France - fin

Well, it was the end for that snail - I ate it. Being new to snail consumption, it took me a while to get the courage to try it...a snails pace you might say. It tasted of...butter and garlic mainly, both good tastes. Can't say I'm a convert to the snail consumption society, but it was OK.

We navigated out of Paris quite well, and made our way back to Lille, Lars and Thibault had prepared our final evenings meal. A fair amount of food (continuing the theme of the trip) and a little drop of vin rouge. All very much appreciated.

Back to blighty, back to work, back to normal eating patterns! My Wii trainer wasn't that impressed, but we had a great time.

Gay Paris

France Part three

Off we set fearlessly to Paris, Leanne, Maisie, Leanne's Parents and me in our car. Leanne had booked us in to a bargain hotel (potential flea pit) in what turns out to be the red light area of Paris. What could go wrong?

We drive into town without incident - once we'd worked out where the buses go, and where the cars were supposed to drive, we were fine. A little detour to find the hotel and a mad dash to the toilet when we got there and we were all set. It was a lovely afternoon, reported to be 30 degrees an easy bus ride to our destination of choice was on the cards.

Our destination, the cafe Leanne's parents have a connection with. We were greeted by a large sweaty French man shouting Nouvelle Zealande! He instantly got out the champagne and we drank a toast. The parents were very happy, and also by this time a little tipsy. We ate too much cheese, and marvelled at the size of Maisie's sandwich compared to the available plate.

Pont de l'Archeveche

Next destination, a boat trip on the Seine. Very touristy, but we needed a sit down after our lunch. Beautiful weather, the bridge of love (Pont de l'Archevêché) had caught Maisie's imagination. the idea is, couples put a padlock on the railings, and throw the key into the river as a symbol of everlasting love. We were delighted to see a 'just married' couple, with padlock in hand, make their way to the middle of the bridge, whilst we were passing underneath.

Of course, our next thing had to be the Eifel Tower. We had pre-booked tickets, phew - the queue for the lift was massive for the people just turning up. We wait in the special prebooked short line, next to some Kiwis of course - they don't half get around. In the lift going sideways, we are propelled to level two. Breathtaking views of Paris, a perfect evening to be up high. Maisie speechless. We all loved it. Back to the bottom, and we sat and sat and people watched. Such a variety of people of all nationalities, and such a great atmosphere. To be recommended. 

Back to red light district. The vibe was…actually fine, such a lovely day, there were families, tourists and youth wandering around all quite happy. We bought a pizza off Mr Happy Pizza Selling Guy (not), who wouldn't succumb to my lovely people winning over banter, which admittedly may not have translated very well into French, and was the grumpiest food sales person I had ever encountered. 

Back to a night in the hotel serenaded by sirens and party related whooping.

Anyone fancy a swim?

France part two

La Piscine

Lars and Maisie

Our dear friend Lars took us into Roubaix to the swimming pool - La piscine. No not for swimming as one might expect, but for art purposes. The old Art Deco swimming pool in the town, is now La Piscine - the Museum of Art and Industry, and is a beautiful setting for a great collection of drawings, painting, sculptures and textiles. There is still a suggestion of pool, and every little while the sound of swimming pool joviality is played over the loud speakers for a few seconds. Fantastic - we all loved it!

The visit was made even more interesting, one of the curators known to Lars (the benefits of knowing a local) gave Maisie some smelly bits of paper (like perfume samples) which were supposed to match up to certain paintings. A project by a local artist I think. 


Off we trekked to find the corresponding paintings - first up 'Combat de coqs en Flandre'  Remy Cogghe 1889 - not my favourite subject matter, or my favourite smell it would seem. The paper was impregnated with a smell reminiscent of stale tobacco and sweat. Yuk!  After a sniff of the pool (fairly realistic), and an assassination (fairly unpleasant and unplaceable) we found a still life of a breakfast setting. When we opened the bag with the smelly paper, we were pleasantly surprised and relived to sniff le petit dejeuner  - chocolate and while linen. Yum - off to patisserie again? Why not, we are in France after all.