26 November - Christmas is coming......

We all woke up a bit tired after a bad nights sleep (non-sleep?). Sadly, Astrid did  not think a good sleep-in and lazy morning was in order.  Plus we had to go fetch our passports. After breaky we headed out via metro towards the Australian Embassy. We went a slightly different way than the last couple of times which involved some walking at the end but it was a nice (but cool) day so we didn't mind.  We got to the Embassy a little after 10am and were efficiently scanned in and sent to retrieve our passports.  It was a very efficient process that took all of 5 minutes, once inside. We now have documents that should guarantee us getting home. We might have gotten away with the other passports but we didn't fancy being refused entry to the UK, even though more time in Europe would be nice.....

After passport retrieval we thought we should do some shopping.  Not up for too much walking after yesterdays biking we decided to catch the metro, but getting to BHV (Bazaar de Hotel de Ville) shopping centre is a little tricky from the Embassy and somehow took multiple changes.  We did encounter possibly our rudest French person yet (mostly they have been very polite).... this old lady started screaming at a large group of young (5 year old?) children trying to board the metro, with their carers.  Instead of nicely asking them to let her out, which they would have done, or been made to do, she just repeatedly screamed 'pardon, pardon, pardon' in a haughty voice at them and scarring them witless. She was seemingly quite quickly told off by others, but the whole thing was very rude and unnecessary.

On our walk through the metro's we came across some more buskers in the corridors. This time a whole jazz ensemble.  The metros all have long tiled corridors that snake under Paris. You often find buskers inside and most of them are very good. The sound travels through the corridors well and it is quite pleasant to listen to. We often come across them on our late night returns from International trips, but this time it was about 8 Jazz musicians together, singing and playing, in the middle of the day. Very cool! We have also found buskers on the actual metros, and it's a fun way to pass the time.

Once at BHV we did a bit of a whip around looking at any specials and deciding on what we 'needed' to buy. We decided to buy each others Christmas presents while we are away, since there is plenty here we want and there is no point finding some random thing when we get home. So, Anto purchased my present and I'll act surprised when I open it on Christmas day!

We then headed to our favourite chain store cafe next to BHV and had probably our last morning tea there. This morning it was pain au chocolat and a framboise tart, with coffees.  Even though the pastries at this chain store aren't *quite* as good as the specialist patisseries, they knock the socks off most things you will find in Australia.  Savouring our last mouthfuls, we went out the front of the BHV to have another look at their Christmas windows. They have very cute displays at the moment and Astrid loved watching the large bobbly headed women and the cute bears on a balloon.  We are loving the Christmas windows popping up everywhere and the sparkling lights and it is making us a little sad we won't actually be here for Christmas.


We then headed back to the apartment, desperately trying to keep Astrid awake so we could get her to have a 'proper' sleep. It's about a 25ish minute walk back and she kept trying to fall asleep on us, so Anto would poke her and ask her 'where is the dog?'. She would wake up and look around and pronounce the dog 'gone' and fall back asleep......  this kept going on until she eventually found a dog, which resulted in laughter and sleeping while laughing :)

Once back, the previously exhausted child got a second wind and tried to avoid napping, much to her parents extreme irritation. She did *eventually* go to sleep and we all tried to get some rest.  Post napping, and a late lunch we headed out for Christmas shopping part 2.  We had previously seen lots of kitchen supply (pots, pans, baking items etc) shops on our travels. After some research Anto discovered some of the ones we regularly walk past are the absolute best in Paris (and famous all over the world)! We had a list of a few to go to, only a few hundred metres from our apartment.

We headed out and found ourselves in Nic and Anto heaven. Our favourite kitchen place in Canberra has nothing on these places. We could bankrupt a small country in them, so much to buy, and things we just don't see at home. The copper saucepans, the biscuit cutters, the extensive pastry pans, the chocolate molds.......... we were in heaven! The hard part was deciding what we really needed and could actually fit in our bags.  Anto got some items as his Christmas present (he will again act surprised when he opens them) and we got a few other things we decided we needed.  Astrid scored some presents too.  We won't talk about how much money we spent or how on earth we are getting all of this home........

We could have spent all day in kitchen shopping heaven but decided to take Astrid to the park. Down to the local Jardin Des Halles, which is just around the corner from where we were. She had a quick play and is getting more confident with the slippery dip. It started getting quite crowded at about 5pm and the bigger kids were dominating all the equipment she wanted so we headed back to the apartment via a patisserie to pick up tonight's dessert.

Astrid trying on one of her new Christmas presents and enjoying (probably) her last play at the park:

Once Astrid was safely in bed we had dinner and started the mammoth task of packing some bags. We came over with some empty suitcases and spare bags and we still think we are going to be short of bags. We have an entire (big) suitcase full of chocolate and biscuits.......  During a break from packing and cleaning we indulged in a little mulled wine and our cake of the night, a Royale, which turned out to be a light chocolaty mousse with a crunchy layer on the bottom. Very yum!

24 November - Puppets in the Park

After a night of disrupted due to someone's teeth hurting...... seriously universe, 4 molars, one incisior and now some canines all while away - she at least slept until 8am.  We are all very tired after a few big weeks so could do with a day of rest. It's hard though when we only have a few days left in Paris and want to actually get out and about.

We decided to have an easy morning and since we had virtually no food in the apartment after being away so much, we decided to go to the cafe across the road for breaky.  Anto had his regular petit dejeuner breakfast which consists of organic breads, croissant, juice and coffee all with a variety of Belgian jams and spreads. Astrid shared some of Anto's and had a pain au chocolat.  I had some Belgian waffles with fruit and an unsweetened chai latte.  Astrid happily chatted to a young boy at the next table, who was about 5. The boy used the opportunity to practice his English, which is far better than our French it would appear.

Speaking of dodgy French..... we are getting worse not better! We can actually now read the majority of what is on menu's and signs. When people speak though, we have no hope (well Anto understands a bit, I look at them blankly). We also are hard to understand when we try to speak French back. Several times we have used the correct words but the other person hasn't had a clue what we are saying. Clearly our accents are just appalling.  We had several issues ordering breakfast, when normally it isn't an issue.  I think we are extra tired at the moment which doesn't help. We do sound rather ocker with our French, which is probably off-putting for those who can actually speak French.

After a lovely breakfast, although not relaxing, as Miss A was too excitable and was impersonating an octopus and we had trouble keeping her away from many items in the crowded cafe, we headed to get some food for the apartment.  It's not hard to collect supplies when the supermarket, the fromagerie, the fruit and vegie shop and the bakery are all only metres from each other and your apartment!

Once back we put Astrid down for a nap and caught up on some cooking and blogging before trying to get some rest ourselves.  It would have been nice to sleep all afternoon but we had puppet show plans. We got up at 2pm for some quick baguette lunch and headed (via metro) to Jardin du Luxembourg for their marionette show.  We have been meaning to take Astrid, but we haven't been around much on the days the shows are on. So, we thought we needed to get there today as it was probably our last chance before leaving Paris.  Apparently the theatre at the park (which incidentally is 'only' 23 hectares in size and has ponds, museums, pony rides and play equipment among other things) has been operating since 1932.

We, of course, managed to get off the metro miles from the area of the park we were trying to get to. A brisk but long walk and we arrived at the puppet theatre. This afternoons showing was the 'new adventures of Pinocchio'.  The theatre looks like it hasn't been renovated since 1932 and is an old building with wooden bench seating. It was full of young children and their parents and grandparents. It's 4.70 Euro per adult and child (yes you have to pay for each of the kids, even babies) so not overly cheap....but when in Paris it is worth seeing some puppets in the Park.

As we got there right on start time we were at the back. This meant Astrid couldn't see well unless she was standing on our legs. She was so excited by the puppets that she spent the entire show jumping up and down and squealing with excitement.  It didn't seem to matter that the show was entirely in French, puppet antics transcend the language barrier.  The first half of the show finished after 20 minutes and there was a 10 minute intermission, then another 20-odd minutes.  We must say that the show was well done. Lighting, sets, a variety of interesting characters. We aren't sure the ritual 'slaying' of a lion with a sword by Pinnochio was all that child friendly but the kids were in fits of giggles.  Astrid's attention waned a little at the end but she was still excitedly squealing and clapping along. When it ended she pointed at the stage and demanded 'more, more, more'. Unlike playschool though, we couldn't just start the next episode.

We headed outside and despite missy wanting a go on the extensive play equipment (a photo of just a section of it is below, it is sectioned into 'age groups'). We also found some cool statues in the park we hadn't seen before, having walked out in a different direction to previous times. We decided to head for some window shopping and 'home' given it was getting near dark.  We walked back through Rue Vavin, which is full of designer kiddy boutiques...... full of gorgeous things. Our suitcases are full and our wallets empty so we just window shopped.  We did go into a really cute toyshop which had a good sale on and lots of really cool things. A few things were tempting but they weren't small and we are running out of suitcases so thought better of it. Miss Astrid has done well on this trip so it won't matter.

We walked to a different metro station to go home and were on the same line but 5 stops further down. So we had obviously walked a bit. So much for our 'light' walking day.  We were trying to rest our legs after all yesterdays steps and tomorrows impending bike ride. It was a long metro ride home but we mostly got seats for once, which was a nice change. It was still packed though, Saturday evening in Paris so people were going out. When we got off the metro, and marched along our well-worn track back to our apartment it was starting to get dark and the light was fabulous.


On the way back in we stopped by one of the many patisseries to pick up dessert.  Tonight's dinner was garlic green bean, mashed potato and some 4 cheese ravioli from the Italian deli and home made (by Anto) sauce. Finished off with a cafe eclair and a chocolate moussey thing which was coated in chocolate and had crunchy bits through it. Very, very nice!

20 November - Frustration and annoyance...... even in Paris!

After us all getting to bed on the wrong side of midnight, we (the adults) were hoping for some sleep. Due to the leaks in our apartment, the real estate agent had booked a plumber to come around at 8am to look at it. Sadly Astrid woke at about 7.15am anyway and didn't understand why her parents weren't in the mood to play!  I really don't understand how babies can be so chipper even when they should be utterly exhausted.

So first frustration for the day...... child not sleeping when you are all desperate for some rest. We totally anticipated it but it's still annoying.  The plumber did arrive, a little late but no issue since we were up.  It was an interesting bilingual conversation but he inspected the ceiling realised that the water was probably coming from above (also our conclusion). We were pretty sure it was nothing to do with our apartment since it pools in the ceiling. We were somewhat relieved to get back from Sweden and find the ceiling still intact.  The plumber tottled off and we still haven't heard whether the problem will be fixed or not.

Once we had breakfast and completed a million loads of washing we head off on our main task of the day...... get new passports. Regular readers might remember that our passports got soaked from our rainy day in Luxembourg. Very, very annoying given you really don't need them when travelling within Europe and by train, but we had them 'just in case'.  We had to get photos for the emergency passports and we have seen photo booths at pretty much every train station and metro station in Paris. So, we head off on the metro and planned to grab the photos on the way.

Frustration number two for the day, the first 2 metro stations did not appear to have a photo booth. We had an RER connection to get to the Embassy and after some searching we found a photo booth. The next frustration was that we didn't have change in Euros after being in Sweden for a few days and using Krone.  Anto went to obtain some change, a long and annoying process.  Once back we discovered the photo booth wasn't actually working..... more frustration.

We were now right near the Embassy (which is conveniently located right near the Eiffel Tower and has fabulous views).  We still didn't have photos for me though (Anto had some that he had used for his International drivers licence). We went off in search of another metro station or anyone with a photo booth. Of course this is one area of Paris that isn't littered with train or metro stations. Luckily we have walked the Eiffel Tower area a few times and we knew where they were all located. Astrid, exhausted from our last few days travelling has fallen asleep in the ergo.  We walked through the Tower and down by the Seine but didn't find any photobooths. It was a beautiful day, sunny and about 11 degrees, which felt possitively balmy after Sweden. We were slightly shitty that we were spending the day traipsing around for passports rather than enjoying Paris. The upside was that we were walking through Paris, and around the Eiffel Tower, on a beautiful sunny day....... even if we were doing it for annoying administrative reasons.

We found another metro station and again no photo booth. More frustration. We decided to catch the metro down the line to Havre Caumartin, where we know there are multiple lines and likely to be a photo booth. It was a multi stop trip and Astrid slept the whole time, even in a noisy crowded metro. We got to the other station and finally found a photo booth, and it was working, yay!  Of course in the process of our 2 hours of wandering around trying to find photos, about a million people got in our way, tripped us over or were generally annoying. It was like we were tired and grumpy and everything was grating on our nerves!

Once the working photo booth was located it took all of 2 minutes to obtain the photos. Unfortunately it was now after 12 and the Embassy only processes passports from 9-12 and 2-4. We gave up and headed back to the apartment. The next frustration was that our metro tickets had timed out and we had to use new ones. No big deal, but annoying.  We got back to our street with Astrid still sleeping and got some fresh baguette and croissants for lunch. We even picked up some groceries with her still sleeping peacefully. We got to the door to our apartment hallway and a door slammed next door and woke her up....frustration!!!

We all decided to have some lunch, which was delicious. We are going to miss freshly baked baguette once we are home.  Since Astrid had already slept for awhile in the ergo we figured there was no way she would have a proper sleep. Not so bad, except she was so down on sleep in the last week and grumpy.  Oh well, we had a play and then at 1.45pm decided to head back to the Embassy.

More metro tickets...... but we got there pretty efficiently as we know the way really well. The highlight  (or lowlight?) of the trip was the RER train having no lights on, so without internal lighting you could see into the tunnels as you travelled through them. It was simultaneously fascinating and spooky being totally in the dark whizzing through dimly lit train tunnels with fast, lit up trains crashing past on the other side. You did get to see more than you normally do with the lights on, but you wouldn't want to have been scared of the dark.

Once at the Aussie Embassy, they inefficiently scanned us with the retro-fitted x-ray and scanning machine and were escorted up to the DFAT (passports) area.  Special points to the Embassy for re-creating any mid-70s Australian Government department office environment you can find in the ACT. You seriously could have been walking through one of many Department's at home. Down to the waiting chairs, posters, faded paintwork and carpet and office building smell. They also had the exact same signs that all Government Departments have........'Australian Government, Department of .....' even with the same font!! Obviously they export them to all Embassies.  Hmmm, even the photocopiers and security passes looked the same. It was like being at home.

Forms filled in and many, many Euros handed over we had our applications completed.  We were a few days short of being able to get new full passports (they take 10 days) and we need to travel to the UK next week. This means another full passport application when we get home as the Emergency passports are only issued for a short time.  More frustration.

We escaped the Embassy and decided to do some shopping on the way back. The Embassy had taken over an hour and our metro tickets had timed out......again, frustrating as it was only by a couple of minutes! We got off our metro a few stops earlier at Les Halles and went to locate a cute bunny backpack for Astrid we had seen the other week.  It was at a Nature Decouvertes (Nature and discovery store) and has the cutest things. Astrid is currently in love with all bags, and adored a backpack of Nelly's she was using while in Sweden. I was originally going to buy her the bunny backpack for Christmas but we decided to get it for now given how happy it would make her, and she has been good with all the running around the last few days.  Bunny backpack acquired, along with some cute Christmas decorations and some spice mix to make more Gloog (spiced wine we had in Sweden . Astrid was too dangerous in the store with way too many things in toddler reach so I'd taken her outside where there were Christmas lights and she danced around to them until she fell over from the excitement and tiredness.

Heading out we stumbled across the most amazing store, Maison Du Monde, which was the homewares store of my dreams..... so many gorgeous and very chic and French things to buy! It was very Astrid unfriendly so we had her contained in the ergo but we managed some quick shopping and got some gorgeous things. More shopping could have been done but we had a grumpy bub and were doubting our ability to get many of the glass items home intact. We may have to go back for more shopping though.....

Back to our apartment for some dinner. Anto is quite the crepe expert and we had savoury crepes for dinner along with a pear and chocolate tart from one of our street patisseries, we have been eyeing off for weeks. The crepes were delicious and the tart lovey, but the tart was not up to our very high standards (although very acceptable). We are running out of Paris days so might have to up our dessert intake to 2 a day to get through all our desired pastries in time!

All in all it was a day of many frustrations but we were in Paris, we did some walking around, some lovely shopping and some delicious food, so life isn't that bad! And the verdict on the bunny bag, it's a winner........  Just when did our little baby turn into this out-going toddler, I ask???  She is so grown up now. Powered by croissant I imagine!