Mid-West and way home

On the way to Madison, Wisconsin, we spent at night with friends, who work for the Wildlife Conservation Society at the Bronx Zoo. Although not a huge fan of zoos, I found the Bronx Zoo quite good fun, as it has a nice monorail to zoom around in, some lovely old buildings and a particularly nice fountain from Italy that one of the Rockerfellers donated to the zoo.   James and Liana fed us lots of wine and pasta and let us play with their baby Annika. We left from La Guardia airport and had a good flight to Madison, which is a pretty town surrounded by lakes. Hugh was visiting Madison as an Aldo Leopold annual lecturer, named after the father of American conservation science apparently. Below is a photo of Volker and Hugh in front of his former house. We stayed in a lovely greenie Inn with log fires and yummy breakfasts. Volker is German and looked after us admirably. We tried local Wisconsin delicacies such as deep-fried cheese curds (delicious) and rather nice cider. (Apparently they have many different sorts of wonderful beer which is a bit wasted on Hugh and I). It is ironic that now I can eat cheese again far far away from the land of French cheese. Hugh has decided this is the week for migrating birds so spends every available minute trying to find them. Volker's wife Anna is a Professor of Ornithology and at last Hugh finally finds some new birds and we have a great time meeting their students at their lovely farmhouse outside Madison.

 Our next stop is Lincoln Nebraska where our two friends Drew and Brigitte live with their children. Drew and Brigitte both worked with Hugh in Adelaide and they followed us to Brisbane before moving here. It is great to catch up with them again as we are all obsessive game players and spend our first day in Lincoln playing board games and eating the delicious vegetarian food that Drew cooks. They have a darling dog Zoe, who reminds me of Doug and I get to take her for walks and catch up on my reading. It is very relaxing just to hang around their house - maybe I have been traveling too long but I seemed to have lost my enthusiasm for being a tourist. Probably though I am more of a city tourist or maybe there just isn't that much to see in Lincoln! All too soon we say goodbye and head off to Davis, California, where Hugh is giving a seminar.

 We are staying with some friends, Mark and Sharon, who visited us in Brisbane on sabbatical last year. Unfortunately Sharon is away but Mark and another colleague Tim Caro, pick us up at Oakland and take us to a groovy Californian restaurant for dinner before driving an hour or so to Davis. Mark and Sharon live in a wonderful community with shared gardens and common garden plots where our friends Alan and Elaine also live, who I met in Paris. We have a great party after Hugh's seminar, where I meet Monique, Tim's wife, who listens to me patiently drone on about a bag that I saw in Paris and didn't buy due to its high cost. Very strange of me not to give into the impulse buy! Naturally everyone encourages me to rectify this error and I promise to leave no stone unturned to track down the bag in San Francisco, where the brand is stocked at Nieman Marcus.

Our last stop on Hugh's American tour of duty is Stanford, Palo Alto, south of San Francisco. I have not been here for 25 years when we lived here during Hugh's post-doc.   It sure has changed now that Google, Facebook and Yahoo have moved to town! Very posh and leafy and we stay in a beautiful hotel that oozes affluence. We catch up with fun friends Steve and Laura, who we also met in Paris and drink margaritas in memory of our former days. Stanford is a beautiful campus in the Spanish Mission style and it makes me homesick smelling the eucalypts that abound here.   Now we have cracked the public transport system and easily catch the train and Bart (metro) to our hotel in San Fransisco, where we go on a pilgrimage to Greens vegetarian restaurant in Fort Mason (lovely views over the Golden Gate bridge and great food) and have our thrills on the cable car. Alas my bag is not to be found here so we go to the California Academy of Sciences instead and enjoy the birds and butterflies in the recreated rainforest there in Golden Gate Park.

Soon we are in LA to visit the J. Paul Getty villa at Malibu and to fly home of course. The villa is a recreated Roman villa overlooking the Pacific, with an atrium, fountains and peristyle gardens. It is superb and filled with the most extraordinary antiquities.  I am in heaven.  Unfortunately it is not really designed for pedestrians and caters for people who have lost the ability or desire to catch public transport and walk. It epitomises the best and worst of America!  The quest for my bag reaches new heights as we catch a taxi to Beverly Hills, get stuck in gridlock traffic on the freeway and Hugh starts to wish he had another sort of wife! The worst is yet to come as when we finally find the bag - my credit card is declined and the other card is safe in my luggage back at the hotel. Whoops - is the universe trying to tell me something? So after a $100 worth of taxi rides for a fruitless venture, we reach the airport in rather strained silence. However, after a few much needed glasses of wine, I manage to put a positive spin on the whole adventure, telling Hugh that sometimes you have to spend money to save it! (my favorite mantra). Although unconvinced, Hugh is just relieved the whole nightmare is over and in return I let him get to the airport 5 hours early! Despite the adventures and no pretty pink bag, it sure will be nice to be home!

Last week in New Haven

We have a nice weekend at home and decide to climb the nearby East Rock.  It is a lovely and not too gruelling walk up the hill with a fabulous view over New Haven out to the shore.  It has a very distinctive 19th century war memorial at the top but alas few birds.  It is supposed to be the top migration time at the moment but the migrants have not appeared due to the late arrival of spring. Hugh is depressed but we try again the next day meeting up with some former students of Hugh's, Lianna, James and their darling baby Annika who are working nearby in the Bronx for the Wildlife Conservation Society.  James is a crazy bird-watcher like Hugh but still they do not find many birds.

I am very happy, as not only do we have pancakes for lunch, but it is a lovely sunny Sunday just right for driving around small towns in Conneticut.  We actually have lunch in Guilford where my friend Julie and her former husband lived when they were at Yale.  It is very cute with a village green and many painted wooden houses with shutters like you see in all the American movies. We also stop at many coastal parks in the vain hope of seeing birds.  It is nice to smell the sea-air which vanquishes my allergies and feel the sun on my face for a change. Also it is lovely to play with Annika and catch up on all the gossip. We are going to stay a night with them all next week before we fly off to Wisconsin.

This is our last week in New Haven and we head off each day together to work, although Hugh likes to go to work much earlier than me.  I have been taking the opportunity of the nicer weather to explore the campus at Yale as I have compared it unfavourably with Princeton.  There are some gracious old ivy-league type buildings around - see below Vanderbilt Hall and lots of pretty courtyards. Yale also has two wonderful art galleries - the Yale Museum of Art and the Gallery of British Art which was orated to the university by a rich philanthropist Paul Mellon. They sure do have a lot of rich philanthropists in America. Hugh's visit to Yale is being funded by one and went to the fancy annual board meeting where he sat opposite George Bush's Aunt. Moving among the rich and famous!

Pretty Princeton

As we are collecting ivy-league universities, we take the metro into New York and then change to the New Jersey metro for Princeton, where Hugh is giving a talk and meeting up with some colleagues. It is a beautiful day and Princeton looks lovely in the afternoon sun - all the magnolia trees are in flower and the pink contrasts well with the greyish stone of the buildings as you can see. The campus is tranquil and free from cars and people yelling on street corners - makes a nice change! We are staying in a lovely old Inn in the central square of the town, which is rather quaint and full of Einstein memorabilia as this is were he worked until his death. So I take the opportunity to view the outside of his house (second photo) and to see his statue before heading off to the amazing Princeton Art Museum which has some lovely pieces of art to add to my imaginary art museum with a gorgeous Angelica Kaufmann portrait and one of Monet's famous water-lilly paintings. It also has a wonderful antiquity section and soon I am thinking about which pieces I could add to our little UQ Antiquities Museum in Brisbane. More fantasy I'm afraid!

For lunch we are treated to the Princeton Staff Club in historic Prospect House overlooking the fountain. Pretty posh stuff and I wish I wasn't wearing jeans! Apparently I was sitting next to the most famous ecologist in the world and I didn't even know! While we are there, we hear about the horrible Boston marathon bombs and I am a little anxious about getting home through New York, as no-one is sure yet whether it is an isolated incident or not. The police presence was very strong however and Times Square had temporary barricades around parts to deter crowds forming and becoming a target I guess. All very unnerving and it was a relief to get back to our apartment in New Haven.

 The next day we have our own little drama as Hugh gets a burst blood vessel on his nose which will not stop bleeding, so we have to go to the emergency room to get treatment. Luckily it is not that busy and we only spend a few hours filling in paperwork and sitting around waiting. He is fine but will have a black nose from the silver nitrate treatment for a few days. Unfortunately it happens just before his seminar so he has to explain his odd appearance at the beginning of the talk. It is a really good talk and is well received. It is fun going to work together and his office is so big that we can work together quite happily except for Hugh's sighs and my muttering. The picture below is of his buuilding. I am getting a lot of Latin and Greek done which is good. We have a great dinner in a nearby groovy restaurant with Yale colleagues Walter and Celli, where there is a huge cocktail list and we choose wisely and well I think. Our time in France has given me a taste for French wine, so I was pleased with the wine list too. Walter is German and studied Ancient Greek for seven years at high school (how amazing) and can still recite whole passages - I am very impressed and hope that I can be like that some day.

New York New York

The trouble with New York is that you remember all these movies and songs everywhere you go - one moment you are are Audrey Hepburn outside Tiffanys on 5th Ave and then you are Marilyn Monroe standing over a subway grate on Lexington Ave and then you are in a Seinfeld episode or even a Woody Allen movie on the Upper West Side. It is amazing just to walk the familiar sounding streets. New Haven is the last stop on the metro so you can get in fairly cheaply and quickly and we stayed in a nice hotel on the Upper West Side, not far from the American Museum of Natural History where Hugh's conference is. It is also close to Central Park which I have never really explored before. I just love it - all the fountains and statues but also the wild woods and lakes. It is sad to see where John Lennon was killed and to see his Imagine memorial and the strawberry fields area, where fans gather to remember him (some unfortunately choose to sing!).  Full of John Lennon thoughts, I am pretty sure I saw Yoko Ono walking in the Park one morning - she was wearing a funny blue hat like a rock star's wife and had a friend or assistant beside her and what looked like a security guard behind her, who glared at me when I looked around in disbelief, so I chose not to take a photograph but you will just have to believe me!

We are lucky to have neighbors in our street in Brisbane, who are American and live half of their time in New York, so I meet up with John, who kindly offers to show me his favorite parts of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is fascinating to see his favourite artworks and have another perspective. It is an amazing museum full of antiquities and masterpieces and better laid out than the Louvre but still quite overwhelming. It is another museum where you need to choose a section for the morning and come back frequently - unlike the Louvre, however, it is up to you how much you pay! My favorite museum though is the Frick collection, also opposite Central Park on the East Side, which was a wealthy industrialist's home and his collection of art and furniture is very eclectic and personal - he has Vermeer's next to Renoir's and it is gorgeous! He even had whole French wall panels by Fragonard and Boucher transported from French Chateaux and Hotels as you did I suppose in the good old days! It got me to thinking about what pictures and furniture I would have in my fantasy museum - all my favorites in one place - oh to be a wealthy 21st century Woman of Industry! Like the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, the museum has a lovely central courtyard with an indoor fountain like a roman villa - I would definitely have that in my museum. I also like the size and scale of the collection - a couple of restful hours and no museum fatigue, perhaps in part due to the carpets on the floors instead of marble and no stairs! Also, it is not terribly crowded and you have space and time to enjoy each picture.

 Like Paris, New York is a city where people walk and the food is very good - I have a breakfast to die for - lemon and ricotta pancakes with fresh raspberries - divine! In place of the French yummy bread, New Yorkers tolerate vegetarians better so it is easier for me to eat here. For the conference we go out to a great Mexican restaurant and I have fun with the waiter like in a movie when I ask for a Margarita. He asks me what kind - a classic or some other sort and I answer classic, then he asks "On the rocks or blended?" So I say on the rocks of course and still not finished with me, he shoots back "Do you want salt or no salt?" It is hilarious and so New York - instantly I am Meg Ryan in When Harry meets Sally and very decisive about what I want! I haven't ordered a sandwich yet as I need to build up to what bread, cheese etc I want and everyone gets impatient with you - time is money you know!

Back in New Haven, Hugh and I decided to walk to the nearby Long Island Sound shore line in search of birds.  Somewhat nervously we walk past railway tracks, boarded up car-lots, underneath free-ways and are among the few pedestrians in this car-dominated world.  It is almost like being in a post-apocalyptic world.  Very odd so close to genteel ivy-league Yale.  From the above pictured jetty we learn that a boat load of kidnapped African slaves finally returned to their home in Sierra Leone after a two year legal battle which helped kick start the abolition of slavery movement in 1839.  A Yale Professor of Ancient Languages learned enough of their language to find an interpreter for them - see how useful ancient languages can be!

Yankee Yale and Walks in Washington

After a smooth flight across the Atlantic we arrive at JFK in New York for a month's stint at Yale in New Haven, Connecticut - a 2 hour drive north of New York. Although it is sunny, spring has still not arrived here and it is cold. Our apartment in downtown New Haven, though, is very nice and light and conveniently located, but there is a bit of drama about getting in. Apparently the owner of the apartment has been sub-letting the place violating his tenancy agreement. Whoops! After some debate we are allowed to stay as we have already paid in advance - I knew things were going too smoothly! A bit shell-shocked, Hugh and I wander around New Haven stocking up on supplies. The downtown area is a strange place - full of shouting homeless people and a palpable sense of menace - I almost feel a Bruce Springsteen song coming on! Yale itself is lovely as you can see but there is such a contrast in a few blocks. I don't really feel like I want to walk around by myself. Luckily Hugh has a nice big office so I will go in with him to work and catch up on some neglected Greek and Latin work as I have got behind with all that Parisian frivolity.

We have a lovely Easter Sunday lunch with some old friends David and Kealoha, their kids and some colleagues in their adorable old house in the woods outside of New Haven. One of our first deeds after arriving was to visit the famous Frank Pepe's pizza restaurant which was apparently one of the first places to serve pizza in America. The pizza was ok but not as good as the best pizza we have ever tasted which was, of course, in Naples. After only a few days settling in, we are off to Washington DC by train as Hugh is giving a talk to WWF.  I have never been to Washington before and am looking forward to exploring. I find it is an easy city to get around as our hotel is well located in the funnily named Foggy Bottom part of town. On our first night we catch up with some old friends for dinner and talk about middle eastern politics over a few bottles. We are also celebrating as Hugh has been offered a part-time position at Imperial College in London.

The next day I walk down to the Lincoln Memorial and wander around the Constitution Gardens, admiring the Reflecting Pool and the Washington Monument in the distance. It is the famous cherry blossom festival but, due to the late arrival of spring, no blossoms are out! It is still very beautiful walking around taking in the war memorials, the Martin Luther King memorial and the very cute Franklin Delano Roosevelt (and his dog) Memorial. I am also an admirer of Thomas Jefferson, so it is a great thrill to see his Memorial and read the words of the Declaration of Independence that he drafted on the walls. I enjoy my first look at the White House and end my day at the National Women in the Arts Museum where there are two paintings by my favorite French artist Louise Moillon. Her still lives of fruit are so simple yet elegant. I meet up with Hugh and after his talk go out with some colleagues to a fabulous restaurant where there are heaps of vegetarian options and I am very happy.

 Still on the trail of Thomas Jefferson, on Friday I visit the Library of Congress and see his collection of books. Then I decide to wait in line and see the original copy of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights in the National Archives. I am not sure it was worth the hour and a half wait in line as the Declaration of Independence was so faded as to be almost illegible. However I have a lovely time in the National Gallery of Art which has the only Leonardo Da Vinci paining in the western hemisphere! Again, like the Louvre, I am somewhat puzzled by the crowd frenzy that Leonardos create - the nearby exquisite portrait of a lady in green by Titian had no-one in front of her. Bizarre. It is a wonderful gallery though- well laid out and easy to see in a couple of hours and perhaps best of all - free! On our final morning in DC Hugh and I take a couple of hours to walk across town to Union Station so Hugh can check out some sights - the National Academy of Sciences, the Old Post Office and of course the iconic Capitol Building which looks a little like a wedding cake to me. I can see how Canberra was modeled on Washington with it's big public spaces and monuments. Our train trip home was very pleasant and the New York skyline looked wonderful in the sunlight - luckily we will be spending a few days here next week. Lots more art and shopping I hope!

Mission completed

This will be my last blog about Paris, as we are leaving on Easter Saturday. So sad. The good news is that I completed my Joan of Arc mission at some risk to life and limb. It was a foggy day and Paris looked very Gothic with the white buildings, grey roofs and skeleton-like trees. I think I spooked myself because when I caught the bus way out past the Gard du Nord to find the last statue of the warrior maiden, I realized perhaps why the Michelin guide did not recommend finding it, as it was not in a very salubrious area and people stared at me in a shifty kind of way. So, hurriedly I took my last statue photo of Joan of Arc and visited the church where she stopped to pray before heading off to attack Paris to try to wrest it from the English. Unfortunately she was wounded and had to retreat. The photo shows a memorial to her above the old Porte St Honore.

After completing said mission, I felt some recreation was in order, so I wandered along the Rue St Honore looking at all the posh shops. I belatedly remembered my handbag needs and went into a lovely shop called Moynat which I had never heard of before. The nice salesman called Angelo soon enlightened me and told me all about the history of the company which was a famous 19th century travel luggage emporium to rival Louis Vuitton. He was so warm and friendly - I recommend everyone who visits Paris to seek him out - unfortunately the beautiful bag I saw was astronomically priced but it was a fun experience nevertheless! I also visited my favorite wine-shop called Lavinia for our last bottle of champagne for research purposes.

 The highlights of my last week have been to see the Conciergerie which has the largest surviving Gothic Hall in Europe and helped me to visualize The Hunchback of Notre Dame which I finally finished- it's a great book full of melodrama although somewhat depressing as almost everyone dies in the end ( whoops plot spoiler!).  Now I have started The Three Musketeers so no doubt I will now be obsessed with Richelieu and the court of Versailles! For all Harry Potter fans the next highlight was tracking down the house where Nicholas Flamel lived - he of the philosopher's stone fame. Most exciting. On Friday, Hugh kindly left work a little earlier so we could see the Louvre together. After spending time with the Mesopotamian antiquities, we hit the Italian Paintings, which are usually very crowded with Mona Lisa addicts but late on a Friday night it wasn't too bad. The art here is extraordinary - Boticelli, Raphael, Titian, Caravaggio and of course many Leonardos. It is almost overwhelming. The statue of the winged victory of Samo-Thrace is so beautiful and dramatic it may well be my favourite artifact at the museum. On my last visit I found the picture by my favorite women artist Louise Moillon, who I discovered in Toulouse, which unfortunately is hung very high above another painting and is not that easy to see. Although I generally dislike people who take pictures of paintings, I include hers here as there is no postcard of her work to buy.

The weekend was devoted to Napoleon and Josephine, as we caught about three buses to Malmaison, their former country house which is very elegant and neo-classical (see Josephine's bedroom below) with a beautiful garden where Hugh saw three species of Woodpecker. That evening we caught up with some American colleagues, Alan and Elaine, for a nice meal where I discover I can still eat chocolate mousse as it has no dairy - just chocolate and eggs! Yippee! This vegan thing is no doubt good for you and indeed my stomach is getting better but it is a trifle dull. Lucky champagne is ok! But speaking of Champagne we try but fail to visit the champagne region due to a combination of tardiness and train delays! At least this gives us a reason to return to France - however I think that my research project has been very useful although all the bottles have tasted good - I mustn't be discerning enough! At the risk of sounding like an alcoholic I will just say that the last highlight of the week was visiting an absinthe bar in the 11th arrondissement which was such fun and I find I prefer absinthe to pastis or ouzo, which it slightly resembles. It is an experience almost like taking tea as absinthe is poured into a glass, a tea-strainer like object is placed over the rim and a sugar cube placed on top. Then from a big glass container rather like a samovar, cold water is added drop by drop and you can mix it to your taste and strength. The bar was very atmospheric and had excellent food as well. The photos will be found on Facebook.

A Night at the Opera

Well - the big day finally arrived - we dressed up in our finery and caught the bus to the Opera for the production of La Cenerentola or Cinderella by Rossini. Very fortuitously, the bus outside our apartment goes right by the opera house - I love my no. 21 bus! We arrive freakishly early as usual but have plenty of time to wander around the foyer, grand staircase and main salon. It is La Belle Epoque on steroids - gilded statues everywhere, chandeliers as far as the eye can see and many frescoed ceilings. I love it, but Hugh seems to think it is a bit over the top. We get some drinks and I start people watching. Alas it is very disappointing, as most people appear to be in jeans and daggy parkas. I am appalled - standards have really dropped! So instead I try to imagine what it must have looked like when people wore beautiful gowns, sparkly jewelry and dinner jackets.

We have to wait until everyone is seated before we can enter the balcony because we were only able to get these dinky little seats at the end of the row, that pull out blocking the exits - at least we are ok if there is a fire - it's a pity about everyone else! We have a great view as you can see in the photo and I find the seat surprisingly comfortable (or at least less uncomfortable than I imagined) and I spend the time gazing around the incredible space, admiring more gilded statues, red velvet and beautiful balconies. The best bit is probably the amazing ceiling painted by Chagall which is divine but causes a lot of neck pain to view - a little like the Sistine chapel - but it is worth it, as he has painted scenes from famous operas like the Magic Flute and ballets like Swan Lake. It is a strange contrast to all the Empire glory of the rest of the theatre but seems to work well.

 I get that familiar thrill as the lights dim, the orchestra begins and the curtain lifts - the anticipation is so exciting! However the set, at first, is a little disappointing - it appears to be a black and white drawing of a dilapidated castle but then as the music swells, the lighting changes and the building takes shape. It is made of curtains that lift, revealing the interior, rather like an old-fashioned cardboard dolls house. It is gorgeous and reveals the ugly step-sisters in their boudoirs, the mean step-father (not step-mother in this version) in his attic bedroom and Cinderella, or Angelina, as she is called here, in the kitchen by the fire-place. The step-sisters and father are very funny and it is almost like a pantomime at times - no melodrama or tragedy in this Opera - just people in disguises and of course love at fist sight. Cinderella and Prince Charming (unfortunately he is rather short and stout) have wonderful voices and their duets are just beautiful. Her transformation at the ball is everything that I was hoping for - she wears a black velvet dress with silver embroidery and heaps of sparkling gems - finally someone is suitably attired for the surroundings! In the final scene where everyone is revealed in their true characters she is again superb in a white satin wedding dress. It was really wonderful and an amazing experience.

 The bus ride home was great too as our bus goes past the Louvre, St. Germain L'Auxerrois, my favourite church, the Conciergerie and the Notre Dame all illuminated at night. We even got a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower, all lit up and sparkly, sending out its laser beams across Paris. All very romantic - it had even rained earlier giving Paris that quintessential look that you see in movies! Definitely a night out to remember.

Sojourn in Switzerland

Well the day we leave for Switzerland, spring retreats and we wake to Toulouse covered in snow. Hugh, aka the General, tells me, as I complain about tramping through the snow to the train station and whine about a taxi, that Napoleon would have left me behind in the retreat from Moscow and furthermore he is annoyingly cheerful on the forced march. The retreat from Toulouse was accomplished at last however and we boarded our train to Switzerland. The TGV train was not that fast, alas, due to some troubles on the tracks but it did allow us good views of the fields, castles and villages along the way and we even had a great view of the impressive walls and towers of Carcassone. We left the snow behind in sunny Provence and made our way along the Rhone which basically ends at Lake Geneva. Our destination is the pretty hillside town of Lausanne.

 That night we had a lovely dinner at Antoine's house, a colleague of Hugh's, who very sweetly made an entire vegan meal. His mother and sister are lactose intolerant like me (poor them in cheesy Switzerland) and he pulled out all the stops and even produced an arsenal of herbal teas afterwards! Luckily I can still drink wine and it was fun catching up with his children and some friendly post-docs. Hugh bustled off bird-watching in the morning and then gave his talk but I stayed snug in bed reading and keeping warm as I find I don't like going out if it is under 5 degrees (unless for a Unesco-world heritage site of course). Hugh gave another talk in nearby Gland the following day and met people from WWF and IUCN. I braved the elements for a little light shopping and didn't feel too guilty as last time I was here I tramped up hill and down dale in search of history and culture.

On Saturday it was a beautiful sunny day and walking down the hill from our hotel to the train station, we saw for the first time the breath-taking snow-covered mountains that surround Lausanne and the sparkling waters of the lake. It is really a lovely town. We caught the train to Geneva to meet up with our old friends Damien and Jocelyn, who we met when we were in Oxford. It was great to catch up on all the gossip and fascinating to talk about their work as Damien is a Professor of Latin Poetry at the university of Geneva and Jocelyn has a research position in Bordeaux and also works on Roman history. So nice to be among one's own kind! They showed us around the quaint old town of Geneva and even made time for some hand-bag shopping - Jocelyn knew all the best places courtesy of her delightful teenage daughter Aline. We had a lovely meal together at their house and even spoke on skype with their son Basil who is studying in Berlin.

 All too soon we had to leave lovely Switzerland and return home to Paris - only a three hour train ride but unfortunately the train was packed as it was the last day of the French school holidays. It was nice to be home though again in our apartment and back in Paris although we only have two weeks left before we head off to America. So sad. On Monday I stayed at home as a domestic goddess and washed and even cleaned a little! I still found time to choose a nice bottle of champagne and some nibbles as our old friends from Adelaide, Simon and Jayne Barbour are in Paris for a few days and came over for drinks and then we went out for a lovely meal in my favorite brasserie nearby. I know I will pay for this the next day, but I order my favorite potato cassoulet filled with delicious cheese. I eat like there is no such thing as lactose intolerance and am very happy. It was all washed down with some nice Burgundian Pinot noir and chocolate cake. The service is great and I decide that I prefer a simple place like this to fancy Michelin star restaurants where they fuss about forks and food doesn't really taste like food. I know that I must be a philistine!

Time in Toulouse

Last Saturday we caught a very fast train to Toulouse where Hugh (or Hugues as I now like to call him!) was giving a talk and meeting some colleagues. A few of Hugh's lab have been coming here for a while and now I can see why - Toulouse is a lovely city- the fifth largest in France. Spring had really sprung here in the south and it was a balmy 16 degrees and we enjoyed walking the twisting, old streets admiring the architecture of this pink city, so called because most of the buildings are built in red brick. It is home to many old Romanesque churches and was known as Tolosa in Roman times. On our first day we visit our first one - the cathedral of St Etienne - which was built in the thirteenth century and is a very odd jumble of architectural styles. We then stroll on down to the bridge across the Garonne river and through the clouds can just make out our first ever glimpse of the Pyrenees. Below is Hugh's picture of Toulousians catching their first sun of spring, basking on the banks like penguins.

 On the way home we visit an amazing museum in a former Augustine monastery. It has many unusual Romanesque sculptures but also houses an incredible collection of French art. Lots of scantily-clad maidens abound but I discover 3 paintings by a seventeenth century woman artist called Louise Moillon who painted incredible still lives of fruit. Apparently there are a couple of her paintings in the Louvre which I must have missed - I will rectify this as soon as I return to Paris, as she is now my new favorite artist! Later we meet up with some friends and watch a game of rugby in an extremely crowded bar (France vs Ireland) before going to a great (and almost as popular) vegetarian restaurant in the old quarter. Toulouse, perhaps because of its student population, has a lot more veggie options than Paris and even caters for a newly-minted vegan like myself!

 On Sunday we wander through the botanic gardens and are amazed by all the beautiful spring flowers on display - crocuses coming up in the lawns, multi-coloured primulas, pansies and poppies predominate elsewhere and it is very relaxing walking around in the sun. Pleasingly, the flower emblem of Toulouse is the violet and with my love of purple, I buy up big on soaps, perfume and other pretty violet things with glee. I am undecided about the violet liqueur though and will have to taste I think before I buy! We also discover the famous canal du midi which was built by a Toulousian man called Pierre-Paul Riquet in the seventeenth century and which connected the Atlantic coast with the Mediterranean sea, an amazing feat of engineering.

 On Monday I am kept very busy visiting the Unesco World heritage-listed Basilica of St Sernin (who knew there were so many saints?) which was a famous pilgrimage church on the St Jacques de Compostella route. But the biggest treat for me was visiting the museum of antiquities which has an amazing collection of Roman statues and great information about Roman Toulouse. I am very happy in my natural element! Armed with my new information, I can identify Roman walls and the Cardo Maximus (main street) of Toulouse which is still the heart of the city (see below). The main square of Toulouse was the site of one of the main Roman gates into the city and now has a spectacular town hall with beautiful paintings (read more scantily-clad maidens) and sculptures of famous Toulousians, including the mathematician Fermat, along the walls of its main hall.

 My last day in Toulouse in spent browsing through a few more particularly gloomy Romanesque churches and convents and one lovely art museum in an old Renaissance house complete with a picturesque staircase tower. Toulouse has many old towers dotted around the city and also a number of beautiful Renaissance mansions, as it was a very prosperous town in that period. I am happy to find not only a nice statue of Joan of Arc on horseback, but also a dear little statue of her high up on a wall in the old quarter. The street signs around here are in two languages - French and Occitan, the dialect of the south which seems kind of symbiosis of French and Spanish to me. Tomorrow we are off by train to Switzerland (Lauanne/Geneva/Gland) for a combination of work and friend visiting. Back to the cold I fear!

Joan of Arc and St. Germain

The Michelin Guide kindly told me that despite Jeanne D'Arc saving France from the nasty English, there are only four statues of her in Paris and moreover where to find them. But first I had to find the exact spot where she was wounded while trying to wrest Paris back for the French. There is a spot on the Rue St Honore where her head is carved above a doorway which was once a gate into Paris and I also found the gilded statue of her on horseback nearby in the Place des Pyramides (see last picture).  One down, three to go! The reward for my self-appointed Joan of Arc mission however was to stumble across an amazing English bookshop opposite the Tuileries Gardens where I finally bought a copy of The Three Musketeers for which I have been searching for some time.  I had a lovely wander around the Tuileries gardens, dutifully admiring all the statues that my Michelin guide recommended.

My next stop was the church of St Germain l'Auxerrois, not to be confused with St Germain des Pres, which is now my favorite church in Paris, perhaps in part due to its lovely Gothic porch and in part due to the fact that someone was playing classical guitar while I walked around it, which was very inspiring.  It is also a little gloomy, peaceful and smells slightly of incense - just how I like my churches. As well, I had a puzzle to solve - which of its two towers was the Romanesque one? (quite a rare find in Paris).  In most of the information on the Internet, people say it is the spectacular front tower which looks old but is obviously not Romanesque and was in fact only built a hundred or so years ago in the Gothic revival style. You have to go around behind the church to really view the Romanesque tower which is only slightly visible from the front. It is really lovely and I am grateful to my Michelin guide for pointing me in the right direction and giving me something to obsess about!

Fortunately the next Joan of Arc statue is located within walking distance of our apartment so I can easily find and admire it, as I need time to prepare our tiny apartment for a number of people who are coming over for dinner. I find I don't mind cooking so much if I don't have to do it very often and besides we have all this plunder from Normandy to consume. The guests did not leave until 2am but at least the calvados was finished and not entirely by me! Feeling a bit seedy, the next day I decided to do a gentle Michelin guide walk around St Germain, locating the spectacular Four Seasons Fountain (located bizarrely in a tiny side street) and finding the famous Procope cafe, which was frequented by Voltaire and all those other famous seventeeth century French intellectuals, where I had a genteel cup of Earl Grey tea.

Despite the rain, on the following day I bused out past the Gare St. Lazarre to find Joan of Arc statue number three, which I think is the best so far, as it has quotations from actual letters that she wrote (or had written for her as she was illiterate) and things that were said about her at her trial before she was burned alive - the poor poppet. The last statue of her may be the hardest to find as my guide is not terribly specific for once, but I will not be daunted never fear! On the way home I admired the architecture of the Louvre from the outside, which thanks again to my Michelin guide, I started to see the different architectural periods in which it was constructed by various Kings and Queens of France. Such fun for a history addict like myself!

Tanks and Tea

We were awoken by the bells of the nearby church ringing the Angelus which of course made me think of poor old Quasimodo! After a beautiful breakfast of croissants, home-made jam and delicious fresh French bread (why is it so good?) we hit the D-Day trail and visited some of the sites of the Normandy invasion of 1944. It was a moving and distressing discovery of the sites where the allied forces landed, the German machine-gun dugouts and the tales of bravery and horror culminating in the American cemetery at Colleville-sur-mer. This cemetery is in the film Saving Private Ryan I believe and is very thought-provoking.

We returned home, stopping frequently to look at beautiful chateaux, manoirs and old farmhouses, for lunch where Gilles had whipped up two amazing cheeses souffles for us which we washed down with some lovely wine and cheese of course! In the afternoon we left the region of calvados for the adjoining region of Manche and visited medieval ruined castles, chapels and saw the Unesco heritage listed watchtowers of Saint-Vaast-La Hougue and the island of Tatihou. We visited the famous Maison du Biscuit and took tea in the quaint Salon de The before buying some delicious buttery biscuits of course! Hugh had a lovely time bird-watching along the coast and we even saw a barn owl just sitting by the side of the road in our headlights as we returned home.

On the way home we also visited some friends of Cecile, who own a dairy farm with a walled courtyard and an imposing farm house with its own chapel and dovecote.  For dinner that night we went to a fish restaurant along the sea-front which was delicious (no fish for me but deep fried Camembert yum yum) with a heavenly chocolate fondant desert.  The next day, typically on the day we leave Normandy, the sun comes out and we enjoy breakfast overlooking the sea bathed in sunshine. Gilles feeds the birds some breadcrumbs and we soon see a robin, blue-tits, great tits and a dunnock fighting over them (the robin wins!).  Hugh had a great time walking along the beach seeing sea-birds. We have a relaxing morning meeting up with our new friends for coffee and admiring the historic buildings in the sun before yet another lovely meal prepared by Gilles. All too soon it is time to leave lovely Normandy for Paris.

For some reason, on Monday I wake up with a stomach which refuses to eat any more cheese. Oh my God  - a vegan in Paris - what a nightmare! Oh well, I suppose I have had my fun and now I'm paying for it.  So lots of healthy vegetable soup and no dairy products - at least for a week or so before I go to Switzerland and the land of the fondue. However, I have discovered a French Michelin guide on the bookshelf which has the double benefit of improving my French and giving me some lovely suggested walks around various quartiers of Paris with lots of history and architectural facts which cheered me up - just what I needed. So, today after loafing around in my pajamas for a bit, I went for a delightful walk in the Luxembourg gardens and took tea in the charmingly named Pavilion de la Fontaine. The palace (now used by the Senate) was built by Marie de Medici and perhaps for that reason the gardens are full of statues of French Queens even including Mathilda the wife of William the Conquerer for some reason. There is no escaping these Normans!

Treats and Tapestries

It is an ancient tradition to feast on the eve of battle, so accordingly on the night before our expedition to Normandy, Hugh and I feasted big time at a Michelin three starred restaurant called Arpege near the Rodin Museum. I chose this restaurant because, unusually in carnivorous Paris, this restaurant has an emphasis on vegetables and serves no red meat. Dressed in our finery we were handed a huge tome otherwise known as the wine list  (see photo) - there were two pages devoted to just champagnes! It was a little overwhelming but the waiter was very nice and helped us out. We had intentions (in part due to the exorbitant cost of the food) of only ordering two courses which we duly did- but firstly with our champagne arrived plate of hors d'ouvres then another. We were surprised but delighted. Then another delicious egg thingy arrived (a signature dish apparently), then our entrees, which they kindly divided so we could taste both, then another appetizer of I think carrots and turnips which sounds ordinary but was rich and complex. By now our eyes were bulging slightly and our main courses arrived - mine was another signature dish of beetroot baked in a salt crust which again fails to describe the dish - it was like eating Christmas pudding - sort of orange and chocolatey and unbelievably rich. Stupidly I ordered cheese and dessert - what was I thinking? I didn't realize that the plate of petit fours was not the desert however the waitress kindly made a box for my apple tart to take home as we were completely full and certainly not fit for battle!

Still digesting I think, we were picked up by Cecile and Gilles the next day for our Norman campaign. It is about a three hour drive from Paris and we reached Bayeux, our first destination, at lunch time before a short stop at the shop of a chocolate factory. I made a careful selection of treats naturally - the chocolates are known as Drakkar, after the Viking-like ships William the Conquerer used for his invasion of England. Cecile had a plan to show us all the best that Normandy, the land of calvados and Camembert, has to offer and she took it very seriously I'm pleased to say! We met one of her lovely cousins Minou for lunch in Bayeux and while not really hungry yet, I managed to have a three course meal anyway.  Bayeux is a beautiful old town with the river Aure running through it and of course the famous Bayeux cathedral and tapestry.

Photo: Minou Lesage

However, I was so excited to finally see the tapestry which I have wanted to see since I was in year 8 and our headmistress taught us about the Angles and the Saxons and of course the victorious Normans.  It is amazing - the colours are so bright and the figures so well drawn - it is even better than I imagined. It is full of action and drama - the first cartoon-like description of the events leading up to the battle and the battle itself. It is quite graphic with body parts strewn around the place and several rather ambiguous sexual scenes. I was pleased also to be able to decipher some of the Latin description that runs along the top of the 70 metre embroidery. As it was not very crowded we were able to go back to the beginning and see it all again. I don't believe there is any thing like it in the entire world!

 Next stop was the cooperative factory shop where they produce the famous camembert cheese - Isigny-Sur-Mer - also butter, fromage frais and other dairy delights. We stocked up before visiting another speciality of the region - the caramel shop. Oh la la - after 30 years of being with Hugh I found out his secret passion - caramels. He insisted on buying a huge bag which I demanded that he keep at work. Carrying armfuls of food and calvados we reached Grandcamp sur Maisy and the house on the sea. After unpacking we sat around the fire drinking calvados and tasting some of the delicious chocolate biscuits we had bought. Our last treat for the day was pizza at a nearby bar which Francois, the nephew of Cecile and Gilles, runs. The wind was blowing fiercely along the sea front but Hugh and I were snug in our fishermans jackets which we borrowed. Not long after we walked in, a blues band called Porion started playing amazing guitars and singing Eric Clapton with a French accent. It was fantastic and a fitting end to our first day in wonderful Normandy.

Justice and Jewellry

On Monday the weather turned bad again and I was convinced I would get sick if I went out, so I stayed at home drinking soup and doing a little light Latin and Greek revision. But the weather improved a bit on Tuesday, so I braved the elements and wandered around St Germain looking at shops. Very fortuitously I came across a lovely jewelry shop that was having a 50 per cent off sale (I love this financial crisis!) and found some darling smokey quartz earrings for my forthcoming opera event. Feeling very happy I visited St Sulplice church which played a big role in the Da Vinci code plot. One of its chapels had some lovely Delacroix murals. I wandered along aimlessly for a bit longer until I reached the river when I decided some history was in order.

 So after a nice little lunch in the ancient Place Daupine, I decided to infiltrate the Palais de Justice which is the site of the original palace of the Kings of France before the Louvre was built. I am not sure if it is really opened to tourists, but I tried to look like I was on a legal mission and soon found myself inside. Much of the ancient palace was destroyed in the revolution, but Victor Hugo is to blame for my enthusiasm for this place, as The Hunch-back of Notre Dame begins there and as a result I am now on the warpath for medieval Paris.  To this end I visited the archeological crypt underneath Notre Dame. It was fascinating to see Roman and medieval Paris underneath modern Paris and fortunately it was well lit and not that spooky.

The next day was Louvre Part III.  This time, I fuelled up with coffee and a yummy chocolate viennois before starting, and tackled 14th - 19th century paintings from France, Flanders and Germany. I must be an old hand now, as I optimized my route quite well and lasted nearly 3 hours! I have decided that my new favourite art period is 15th century art from Bruges as I saw many beautiful delicate portraits, both religious and secular, that amazed me. I was also very happy as the crowds didn't seem to like this part of the Louvre as much and it was both peaceful and inspiring.

After viewing the roman ruins in the archeological crypt, I decided to set off the next day to find the Roman amphitheatre which I never even knew existed in Paris and this is my third visit! What have I been doing with my time? But although the street around it was always known as the street of the arena, apparently it was only rediscovered in the 19th century when the metro was being built. Although not much of an amphitheatre by classical standards, I still got my thrill walking amongst the ruins. This place and the baths are the only visible reminders of the ancient Roman city. The forum is buried well below the nearby Sorbonne area I believe.

Museums and the mafia

Saturday was cheese lesson number 1 as we met up with Gilles at the Port-Royal market and carefully chose with his help and the help of the owner of the stall, a few cheeses.  It was very hard as she has over 180 different sorts of cheese! But we settled on some delicious varieties including a fresh goat's cheese and some local Parisian brie. We also bought some lovely fresh vegetables and some dried fruit. It was great fun and a cultural event in itself even though the weather has turned very cold again and it was snowing!

Hugh had expressed an unusual desire to visit the Picasso Museum, which unfortunately is closed until the summer - whoops I should have checked the Internet.  Ironically the collection is now showing at the Art Gallery of NSW! However I was quite happy as there was a museum dedicated to 18th century furniture and paintings nearby called Cognacq-Jay to visit.  Hugh deserves a husband of the week award as he doesn't much enjoy aristocrats and their white skin, endless china and numerous delicate side-tables. He only sighed and muttered a few times in a mournful way! However I thought it was all fascinating, particularly a lovely picture by Greuze of a young girl with a darling King Charles spaniel just like our dear departed dog Eddy.

That night we rugged ourselves up, took some of our cheese cache and wine and went to play a great game called Mafia with some of our Institute buddies. It was a hilarious evening (perhaps in part due to the wine consumed) as people are allocated either to be townspeople or the mafia and you have guess who is who and shoot them before they shoot you. It helps to have a poker face and to be able to lie well - both attributes which are way out of my league! Kate (the gorgeous hostess) has lovely underfloor heating so I had to spend 10 minutes in the bathroom taking off many of many layers of jumpers, scarves and tights before I could compete properly.

 On Sunday we slept in for some reason! But dedicated to the cause of history and to the acquisition of culture, we hiked out on the metro through the snow and cold to the Basilica of St. Denis - sort of the Westminster Abbey of Paris, where most of the French Kings and Queens are buried in elaborate tombs or mausoleums. It was fascinating but freezing. The Basilica was built in the 12th century and has some amazing stone carvings from the middle ages. Apparently it was a royal tradition to have naked sculptures of your dead self and wife made on one level and then on top of your tomb have yourself carved in all your finery. Quite disturbing I must say. Perhaps the most haunting thing was the memorial of the dead little son of King Louis the XVI and Marie-Antoinette and a glass casket containing his heart! After another wonderful meal in a restaurant across the square we dragged ourselves home to digest it. However for the next few days it will be a necessary period of austerity with lots of vegetable soup and no cheese, as we are going to fancy restaurant number 1 on Thursday and need to make room in our stomachs for the feast!

Serious Art Student

Today I became a little more focused on art and less on shopping and went to the Gustave Moreau museum - I love this artist, who was part of the symbolist movement in the late 19th century. His paintings are full of classical themes, mythology, plenty of unicorns and scantily clad fair maidens. Lovely stuff! The museum is actually his apartment that he shared with his parents with the rooms completely furnished, as he left his apartment stuffed full of his paintings to the state. His studio covers two floors connected by an iron spiral staircase and is amazing. Feeling a bit dreamy I caught the metro up to Montmatre to get a view of Paris and to see one of the best surviving examples of the Guimard Art Nouveau metro entrances at Place des Abesses.  After climbing an endless number of stairs I did so and it was lovely but the sun was in the wrong direction for a good picture but trust me the view over Paris is amazing and you can see all the major buildings in Paris as far as the eye can see.

On Thursday, still full of zest for art I took the bus to visit the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais, both neo-classical survivors of the 1900 grand exposition. The Grand Palais has a huge sparkling glass dome held up by iron as you can see below but unfortunately was closed for an upcoming exhibition so I contented myself with just peering through the windows. The Petit Palais was open though and better still, free. It is a beautiful airy slighty art nouveau like building with beautiful glass windows and a lovely rotunda courtyard but the water was mostly frozen in the pools of the fountain! It is a very eclectic collection - kind of a mini Louvre - and has a very interesting antiquities and icon sections with lots if beautiful turn of the century portraits. Feeling on a roll I then decided to go across the bridge to the Musee D'Orsay museum which is chock full of wonderful impressionist art but also filled with too many people. Still it is an amazing museum full of lovely naked ladies and gorgeous colours.

I finished off the week with a visit to the Dali exhibition at the Georges Pompidou centre (see below) - me and half of Paris I think - the crowds were amazing and they say that some people waited for 2 hours to get in.  Luckily I only waited a half an hour but I soon got pretty frustrated with the way people stand close up to a picture and hog it for ages before moving on.  I think he was an amazing character and some of his early work was very impressive - he actually could paint some wonderful portraits.  His later stuff is fun but a bit disturbing - the aim I guess! And while I am not in general a fan of modern art, I decided to visit the Modern Art section while I was there and was blown away.  Firstly, as there were hardly any people but also because the art was wonderful - works by Picasso, Matisse, Braque, Kandinsky, the Delaunays and Chagall.  I left before the 1945- 1960 section though, as it was getting a bit dark and gloomy for me - the art I mean!

Hedonistic Happiness

Monday was visit to the Louvre day part II and was focused on objects of art particularly the amazing tapestries on display at the Louvre. One group of tapestries, known as the Scipio series, particularly enthralled me - I guess I love everything with a classical theme! The tapestries portrayed the Roman General Scipio and his victory over Carthage and they were spectacular - the best one in my view was of 2 huge very worried looking elephants - perhaps they knew they were on the losing side! Also there were a couple of very naughty cherubs up to no good in a side panel that were very amusing - maybe Scipio liked little boys? I also enjoyed some sculptures in the beautiful courtyards that have been enclosed in glass and some sumptuous rooms full of furniture but soon got museum fatigue again and left in search of lunch.

My neighbor Rachel had told me, before I left, the name of the restaurant where Diane Keaton and yummy Keanu Reeves go to in Paris in the movie "Somethings Got to Give" so I was on a mission to find it. Well I did, but there was big black cloth over the windows and a man out the front said it was closed. Disappointed I moved on to the arcade next to it and wandering along I saw the same bistro on the arcade side full of people through the windows, so I decided to try again. This time there was no man out the front and another man just opened the cloth and went inside. Puzzled but curious I followed him inside. There seemed to be a lot of lights and cameras so I thought maybe someone important was there, but I went up to a waiter and asked for a table.  He burst out laughing and said "Do you think I am a waiter?"  and when I nodded he explained that they were filming a movie in the restaurant and that he was an actor, as was everyone else in the restaurant except me! I was so embarrassed by my persistence that when the director called "silence on the set!" I fled red-faced to another nice bistro nearby.   Luckily it was a nice old bistro full of mahogany and brass fittings and I soothed my nerves with a glass of Cotes du Rhone with my lunch.

It was another beautiful sunny day and I strolled along to the Place Vendome and looked at all the posh shops like Chanel, Dior etc and I even bravely went into a jewellery store where you had to buzz first and then the door is unlocked and there is this hushed atmosphere within like a temple. Nothing daunted, I tried on some beautiful emerald ear-rings spookily the same cut, colour and setting of my own recent ring acquisition! Although of course it must be fate, the price of the ear-rings made my eyes water, so I had to reluctantly leave them behind.  I consoled myself by visiting the Opera Garnier and marveling at it's Belle Epoque beauty.   I was very fortunate to get 2 tickets to see the opera Cinderella, or La Cenerentola,  in March - yippee! I am so excited and am now on a mission to buy some suitably sparkly earrings (but affordable obviously) to wear to this gala event.

The next day I visited a perfume museum (only in Paris!) which contained many interesting perfume-making implements and pots of different smells to identify.  Then, on the way to another museum called Andre-Jaquemart, I came across a number of heavenly shoe shops having sales and a wine shop where there was champagne as far as the eye could see! I wondered briefly if I had died and gone to heaven!  So in accordance with my new policy, I bought a little bottle of Bollinger to taste this week. When I finally resumed my art mission, I found the museum was extraordinary - full of beautiful paintings by Rembrandt, Fragonard and Botticelli. The house still had the original furniture and a fabulous winter garden full of classical sculptures. Funnily enough, I find I like that sort of sculpture! I had lunch in the original dining room which is now a cafe, with a Tiepolo ceiling and crimson plush seats. I felt totally hedonistic and decadent as I left my shoes and champagne in a locker and proceeded to have an exquisite lunch rounded off by a raspberry tart. Talk about the Good Life!

Birdwatching in the Bois de Bologne

Today we had lunch with Cecile and Gilles (who own our apartment) and their family and we had a lovely meal at their place. On the way to their house we passed by the street market on Boulevard Port-Royal and were amazed by one cheese stall in particular - there must have been over 100 different types of cheese. Luckily we had a small lesson on cheese at their house and maybe they will come shopping with us one day as we wouldn't really know where to begin. They also kindly invited us to their house in Normandy so we can see the Bayeux tapestry (a life-long dream of mine) and drink calvados in situ.

After lunch we had a big walk to the Rodin Museum in an effort to aid digestion! I like some of the sculptures but found the views of the dome of Les Invalides far more beguiling with its gilded shields, flags and other military symbols on the dome, glittering in the sun. I have decided I like architecture more than sculpture. As it was a nice day we walked across the spectacular Pont de Alexandre III which was built for the great exposition in 1900 - there is a great use of gilt in Paris it seems! Hugh was starting to complain about sore feet and this is the man who can birdwatch through swamps for hours on end, so we came home.

To keep him happy, on Sunday we went to the Bois de Bologne to see if we could see some nature. The park, although huge, was filled with an enormous number of joggers and every kind of dog breed known to man! Eventually we found some peace and quiet and some some nuthatches, tree-creepers and even long-tailed tits. Hugh was very pleased and almost smiled! We found a cafe and had some wine (very civilized) and the French version of fast food - a very delicious cheese tart in my case and a hot dog in a baguette for Hugh. It was fun sitting in the sun and people watching for a while. Hugh made us catch the metro home although I prefer the buses - probably because of a slight claustrophobia but also because Paris is so pretty, why would you want to go underground? But I had my reward for being a good wife as Hugh strangely agreed to go to the Opera if we could get tickets - so watch this space!

Fashion and Flowers

I woke up to grey skies and rain today so decided to head off by bus to a branch of the famous Galleries Lafayette department store chain which is near me in Montparnasse. I was in the market for a pretty dress to wear out to the fancy restaurants that I plan to visit and maybe to the Opera. My mission was accomplished more quickly than I anticipated as I fell in love with a beautiful black dress that was reasonably priced and even better accompanied by a helpful sales assistant who found my size. After that I found an angora jumper just right for this cold weather for 20 euros - what a bargain and soon I found I was panting slightly with a desire to buy the whole shop!  I ended on the lingerie floor and left clasping a silk negligee and a rather battered credit card!

It was Valentine's day and such a delight to visit the numerous florist shops around our apartment - as you can see, after much inward debating, I bought this lovely bunch of roses. The sales assistant was making a gorgeous bouquet with tiny roses and little crocuses and many other delightful flowers in a little heart shaped box which was so sweet, but as she was busy I decided not to bother her by taking a photograph. There are many small wine shops around us too and I have made an executive decision to buy the small bottles (325 ml) they have here once a week to learn more about champagne - it is purely for research purposes obviously! Most French champagne is consumed by the domestic market with many small companies which we never see in Australia. That night the rain miraculously stopped so we walked to a nice little Burgundian bistro that I had seen on my travels and ate a delicious potato galette and a huge creme caramel( we shared it) accompanied by a nice pinot noir wine from Burgundy. A great treat to spend Valentine's day in romantic Paris.

The next day was sunny, so after meeting Hugh for lunch, I wandered down across the river to the Place des Vosges which looked gorgeous in the sunlight as you can see and visited the house of Victor Hugo, whose book the Hunchback of Notre-Dame I am currently reading, and whose former apartment overlooks the square. I am having a Victor Hugo moment at present as I loved his book Les Miserables and of course the recent movie. I then wandered around the Marais district and visited the Hotel Carnavalet which, like the Victor Hugo house, is free and full of period French furniture, pictures and china. Of great interest to me is the revolutionary section with Napoleon memorabilia and rustic china with worker motifs and slogans like liberty, equality and fraternity in such contrast to the delicate Sevres porcelain in the rest of the museum. I was quite tired by the time I reached the bus stop but optimistic that all this walking was burning off a little of last night's creme caramel! We shall see.

Marvelous Macaroons

On Tuesday I caught a bus to Le Bon Marche, the oldest department store in Paris which was nice but too expensive for me. Then I pretended to be an intellectual and went to the famous cafe Les Deux Magots in St Germain des Pres where Simone de Beauvoir and Sartre used to hang out. It was fun wandering around the tiny back streets of this area window shopping - particularly the window of Laduree, another Parisian institution, which is too pretty (almost) to eat! I bought a little box of adorable macaroons and have been having one a day with my tea - such a treat! That night we went to a nice function at the Natural History Museum where I tasted my first champagne in France (very nice) and mingled with the people attending the workshop. The canapés were divine and the tiny profiteroles brought tears of joy to my eyes. France is a very civilized place indeed!

The next day I took a bus out along the triumphal way as it is called - from the great obelisk in the Place de la Concord along the Champs Elysées to the Arc de Triomphe (although they have ruined the view back to the Arc du Carousel at the Louvre with one of those ferris wheel things). I then went to the Trocadero for a spectacular view of the Eiffel Tower, which as I have no desire to climb, I am happy to view from a distance! The cold was nearly killing me so I retired to a lovely place near the Pantheon for a heavenly buckwheat crepe filled with goats cheese, honey and walnuts. Thus fortified I tackled the Pantheon and was rewarded by seeing the tombs of my favorite French authors Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas and Emile Zola along with Voltaire and Rousseau. I was also surprised but pleased to see a memorial to St-Exupery whose book the Little Prince I was reading to improve my French just before I left home. To that end I bought a copy of a Le Monde newspaper which will probably take me a week to read with a dictionary - quite good value for 1 euro 80! By now the sun was coming out again and I enjoyed wandering around the streets of the Latin quarter noting down some nice restaurants for future visits. I came across the famous bookshop Shakespeare and company which is situated right on the seine with an enviable view of Notre-Dame as you can see. However it is tiny and very crowded to enjoy properly - makes you wonder what it must be like in the summer!