The next step on our journey took us to beautiful Paris, where we were planning to spend a weekend, meeting up with various friends & relatives.
We decided to make a stop at Le Mans, since it was conveniently on the way to Paris. Le Mans is, of course, mostly known for its 24 hours car race. Since it takes place in June, we had to content ourselves with visiting the also rather well known old-town (known as the Cité Plantagenêt or simply Vieux Mans). It was actually an absolute delight, with its half-timbered houses and cobble-stoned streets. In fact, it’s possibly the most impressive collection of half-timbered houses I’ve seen in France. After a stroll around the old streets of Le Mans, some gloomy clouds appeared in the sky, promising rain. So we decided to seek shelter in the old Cathedral (Cathédrale St-Julien du Mans)… The imposing building is a mixture of Romanesque and Gothic styles, and well impressive. Unfortunately the interior of the church was being restored, so we couldn’t fully appreciate its splendour. After a quick walk along the old streets around the cathedral, it was time to carry on towards Paris.
The plan was to spend Thursday night at Sarah and Bruno’s place in Champigny-sur-Marne, located east of Paris. This unfortunately meant we had to take the Francillienne, the outer ring round of Paris (the Peripherique being the inner one), and in rush hour to boot… So the last 20 kilometres of our journey took about one hour to cover. I suppose it gave us a bit of a taster about what commuting around Paris is like. Non, merci… Well, we finally arrived, and were treated to a great dinner (as always) by Sarah and Bruno. Great to hear about their trips to California and Las Vegas (the Las Vegas one was a business trip of sorts, a bit more glamour than my equivalents…), as well.
After a good night’s sleep, we headed into central Paris. We were planning to stay the next night at Isabelle’s place in Puteaux, so it meant going around Paris on the Peripherique this time. Traffic wasn’t too bad this time, so we made it without too much drama (although driving on the Perif keeps unseasoned Paris drivers like me on the edge…). Having parked, we strolled among imposing skyscrapers to the Esplanade and the imposing Grand Arche (the 20th century version of the Arc de Triomphe).
An RER ride later, we arrived at Les Halles, right in the heart of Paris. We started off our exploration of Paris by visiting the stunning Église Saint-Eustache. It’s not the biggest church in France, but the interior decoration is truly exquisite. If it was good enough for Louis XIV’s first communion, and Mozart’s mum’s funeral, I suppose it’s good enough for us ;-).
After this brief bit of tourism, it was time for our rendez-vous with Annabelle and Aude. By now, our stomachs were growling, so we decided to head for lunch in what is a truly Parisian institution, Le Tambour (apparently they serve food just about 24 hours a day). The place is a typical-enough seeming Parisian bistro (as if though I’m an expert?). The chicken I had for a main didn’t disappoint, but the desert did… But hey, I was in the heart of Paris with three lovely ladies, so I’m not going to complain, am I ? :-)
The rest of the afternoon gave me an insight into what ladies do on a day out. Without going into too many details or clichés, let’s just say that a few shops were involved. Again, we were walking around the heart of Paris, the sun was shining, so again I’m not complaining! We finished in another Parisian institution, Le Mariage Freres teashop. The teashop has been in business all the way since 1845, when the shop was founded by Aimé and Auguste Mariage. After a fair bit of tea sniffing and contemplation (there are a lot of flavors to choose from!), we got a couple of bags of tea, and headed across the street for a proper afternoon tea. Unfortunately, we weren’t the only ones who had the same idea, so actually had to queue for an hour! I can say with quite a lot of confidence I’ve never queued that long for a cup of tea before… On balance, I’d say the experience (and the cakes!) was worth the wait, although it wasn’t exactly light on the wallet.
The original plan for the evening had been to head back to Puteaux for an apero with Isabelle and her dad, and then make our way back into Paris for our rendez-vous with Philippe and Olivier & co. But due to our longer than expected tea-time, we decided to stay in the centre of Paris and head on for our rendez-vous straight away. The evening proceedings kicked off with a pizza dinner in the 2nd arrondissement. Philippe, Aniko, Olivier, Raphaelle and Karl could all make it. It was especially good to see Karl again after all these years – I think the last time we met up was about 6 years ago! It’s been a while since we’ve seen Philippe and Aniko as well, so great to catch up with them as well (and listen to Philippe’s latest projects – unfortunately I can’t tell you about it since Philippe would then have to kill me). After dinner, we were joined by Isabelle for drinks at a very small, dark yet cozy bar, where one of Philippe’s mates was playing a concert. We arrived a bit late (sort of for the encores, actually), but better late than never, right? All in all, a great night out!
Saturday promised to be a very hectic day, as we had a very busy social visit schedule, with people to see a bit all over Paris. We started by heading down to Bagnolet (once our GPS managed to guide us out of Le Defence, which wasn’t an easy task with all the tunnels and flyovers…), where we paid a quick visit at Milene and Kamel’s, to check out how little Nael is growing up (which we actually failed to do, since he was asleep in the bedroom). From there, we sped back to Pantin, where we picked up CoCo, and headed to Montreuil, where Dorine and Aldo live these days. Apart from getting the lowdown about what they're up to these days (it’s been a while, again…), we naturally wanted to make our acquaintance with little Laia, who was just a few weeks old… And cute she was – and so fragile I was actually a bit scared to pick her up (I have been called clumsy in my life a few times…). After a very heavy “afternoon aperitif” (which handily replaced the lunch our intensive program didn’t allow for…), we had to carry on.
Our next stop was on the other side of Paris, in Montparnasse. As we’d had enough of driving back and forth across Paris, we decided to park our car back in Pantin, since we were staying the night at CoCo’s. From there, we took the metro across Paris, and finally arrived in Montparnasse, where we were meeting up with Muriel and Mathilde’s niece and nephews for a late afternoon crepes session! (Montparnasse is the place in Paris to have crepes, for your information). It was good fun, and the crepes were good (so good, in fact, that I had two helpings). The boys have grown up (they even know on-the-limit-foul language now, coming out with expressions like: “epese de ros peper”), and Alix has grown up to be pretty little girl (this time she had a more feminine look than last time, I guess the tomboy phase is over...?).
Alas, time pressed, so we said our goodbyes and headed back on the metro, and made our way back to CoCo’s place in Pantin. After a quick aperitif, joined by Annabelle and Aude, we headed off to Marina and Nicholas’ place, for a proper Parisian soiree. It was all good fun, and a great way to end a brilliant weekend. I discussed Sweden with Annabelle, cinema with CoCo, Formula 1 and traveling with Marina’s brother and antique furniture with Aude (she had acquired a pretty little antique table in the street, faultless apart from one missing leg). And as always in France, we ate and drank well.
Well, that was the end of the holiday, then. All that was left was the long, long drive back to Cagnes-sur-Mer, which took us pretty much all of Sunday. It had been a very busy, but great week. And I guess we got a look at life in Paris at its best can be like (just walking around the streets of this beautiful city, and the social life), and what it can be at its worst (the traffic, basically…).
We decided to make a stop at Le Mans, since it was conveniently on the way to Paris. Le Mans is, of course, mostly known for its 24 hours car race. Since it takes place in June, we had to content ourselves with visiting the also rather well known old-town (known as the Cité Plantagenêt or simply Vieux Mans). It was actually an absolute delight, with its half-timbered houses and cobble-stoned streets. In fact, it’s possibly the most impressive collection of half-timbered houses I’ve seen in France. After a stroll around the old streets of Le Mans, some gloomy clouds appeared in the sky, promising rain. So we decided to seek shelter in the old Cathedral (Cathédrale St-Julien du Mans)… The imposing building is a mixture of Romanesque and Gothic styles, and well impressive. Unfortunately the interior of the church was being restored, so we couldn’t fully appreciate its splendour. After a quick walk along the old streets around the cathedral, it was time to carry on towards Paris.
The plan was to spend Thursday night at Sarah and Bruno’s place in Champigny-sur-Marne, located east of Paris. This unfortunately meant we had to take the Francillienne, the outer ring round of Paris (the Peripherique being the inner one), and in rush hour to boot… So the last 20 kilometres of our journey took about one hour to cover. I suppose it gave us a bit of a taster about what commuting around Paris is like. Non, merci… Well, we finally arrived, and were treated to a great dinner (as always) by Sarah and Bruno. Great to hear about their trips to California and Las Vegas (the Las Vegas one was a business trip of sorts, a bit more glamour than my equivalents…), as well. 
After a good night’s sleep, we headed into central Paris. We were planning to stay the next night at Isabelle’s place in Puteaux, so it meant going around Paris on the Peripherique this time. Traffic wasn’t too bad this time, so we made it without too much drama (although driving on the Perif keeps unseasoned Paris drivers like me on the edge…). Having parked, we strolled among imposing skyscrapers to the Esplanade and the imposing Grand Arche (the 20th century version of the Arc de Triomphe). 
An RER ride later, we arrived at Les Halles, right in the heart of Paris. We started off our exploration of Paris by visiting the stunning Église Saint-Eustache. It’s not the biggest church in France, but the interior decoration is truly exquisite. If it was good enough for Louis XIV’s first communion, and Mozart’s mum’s funeral, I suppose it’s good enough for us ;-).After this brief bit of tourism, it was time for our rendez-vous with Annabelle and Aude. By now, our stomachs were growling, so we decided to head for lunch in what is a truly Parisian institution, Le Tambour (apparently they serve food just about 24 hours a day). The place is a typical-enough seeming Parisian bistro (as if though I’m an expert?). The chicken I had for a main didn’t disappoint, but the desert did… But hey, I was in the heart of Paris with three lovely ladies, so I’m not going to complain, am I ? :-)
The rest of the afternoon gave me an insight into what ladies do on a day out. Without going into too many details or clichés, let’s just say that a few shops were involved. Again, we were walking around the heart of Paris, the sun was shining, so again I’m not complaining! We finished in another Parisian institution, Le Mariage Freres teashop. The teashop has been in business all the way since 1845, when the shop was founded by Aimé and Auguste Mariage. After a fair bit of tea sniffing and contemplation (there are a lot of flavors to choose from!), we got a couple of bags of tea, and headed across the street for a proper afternoon tea. Unfortunately, we weren’t the only ones who had the same idea, so actually had to queue for an hour! I can say with quite a lot of confidence I’ve never queued that long for a cup of tea before… On balance, I’d say the experience (and the cakes!) was worth the wait, although it wasn’t exactly light on the wallet. 
The original plan for the evening had been to head back to Puteaux for an apero with Isabelle and her dad, and then make our way back into Paris for our rendez-vous with Philippe and Olivier & co. But due to our longer than expected tea-time, we decided to stay in the centre of Paris and head on for our rendez-vous straight away. The evening proceedings kicked off with a pizza dinner in the 2nd arrondissement. Philippe, Aniko, Olivier, Raphaelle and Karl could all make it. It was especially good to see Karl again after all these years – I think the last time we met up was about 6 years ago! It’s been a while since we’ve seen Philippe and Aniko as well, so great to catch up with them as well (and listen to Philippe’s latest projects – unfortunately I can’t tell you about it since Philippe would then have to kill me). After dinner, we were joined by Isabelle for drinks at a very small, dark yet cozy bar, where one of Philippe’s mates was playing a concert. We arrived a bit late (sort of for the encores, actually), but better late than never, right? All in all, a great night out!
Saturday promised to be a very hectic day, as we had a very busy social visit schedule, with people to see a bit all over Paris. We started by heading down to Bagnolet (once our GPS managed to guide us out of Le Defence, which wasn’t an easy task with all the tunnels and flyovers…), where we paid a quick visit at Milene and Kamel’s, to check out how little Nael is growing up (which we actually failed to do, since he was asleep in the bedroom). From there, we sped back to Pantin, where we picked up CoCo, and headed to Montreuil, where Dorine and Aldo live these days. Apart from getting the lowdown about what they're up to these days (it’s been a while, again…), we naturally wanted to make our acquaintance with little Laia, who was just a few weeks old… And cute she was – and so fragile I was actually a bit scared to pick her up (I have been called clumsy in my life a few times…). After a very heavy “afternoon aperitif” (which handily replaced the lunch our intensive program didn’t allow for…), we had to carry on. 
Our next stop was on the other side of Paris, in Montparnasse. As we’d had enough of driving back and forth across Paris, we decided to park our car back in Pantin, since we were staying the night at CoCo’s. From there, we took the metro across Paris, and finally arrived in Montparnasse, where we were meeting up with Muriel and Mathilde’s niece and nephews for a late afternoon crepes session! (Montparnasse is the place in Paris to have crepes, for your information). It was good fun, and the crepes were good (so good, in fact, that I had two helpings). The boys have grown up (they even know on-the-limit-foul language now, coming out with expressions like: “epese de ros peper”), and Alix has grown up to be pretty little girl (this time she had a more feminine look than last time, I guess the tomboy phase is over...?). 
Alas, time pressed, so we said our goodbyes and headed back on the metro, and made our way back to CoCo’s place in Pantin. After a quick aperitif, joined by Annabelle and Aude, we headed off to Marina and Nicholas’ place, for a proper Parisian soiree. It was all good fun, and a great way to end a brilliant weekend. I discussed Sweden with Annabelle, cinema with CoCo, Formula 1 and traveling with Marina’s brother and antique furniture with Aude (she had acquired a pretty little antique table in the street, faultless apart from one missing leg). And as always in France, we ate and drank well.Well, that was the end of the holiday, then. All that was left was the long, long drive back to Cagnes-sur-Mer, which took us pretty much all of Sunday. It had been a very busy, but great week. And I guess we got a look at life in Paris at its best can be like (just walking around the streets of this beautiful city, and the social life), and what it can be at its worst (the traffic, basically…).
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