Let's go shopping in Paris this Christmas.

Some more Paris at Christmas shots.

Nothing quite like this in Oz. This is as much of the Christmas tree as I could fit in - La Fayette on the Grands Boulevards. It was so lovely to browse, get sprayed with French fragrances, sit in one of the booths looking down on all the Christmas frivolity.

And this would be nearer the bottom of this amazing tree. It'll be twinkling away but I'm not there to see it!

A lovely coffee at Starbucks, Champs Elysee after all that shopping.

A little rest on the steps of Sacre Coeur. What a lovely sunny day it was and didn't Paris look wonderful from this spot.

Back to the Arc de Triomphe for a rest between shopping, eating and coffee.

A little stroll along the Pont Alexander 111 is in order in the icy afternoon.

Looking back towards Pont Alexander 111. Someone had enjoyed a little Christmas celebration and forgot to clean up. Not me, I swear!

The fountain was freezing up. It'd be a lot worse this year with the snow everywhere!

 

I've told you in a previous post how much I love the Tour Eiffel, especially when it's in lights and twinkling. This is taken near the Arc de Triomphe roundabout.

Let's finish the night meeting up with Aussie family members at Place Teatre at Montmarte for a lovely warming meal and stroll around the Place and the souvenier shops.

Christmas in Paris in the past, unfortunately not in 2010

I have been blessed to spend two Christmas seasons in Paris and the Isle de Paris. I always get nostalgic for Europe when Christmas approaches as it is so refreshing to feel the cold, see the snow and enjoy a hot dinner.

In Australia Christmas Dinner should always be prawns and salads, but you'd be surprised how many of us in a fit of mental abberation, cook a roast! Sweat! Sweat! There is a lot of jumping in the swimming pool involved between bastings!

I hope you enjoy a Paris Christmas with me.

Champs Elysee is the place to be for gorgeousness, and that's not just moi! Ha! Ha! I'm dazzled as you see!

Getting used to the delightful lights. What a lovely night! I lived in my fur coat I bought at the Camden Place markets in London and my fur cloche sold to me by a couple of dames near the Notre Dame cathedral. Would have frozen otherwise.

A stroll through the Galleries during the day. Gallerie Vivienne is one of my favourites - oh that art nouveau!

Caught heading into the Gallerie de Champs Elysee for my (shh) Starbucks! I like my cafe with lots of milk and the French think it's against the law after le petit dejeuner! A surprising number of Parsiennes shared a lounge with us. Lucky weren't they? I swear I didn't have Macdonalds while I was in there! But I bought some lovely tee shirts and gifts for the family sweating at home.

Hey, I just can't get enough of those lights and shop dekkies! Over the top! Even the cars screeching around the Arc de Triomphe roundabout look cute tonight.

Hmm. Got to catch a show at the Moulin Rouge, but not tonight in my jeans! Eewwwhhh...

Off to Notre Dame later to join the thousands of other worshippers in midnight mass. Cool! (It was too!)

Oh, sharing this only made me more homesick for Paris.

Au revoir, sniff, sniff...

I'll be posting more as I'm able...

Chateaux of the Loire Valley - two of my favourites.

One of the beautiful chateaux of the Loire, Villandry

On our last visit to France, we were fortunate to stay a month in the Loire Valley, only a few hours drive from Paris. We stayed in Fontvereau at a B and B run by a couple of English ex-pats. Through them we got to meet some of the locals and were fortunate enough to be there while a film crew was filming for a BBC TV series as Fontvereau is pretty much as it was in the middle ages.

The kitchen at Fontvereau, how middle ages!

We visited most of the Loire Valley chateaux, and it is difficult to say I have a favourite as each is different in its own way, depending on what was the purpose behind the building initially.


Two of my favourites were:


CHATEAU D'USSE

The fairytale castle

Living the fairytale at Chateau d'Usse

This gorgeous chateau is built so whatever direction you approach it from, it startles you as you appear to be entering a fairytale setting. It so deserves its reputation for inspirating more than one princess story. To me this castle is a fairytale come to life. Its image served as inspiration and sparked an idea for the writer Charles Perrault, one of the original writers of the fairytale Sleeping Beauty. The basis for his story Sleeping Beauty can be linked back to the blue slate roof and gothic turrets of the Chateau d’ Usse which still stand proudly today.


It has a nickname, the castle of dreams, naturally.


What was it originally built for? It was originally intended to serve as a fortress, but for many it has become the ultimate symbol of a fairytale. If you look closely at the Walt Disney film Cinderella Castle, you will recognise the Chateau d'Usse.


CHATEAU VILLANDRY

Oh wow!

This chateau remains a hot favourite, not just for its eye-popping design, or its amazing vegetable garden, but for the fact that we were taken there by locals who wanted to show it to us. Villandry was built in the 16th century near the Cher River. It is not only the beauty of the chateau’s design that draws people to what is one of the most visited castles in France, but the French mosiac gardens surrounding it are simply unbelievable. They are truly the finest example of formal Renaissance gardens in France.

Whenever you travel, it is the people you meet who make days special - nationalities blend seamlessly - here we have, Theresa (English), Sylvie (French), the Aussies, the Germans. 

There are many more stunning chateaux in the Loire. In another post I will share more..

Cinderella Shoe Giveaway from Mari at A Pocket Full of Roses

 Mari at A pocket full of roses, a simply delicious blog, is having her first giveaway. This is what she is giving away to a lucky follower:

These are the rules for picking up this lovely shoe:

MARI HAS POSTED THE RULES~

#1~ BECOME A SWEET FOLLOWER OF MY BLOG  AND COME BACK AND LET ME KNOW SO I COULD ENTER YOUR NAME FOR YOUR FIRST ENTRY!! AND IF YOU ARE A FOLLOWER ALREADY THEN YOU ALREADY HAVE ONE ENTRY :)

#2~LEAVE ME A COMMENT ON THIS POST, MUST BE ON THIS POST PLEASE OR I WILL NOT BE LIKELY TO FIND IT!!

#3~BLOG ABOUT MY SWEET GIVEAWAY ON YOUR BLOG AND PLEASE FEEL FREE TO USE ANY OF MY THREE PIC'S,TO SPREAD THE WORD AROUND!! AND LADIES I WILL BE CHECKING!!! GIGGLES...
AND PLEASE COME BACK AND LEAVE ME ANOTHER COMMENT TELLING ME YOU DID THIS PLEASE, SO I COULD ENTER YOUR NAME FOR THE THIRD ENTRY!!

ALL THE NAMES WILL GO INTO A BEAUTIFUL ANGEL BOWL, THEN I WILL DRAW THE WINNER!! OR IF I'M TOO EXCITED ILL HAVE MY SWEET HUBBY DO IT FOR ME!!! OHHH LADIES I'M SUCH A CHICKEN....HAHA!!

AND THERE YOU HAVE IT MY BLOGGY GAL PALS!! MY FIRST GIVEAWAY!!!
GOOD LUCK EVERYONE :) MY RULES ARE GOING TO BE SIMPLE LADIES AND I WILL BE PICKING THE WINNER ON NOVEMBER 18, SO YOU HAVE PLENTY OF TIME :) 
XOX~MARI


Isn't she sweet. How could you resist?

Walking in Paris - a feast for the senses

Where else would you see a metro station with a crown on top? And created by university students too. At Palais Royale. Only in Paris.

Impossible to do if you're on a 3-day junket, but if you're fortunate enough to have a week or more in Paris, take to the streets, using a combination of feet, metro and buses. This is what I like to do.


During my last visit to Paris, I allowed myself a total of 5 weeks to explore as much as I could. I'd always read that Paris was best experienced on foot, and this is so true. Just to wander from neighbourhood to neighbourhood is a feast. Watching Parisians go about their life can be a spectacle in itself. 


I'd heard so much about the Marais, been through it, but never actually wandered there, but it is perfect for the walking tour. With its vintage shops, fellafel stores, cute cafes and bars, this old Jewish quarter attracts people from all walks of life. If you go on Saturday there is a wonderful food market where a lot of locals seem to go for lunch - and why wouldn't they? The produce is amazing. After a look through the market, I found myself a lovely cafe in the square and people watched.

Chocolate anyone?

Parisians certainly have a great passion for food. It's obvious in nearly every window you pass on your walks. The artfully-displayed chocolates, pastries, flowers, frogs legs - it's all there, a feast for the eyes. Even if you never have anything but the Plat du Jour, you will eat heartily and well.

Plat du Jour never looked so good!

One of the delights of Paris to me was that after a long day walking, being overwhelmed by the beautiful sites, sounds and aromas, is to return to my apartment. You don't have to eat our every night, even in Paris! 


On the way back 'home' I might grab a sidewalk crepe of bananas and chocolate to snack on while I shop for ingredients for my own version of a Paris feast. A few bunches of grapes, a slab of duck pate, some rilettes, maybe rabbit and prune, and a fresh hunk of fabulous runny cheese to go with the bottle of Sancerre chilling in the mini bar. Some slices of charcouterie (cold meats) to go on the freshly-baked baguette where I'm met with 'Aussie! Aussie! Aussie!' and I'm set for my French diner in the little apartment, sadly not overlooking the Seine, but pretty cute all the same!


Just as well my preferred mode of transport is walking!

All photos by Geo Covey

A Little Piece of Paris

When in Paris your first stop should be to pick up Pariscope before heading off on a discovery tour of this wonderful city. Grab a copy in any newsagency in Paris (out each Wednesday and only costs a couple of euros) and head to one of Paris' beautiful gardens, perhaps the Jardin Du Luxembourg, to read it. Pariscope is a weekly magazine which keeps Parisians and tourists up to date with what's happening in the city. There are 200 pages of events, so as you can see, a lot happens in Paris in one week!

Before my first trip to Paris, I made a scrapbook, with cut outs from various articles I'd seen about must-see places and eateries. I'd also scanned pages from my Paris reads so I could walk in the footsteps of Paris travellers. I know I'm a try hard, but it allowed me to maximise my time. I was so greedy to see everything at once, ha ha.

The magnificent Louvre - wowzers!!!!!!!!

As soon as I arrived in Paris (luckily on the first Sunday of the month) I headed to the Louvre as it is free on this one day of the month. I find Paris museums quite generous in their entry fees as compared to say, London, but free is even better. It's also free for under 18s every day which is tremendous. And the best way to enter is underground - from the Metro station Musee de Louvre. Nowhere near the queues that form out near the Pyramid and you don't get damp if it drizzles. Plus there's some lovely shops there too! 

I soon realised that it'd take a year to get around all the exhibits, or maybe a lifetime! On this first visit I became acquainted with the museum’s three great ladies — the Venus de Milo, the Victory of Samothrace, and the Mona Lisa (of course!) and other major works I'd been dreaming about. When I first saw the Mona Lisa she was quite unprotected and the photos are fabulous. Today she is behind glary glass, so it really isn't worth snapping away which was probably the idea! I still remember the joy I felt seeing actual originals of Monet, Boticelli et al. Wow! And the size of some of these paintings!

The most tantalising view from the Louvre (which is a drop-dead gorgeous 1204 fortress cum palace cum public museum) was the Eiffel Tower which kept popping up through the windows of the Louvre. It finally got too seductive, so I decided to leave the Louvre in the early afternoon as I'd had all the museum culture I could handle for one day. I headed off on foot to see the Eiffel Tower. See you later, Louvre...

If anyone has done this promonade, through the glorious Tuileries gardens, the largest and oldest public park in Paris, you'll understand that it takes quite awhile. Normally I wouldn't have worried, except I'd decided I'd like to see the sunset from the Eiffel Tower (see previous post). Nah, didn't make it! Therefore I did not enjoy the walk as much as I would now.

There's no better way to see Paris than by strolling (read The Flaneur, by Edmund White) and I've certainly worn out a lot of shoe leather doing just that. The Metro is pretty good too. After the initial awkwardness of buying your Carte Orange (unlimited Metro trips for a week), it's so great to live your Paris life with the Metro Map in hand and fly from one spot to the other. But the Metro is another story...maybe next post.

Later...

The Eiffel Tower - can never get enough of those twinkling lights

I love the Eiffel Tower. Not everyone does, not even every French person. I can't understand anyone not being mesmerised by its sheer presence, its domination of the Paris skyline day or night. It has so many personalities - every photo you take can be different, depending on the sky, the clouds, the light.

I love the history of the Eiffel Tower engineered by Gustave Eiffel, how it was supposed to be a temporary edifice erected for the International Exhibition of Paris of 1889 (Paris Expo.) Its dimensions are stupendous. At 300 meters (320.75 m including antenna), and 7,000 tons, it was the world's tallest building until 1930. The tower was almost torn down in 1909 after the Expo was over, but there was a decision made amongst great controversy (we are talking French people!) to keep the tower, despite quite a large groundswell of negativity. The fact that Gustave Eiffel began to fit the peak of the tower as an observation station to measure the speed of wind, along with encouraging other scientific experiments, helped le Tour Eiffel's case for standing tall. Read more...

I, for  one, am glad the tower stands today. Judging by the number of tourists jostling in the queues to ascend the tower, I'm not the only one. On my first trip I stood in the light rain for hours, hoping to get up to see the sunset. It was more like sunrise! But I'll never forget laughing along with the crowd and munching on chocolate crepes and drinking filthy coffee while I waited for my turn to go up. I'll also never forget my first sight of Paris by night, with all the landmarks clear and bright - Champs Elysee, Arc de Triomphe, the streets, even the 'lipstick,' the Monparnasse tower.

Eiffel Tower, you rock!

A Photo a Day - Farewell from the wine caves of Epernay

A Photo a Day - Epernay, Champagne Region of France

I have such fond memories of my time in Epernay - wine caves, wine tastings and ogling the opulent wine houses - Pol Roger, Moet & Chandon, Mercier, Pommerey, Jouet...

A Photo a day - Wine cave - Champagne Mercier

A good view inside a wine cave.

A trip to the champagne region - Epernay, NE of Paris - wine castles, wine caves and kilometres of vineyards and bubbles