstag (Parliament) looking over the beautiful gardens, the Opera House, the River Spree and of course Checkpoint Charlie – with its funny Wall museum with so many stories of those who tried to escape from East Berlin – many successful, and many who died while trying, and the many ways they tried – hollowed out seats in cars, balloons, - incredible what desperation can do for inventiveness.

We spent one morning walking through the Jewish Museum – part of it an old building,and part a new and very lovely modern construction – with the many stories of the Jewish people who suffered so much from the Nazi Germans.

And we managed to see an Opera  organised by Diana, followed by finding a  bar for a couple of wines afterwards.

All in all a lovely few days.

Unfortunately Ian and I had to leave for Melbourne that weekend, with the passing of a very dear friend Kim Smith.      Ian and Kim had met at school and for the last 30 years or so, had played tennis every week with a special group of friends.     So it was with much sadness that we spent a week at home, joining all his friends and family for a special service of a celebration of his life at St Andrews in Brighton.    There were so many of Sue and Kim’s friends there for this lovely service albeit tinged with much sadness for a person who has been such a part of our lives for so long.

But we were looking forward to seeing  David again only to find that  he had gone to Bangkok for a few days with Johanna.   Luckily he arrived back early Saturday morning, giving us time for coffee and lunch, before we took off again for Paris.

And have just read a couple of very interesting and entertaining books.

‘The Secret life of France’  by Lucy Wadham is “a candid and funny account of her long and tumultuous love affair with France, her adopted land”, and the many differences in culture and attitude between the French and the British.

And ‘Julie and Julia’ by Julie Powell, a book describing Julie’s year of cooking every recipe in Julia Child’s Recipe Book – it’s very entertaining and I am very keen to see the film – with Meryl Streep no less.

And Linda Speddy has just sent me Alan Bennett’s book ‘The Uncommon Reader’  a small and delightful book about Queen Elizabeth and her discovery of books (fiction of course)

Andrew and Beth are very much still in Guatemala and become involved in a project at their school to put a roof and windows on the school for the community children.    Andrew assures us that he will be out there soon with hammer and nails – which will be very interesting as I didn’t think he knew much about hammers and nails!!!   But more of this project later – with before and after pictures, fund raising, and teaching the children English and manners!!

Had a very enjoyable dinner last week with an expat group including Alec Lubrano, author of the book ‘Hungry for Paris – the ultimate guide to the city’s 102 best restaurants. ‘    The restaurant was the Cafe Moderne and the meal was degustation – about 5 or 6 courses, each with its own wine, white for the first 4 then red to finish off, and of course a dessert wine.   Luckily we were all going home on the metro, although Anna was on her bike, wobbling through Paris at midnight!!!   

Alec has a great love for Africa so we happily talked about the different areas and books we had read on this fascinating country.

Well, I am off tomorrow night to meet a French teacher – another attempt to improve my incredibly bad French - hopefully I will have some lessons when we come back next year, and at least get a bit more pronunciation correct.    That is my challenge.

Must fly – off for afternoon tea and then a weekend of packing up, always a challenge.

Au revoir  -  a bientot

Barbara