Mini Eurotrip #8 - Paris (Easter Long Weekend)

WARNING - Looooong post ahead!!!

Bonjour! I won’t deny that as we approached the Easter Long Weekend, we were wracking our brains, trying to think of an appropriate place in Europe to visit for Euro Trip #8. This was actually a hard decision as most of Europe observes this time as a religious holiday and thus, a lot of tourist attractions are shut during this time. We did eventually come to the decision of Paris for many reasons but those will come as you read today’s blog!

So, let’s begin with (Good) Friday. I will clarify that this holiday started on rocky ground, with me having a horrible throat infection in the week+ leading up to the holiday, to the point I had to take Thursday off work (which I’m sure didn’t look too good to my bosses before a public holiday). But antibiotics came just at the right time, working their magic over Thursday / Friday so I could enjoy my holiday!

Friday morning we got ourselves to the airport promptly (no extra thorough body search this time thank goodness) and before too long, we were winging our way to Paris. Just over an hours flight and we were there! Gotta love living in central Europe! Landing at Charles de Gaulle, we were both struck by the pure weirdness of this Airport. We have been to Paris before but we’d arrived by coach, not plane, and thus had never seen this bizarre Airport. First came a lengthy travelator through a mosaic cave complete with its own hills and valleys. Then we boarded one of many escalators that were making a maze through the centre of a circular building. It was very strange architecturally and we were surprised by the organisation.

Once we had our bags, we made our way towards Paris, first using the high speed airport shuttle, then the train direct into town. Finally, navigating the Paris Metro system, we found our apartment and a little lunch spot close by while we waited for our host to let us in and give us the key. Once all of that was sorted, it was time to head out and see the city! First stop – Musee d’Orsay!

Arriving at the museum, we were confronted with huge queues that luckily moved pretty quickly. Entering d’Orsay, we were first struck by the enormity of the building. Standing in the grand hall, you see a huge cavity with an ornate domed ceiling. The main floor was full of sculptures, with rooms branching off on either side with halls of famous paintings, and a second mezzanine level on either side with similar branches. The further we explored too, we found that there were so many hidden halls and passages, each filled with more precious gems of artworks. We then discovered an upstairs gallery hall (not easy to locate!) that was dedicated to the impressionist era. I was in heaven – Renoir, Monet, Degas, Cassatt – some of my favourite images all gathered in one large hall. We also found a special exhibit dedicated to the lifetime works and story of Dorè. It was an incredible collection and fascinating to see the transition from his earliest works, through his different phases to his last works.

As we were about to leave d’Orsay, we saw a sign pointing back up through the gallery that indicated a collection of another of my favourites – Henri de Toulousse Letrec. Even though we were on a time schedule, we couldn’t help but run back to find this collection. It was worth it, but we couldn’t spend too long admiring them, as we had a coffee date! By sheer chance, Michael’s aunt Jane just happened to be in Paris at the same time as us! Our travel plans overlapped by one day and this was our only opportunity to see her. So we happily met her just near d’Orsay for a Cafe Crème. Even just an hour with Jane was fantastic as we haven’t seen her in over a year and we had a good chat and laugh. As we went to say our goodbyes, Michael exclaimed that we needed to have a photo with Jane. She was all prepared for Michael to take a photo of herself and I, then swap. When Michael said ‘selfie’, she got so excited, jumping up and down, saying “Yay – my first selfie!” It was the perfect end to our chance meeting!

After we said our goodbyes, we ran back to our apartment to change before meeting some other friends. You might recall my guest blogger Alex who visited us in December last year. Alex is the best friend of Michael’s brother Tom, but he just happens to live in Paris with his beautiful girlfriend Axelle. Having long known of Axelle, we had never actually met her. So it was with great happiness that Michael and I made our way to our rendezvous point.

We first stopped for a drink at a bar then made our way to dinner at a lovely French restaurant. Axelle and Alex showed us some very typical French flavours, sharing with us escargot and foie gras, and some amazing aperitif drinks. I then chose to eat steak tartare for my main, Michael chose duck a la orange. Coupled with two different wines, at the end of this, we were determined to still enjoy a French dessert!

I chose the Rum Baba (thanks to a good tip) and Michael went with the profiteroles. Well, before my cake even reached the table, a large bottle of rum with a pouring nib was delivered. When the cake came, on the side was a large glass bowl of raisins, and an equally large bowl of cream. Next minute, a waiter appeared at my side, picked up the bottle of rum and started pouring what can only be described as a landslide of rum all over my cake! The smell, the taste! It was incredible! But it was also a massive piece of cake, and with the wafting rum aromas, I could only manage to eat half of my dessert. Michael on the other hand happily lapped up his three profiteroles that had been covered lavishly in thick chocolate sauce by another waiter.

Alex enjoyed a creme brulee

Now, our meeting with Alex and Axelle had commenced at 6:30. Somehow, we stumbled (damn rum cake) out of the restaurant at 12:30! Alex and Axelle had shown us nothing but the utmost kindness and sincere hospitality. We were so thankful for everything they had done for us and shown us that evening. We were not to know at that point just how much more they were going to do for us. More on that later!

We were very lucky, I must admit, to have chosen a restaurant that was smack bang in between our two houses. Our apartment just happened to be all of two blocks from Alex and Axelle’s, and the restaurant was on the main street between the two. So we wandered home, collapsing in bed somewhere around 1am! A tops first day in Paris!

We did have to wake the next morning quite early as we were booked into a bike tour that left at 9am. But we also needed to make sure we had enough energy to start said bike tour. So of course the first stop of the day was the local Patisserie. Just by chance, that local Patisserie just happened to be owned by Axelle’s parents! Axelle’s dad is actually a chocolatier and he creates the most beautiful chocolates and pastries. Being Easter, I think we got to see some of the best on show too as the Easter chocolates were all on display. This particular morning we were also lucky enough that Alex just happened to be working in the shop and was able to organise our breakfast for us. Alex showed us their breakfast menu which had two set menus on it. We ended up selecting the ‘Small Breakfast Menu’ which consisted of a coffee, a glass of juice, and 4 pastries from their pastry cabinet. Yes – 4! I ended up choosing 3 pastries as 4 was just too much, and even then could not finish all three – but the flavours I got to sample were so worth it! Michael got his 4 pastries but could not finish either, so we took the remaining pastries in a take away bag for extra sustenance on the bike ride.

Making our way to a familiar location, we found the Fat Tire bike shop (having experienced their tours in Paris 2 years ago on our honeymoon) where we met Drew, our tour guide for the day. He took our group of 20 on a short walk to the local train station before putting us on a train out to Versailles. This was a location I had been desperate to visit since the last time we were in Paris. I finally got the opportunity, and I think we did it the most efficient way possible – on a bike!

Walking from the train with Drew, we collected our bikes. In true Fat Tire style, our bikes had names. Michael was riding Donald Duck, and I was riding Applesauce! Jumping on, we started the first leg of our journey – a 5 minute ride to the fresh produce markets where we picked up all our provisions for lunch.

We were very lucky to have already made friends with a young couple in the group who were from Adelaide. Perhaps it’s the whole ‘having been away from Australia for so long’ but it was so nice to hear another Australian accent again. This couple was just lovely and as we were trying to locate lunch goods, we firmed the friendship by deciding to go ‘halve-sies’ in all our lunch items, thus creating one larger picnic to share. We came across a huge sheet of pre-sliced variety of deli meats for 3€! To compliment this, we bought 2 cheeses from the local fromagerie and some incredible fresh raspberries and strawberries. Down the road a little we found a gorgeous bakery where we added to our picnic with 2 baguettes, and couldn’t help but nab a lemon meringue tart for an immediate morning tea. You know, for energy, for the bike ride!

Wandering back to the bikes (tart in mouth) we loaded all our purchases into the bike baskets. Then we finally set off into the gardens of Versailles. Where we entered, we were in the outer gardens of Versailles, not the groomed and manicured gardens directly behind the castle, but nevertheless symmetrical and well-kept gardens that used to be a part of 20 000 acres (now 2000) of outer garden and hunting grounds, including a massive man-made canal in the centre. Only a small part of this has been preserved, the rest of the land sold for use. But the bit that has been preserved included Marie Antoinette’s private estate and both the Petit and Grand Trianons. By bike we were able to cycle through a fair portion of the estate, and we parked the bikes when we went inside Marie Antoinette’s estate.

I was pointing at sheep in the paddock

a house built for Madame Pompadour - she never saw it finished

To give some background, Versailles was built in 1661 as a demand of Louis XIV. A man very proud of his own achievements and his calf muscles, he wanted to have the grandest palace in all the world – because the Louvre (the biggest palace in the world) was not good enough. Although this Louis did a lot of good in Paris (opened hospitals and supported music and the arts) he was also into pomp and ceremony a little too much, and loved the lavish lifestyle.

Then along came Louis XV, who just enjoyed partying in the pre-established castle of Versailles, spending the money, and courting women. So many women, he is said to have kept about 300. They all resided in the Petit Trianon on the Versailles estate, and were kept in line by a head mistress called Madame Poisson – translated she was known as Miss Fish! Naturally, she changed this and became known as Madame de Pompadour.

Finally, Louis XVI came along, and this was the downfall. He paid the price for the lavish lifestyles of the previous Louis’. He was famously married to Marie Antoinette, who had her own part of estate to escape the demands of royal life. It also took them 7 years to start producing royal heirs as it was said that Louis didn’t know how to operate Marie’s lock! But their end came due to the French Revolution – which, after seeing Versailles estate and castle, is easy to understand why the people of France revolted against their King. Versailles was so grand, covered in rich paintings, tapestries and gold to the point of ridiculous, and the people were sick of living like paupers while the Louis’ lived extreme King lives, thus the French Revolution occurred, with Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette both famously losing their heads in Place de la Concorde in 1793. 

So back to our tour of the Versailles Estate. We encountered the height of French rudeness as we entered the private grounds of Marie Antoinette. Our group had some complications getting through the ticket gate as despite having an agreement with the bike company, and I was the last person through the gates along with our guide Drew. The other tour group’s leader Bill was having a hard time at the ticket desk, having sent all his group through the gate. But the French ticket officers would not let Bill in. He then decided to walk in behind me and Drew – at which point the Frenchies went psycho. That is the only way to describe it. One woman ran in after him, grabbed him by the arm and started yanking him back out, and which point they launched into a screaming fight! She wouldn’t stop touching him and forcing him backwards even though he kept telling her to stop touching him. They kept screaming at him to talk French (by now, Bill had reverted to English  even though he spoke perfect French – I can say from firsthand experience it is natural, fight or flight mode makes you revert to your mother tongue). At this point, Drew just basically grabbed me and took me away from the situation. We later saw Bill and he was still in one piece but we aren’t sure what happened in the end. We think his group did their own thing in the gardens for a bit then headed back out to Bill and the bikes!

After visiting Marie Antoinette’s grounds, we continued riding, visiting the Grand Trianon before cycling all the way up to the top of the Grand Canal. This man-made canal is shaped like a large cross, and the end point is 3.5km walk from the castle.

This is where we stopped, sitting on the bank of the canal, looking back across the shimmering water up to the castle in the distance as we tucked into our amazing gourmet picnic! Our baguettes, meats, cheeses and fruits had survived the journey and were absolutely delicious.

Biggest juiciest raspberries ever!

With few eating implements, we just had to do a finger picnic, which was fine. Nomming a baguette is the perfectly French thing to do! It was at this point we were told about the fountains in Versailles. Back when it was created, the artificial lakes required so much uphill pumping of water to fill, and so much effort to run the fountains that they only ever ran 3 fountains at a time – with a group of guards and servants specially dedicated to turning on the fountain that Louis was about to look at. He didn’t know this trick was happening for years.

After lunch however, we kept riding back down the other side of the Grand Canal before heading back to drop the bikes off at the shop.

It was just a short walk back to the front of the castle, where we skipped the ginormous snaking entrance line and entered via the group entrance for our 3:30 tour time.

It was during this tour that we started to understand what everyone had been saying in regards to the French Revolution. We have visited many castles and palaces in our travels and never have we seen such a lavishly decorated place. Every surface was covered in either gold (real gold) or professional paintings or thick tapestries/curtains. Everything worth value in reach of the public was covered with plexi-glass to protect it.

Where the King and Queen were observed while eating...
and applauded for doing so

We made a journey through the main rooms of the King and Queen’s domain, including their bedrooms and drawing rooms. To be fair, Marie Antoinette’s bedroom was beautiful and not as overpowering as the King’s rooms. It was more tastefully decorated too, with lighter colours and not as much gold.

But the best room, without a shadow of a doubt was the Hall of Mirrors. This is a famed room that I have always wanted to see. It did not disappoint. I don’t think my words can really do this one justice – I’ll just give you some photos.

Still wandering around with our Australian buddies, we made our way out to the private gardens past three of the largest paintings I have ever seen – and all in the one room!

Outside in the gardens we wandered around some of the top fountains, and looked out over the landscape all the way back down to where we had eaten lunch. It was a stunning view. We then decided (in the small amount of time we had left) to try a few of the small segmented gardens where amazingly we found some beautiful hidden gems, including Apollo’s bath grove.

We were then unfortunately stumped by the 5pm switch off of all the fountains! At first we thought it was the trick the guards used to do for Louis, only operating 3 fountains at a time, but then we read the note on the map. I must admit this took away some of the magic. No matter how pretty the sculpted bushes are, the bubbling jets of water really did add something. Checking the map, we saw that there was a special large fountain that was only turned on at 5:20.

We made our way towards it and had a few giggles along the way with the Adelaide couple including one fountain of a dragon that looked like it was gargling (because the water wasn't in full power mode – and when it was later turned on, we joked that the Listerine was too strong!). After seeing a not so spectacular fountain turn on, we started our walk back through the town of Versailles to take our train back into central Paris.

Overall, I was so pleased that we got to spend the day out at Versailles. For me, I have mixed feelings in regards to the time we spent there. I know that we did not get to see anywhere near all of the gardens or palace, but at the same time, regardless of how different each section of garden, or each room of the palace were, I don’t know that I would want to give it that much more time. It was absolutely massive and I’m thankful for having had a day to explore it, and see for myself the sheer size and overwhelming grandeur but one was enough. I possibly could have taken a little more time, but we saw so much. I was thankful for having a bike for the first half of the day as we covered 12km just within the outer gardens, certainly an impossible feat by foot if you only have one day.

We got home around 7pm, exhausted (partially due to the bike ride, partially due to a very long previous day, and partly due to lingering sickness), tucked into a small meal of sushi (the best we've had since leaving Australia because Germany sucks at Sushi!) and crashed. I was asleep by 8pm….

Come the following day, Easter Sunday, we knew we would be in a pickle with most activities being not open or operating on this public holiday. So we made our way to Disneyland! Michael and I happily admit that we are big big kids. We were so excited about this day, and happily got up early to ensure we were on the train to Disneyland so we were there in time for opening! Having been to Disneyland in Tokyo, we were wondering just how different Paris Disneyland would be. While it had some similarities, it also had some differences. Some we were pleased about, some we were not so keen on. I’ll keep descriptions short on this and just let the photos do the talking.

First we headed to Frontierland where we made our first ride of the day – the Haunted House. Not a great start as when we got down into the ride, they announced technical difficulties and we had to wait for 15 minutes in a queue before the ride started operating again.

Next we wandered into Adventureland – but sadly could only wander through the Pirate cove as two of the rides in this land (the two we wanted to do) were both not working that day. So we just kept on going – straight into Fantasyland.

Here was where we really started to have some fun. The main attraction here for us was Alice In Wonderland’s Curious Labyrinth. We spent quite some time in here, running through the hedge maze, posing for photos with the various characters as we found them, singing along with the backing track!

Stumbling out we just managed to be in perfect time for the first Spring Parade/Show. It was a lot of Mary Poppins related music and characters – chimney sweeps everywhere! I was happily singing along and bopping, taking lots of photos. I leant backwards to ask Michael a question but lost my glasses from the top of my head. Making a quick move to catch them turned out to be not such a great idea, creating a perfect travelling clutz moment. Of course Michael had leant down to listen to me, but instead of hearing my voice, his face found my fist as I made a swipe for my glasses, smashing his glasses back into his own face! My poor bear – always at the receiving end of my violence! Thankfully no damage – to Michael or my glasses that did crash to the floor!

We did then head to the last land in Disneyland (Discoveryland) in time for lunch – but not before first grabbing a fast pass for Space Mountain. While eating our lunch in the Videopolis, we were entertained by a young performance band. The performers were clearly a school band, but they were really good and of course we were thinking they must be a French Performing Arts school. As we were wrapping up lunch, so too were the band wrapping up. A voiceover announced that the band was from St. Catherine’s in Australia! We both just stopped with our mouths open. We were so impressed that a school from Aus would be invited to play at Disneyland Paris!

So, following lunch, we used our fast passes and bypassed a massive line to get onto the Space Mountain ride. It was so worthwhile as we only waited 15 minutes instead of the proposed 90 minute normal wait. This ride was crazy – so fast, and inside a dark dome. You could not see where you were going – all you knew was that you were flying past stars and planets. It was very cleverly done. An incredibly fast and shaky ride, we both got off a little worse for wear – thank goodness I had taken my hair out of its clip before take-off as my head got thoroughly trashed about!

By now it was 1pm, so we decided to leave Disneyland … and head over to Disney Studios! That’s right, this one was a 2 park place – and we had a 2 park pass! We made it in just in time to see the Cinemagic show which was a very interesting showing of how movies have changed all the way from Black and White silent movies to now, teamed with some live acting and some special effects. We did enjoy it.

Wandering through the studios, we caught a glimpse of the Stars in Cars parade before we made our way up to the stunt show studio to watch the ‘Moteurs’ live action stunt show!

This was lots of fun to watch, with some similarities to the stunt show at Movieworld. But it was also somewhat different with extra emphasis on the action sequence filming techniques, and with some cooler stunts and a segment featuring Lightning McQueen and Mater! Michael and I both enjoyed this for different reasons, but even I enjoyed the car ballet segment!

We decided to stay in the Studios a bit longer as they closed at 7pm, Disneyland remaining open till 10. We made the most of our time, squeezing in an animation experience, another roller coaster (the Aerosmith Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster), and a special effects tour.

Sadly, the one ride I really wanted to do was Crush’s Coaster – a rollercoaster where you sat in a spinning turtle shell car and went for a wild underwater ride. We saw other people doing it and it looked awesome, but the queue was up to 120 minutes long… and we just didn't feel like waiting all that time when we could be seeing/doing other things. Not to mention the shopping. It was essential that I get my pair of souven-ears in time to wear them around the park! 

Finally having our fill of the Studios (after a walk through Toy Story land), we headed back out of the park, but before going back to Disneyland, stopped halfway, in the Disney Village – an area full of Disney shops, restaurants and other small attractions.

At nearly 7pm, we chose to have some dinner, stopping at Planet Hollywood. Having never been inside a Planet Hollywood restaurant, it was interesting to see it. We sat down and ordered our meals then admired the interesting decorations, for sitting on the wall directly behind me happened to be a replica of the Gremlins from the Gremlin movie franchise. Just a little creepy. I will comment on the food too, as I ordered some interesting things. Well, it was just lasagne, but it came as four circular pillars of lasagne with a sauce around the bottom. Very tasty but very unique serving display. I washed it down with a Legally Blonde frozen cocktail which was hard to drink through a straw, but quite tasty. Michael had penne and a beer, but regardless of simplicity, he enjoyed it!

By now we were reaching the end of the Disney day, but being Europe and Spring, the sun didn't set until 8:45pm. So as we wandered back into Disneyland after dinner, the sun was still shining, the weather still warm. First we went up to the Sleeping Beauty castle to have a poke around. This was one area where Paris was better than Tokyo. There was an entire upstairs area dedicated to the story of Sleeping Beauty, and a downstairs dungeon with a smoky dragon.

Our last stop before the final parade was to do one last ride in Discoveryland – Star Tours. This was a Star Wars based ride, where you experience a simulator ride in…what ever it is the star wars creatures ride in. Clearly, I am not a Star Wars fan, and no doubt I will lose some readers here when I admit I have never ever watched a single SW movie. Ooops. Sorry. Don’t know what else to say there. I just don’t find them interesting! But Michael wanted to go on the ride, and who am I to say no to a fun ride – regardless of subject matter! So we boarded the…. Spacecraft?... before taking off on a simulated ride through the galaxy, experiencing quite a few bumps and dips at the hands of the robot driver. It was a lot of fun actually! I have now made Michael the promise that I will watch 1 movie to see if I like it. Watch this space.

By the time we emerged from this ride, the sun had finally disappeared, and you could tell the park was getting ready for its end game Disney Dreams. The light/water/sound/firework spectacular that would close the park for the day. Again, this is where Paris somewhat bettered Tokyo. While Tokyo did an amazing light parade before its firework show, the fireworks were somewhat lacklustre in comparison to what Paris put on for us. We stood and stared in wonderment as the Castle came to life with colourful projections, glorious music and a laser light water show.

Me singing along to the Lion King

And of course, when the Lion King segment came on I was singing and bouncing along. Up until that point all of the lyrics has been in French, but the Lion King was at least in English so I could really join in!

Speaking of language, we both found the language barrier at Disneyland so easy to deal with. And not just because we were at a park that sees thousands of international visitors a week. Every show we saw had both English and French, but cleverly done. It was very similar to how I am supposed to teach in a bilingual setting, by repeating what the child has said (in German) while also answering the question in English. So when watching Peterpan and Wendy, Wendy asked something in fast paced French, then Peter said “You’re right Wendy, it is time to fly! Let me call Tink!”. And you could tell the reverse was done in French.

With the show over, we exited the park, along with the masses, but decided to wait out a bit of time in the gift shop rather than trying to cram onto the first few trains. This was a smart idea but it did mean that we were only just walking into our apartment at midnight. Still wearing my sparkly Minnie Mouse ears I might add….

So then we got to Monday. This was to be our last day, our travel home day. Alas, in similar fashion to Euro Trip #7, this was not to be. But more on that later.

Waking up late (after our big Disney day), we got ready and packed our suitcase, then made our way to the Palais Garnier. This is the Opera House that was the originating home of the Phantom of the Opera story. But it was just the birth of the idea. There has never been a phantom, nor was there ever an underground lake – which contradicts popular belief. There is a large water storage tank under the theatre, which was purposely built as the previous 11 or so Opera Houses of Paris had burnt to the ground. This tank is still in operation and can be used if necessary. But it was interesting to note how many people believe in the lake theory because the Metro station under the Opera House (called Opera) has horrible seepage running down the walls, stalactites hanging from the roof, and the most disgusting smell of mould. So many people say that it comes from the lake.

Regardless of the Phantom, we were at the Palais Garnier for other reasons as well. To simply see the beauty of this building. Ordered by Napoleon III in 1861 but inspired by Louis XIV (ballet dancer and supporter of the arts), the Opera House is one of the few of its style remaining. Admitted by our lovely and knowledgeable tour guide Martine, this was built as a place to see and be seen by the High Society.

You didn't bother watching the show really, thus the style of the theatre supports the stickybeaking movement, rather than being a great theatre for viewing shows. So the once expensive seats in the side boxes are now the cheapest, and the once peasant class orchestra seats are now the most expensive as they give you the most spectacular view of the stage. But the acoustics are supposedly amazing no matter where you are!

We were very lucky with the tour we took that we could go inside the theatre and sit in the velvet orchestra seats where we had a full view up to the impressive ceiling and the grand chandelier. The story of the falling chandelier in the Phantom story came courtesy of said chandelier moving one night during a performance, but that was all it did. It has never fallen to the floor or stage. But the ceiling was something of controversy as it was changed in 1964 to a new modern painting by Marc Chagall. This was done because the original painting was so badly damaged and soot covered from the original gas lamps of the grand chandelier. While the painting is very true to the theme of the Opera, it is considered by some as inappropriate as it is too modern and nothing like the rest of the building. I was in two minds. We got to see the original in replica form, and while it was pretty, I also quite like the new modern one which uses beautiful bright colours and flowing figures. I can see why some find it unsuitable for the Palais Garnier though.

A replica of the original ceiling

The tour took us through the entire Palais Garnier, from the private High Society entrance, through the main staircase foyer, inside the theatre itself, through the museum and out into the intermission foyer. The intermission foyer was indicative of the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. Throughout you could see the dedication by the architect to the theme of ‘see and be seen’. And his attention to detail was remarkable. It was a stunning building.

The view to the Musee du Louvre down Avenue de l'Opera

After our visit to the Opera, our next stop was the Musee de l’Orangerie. This was a museum high on my priority list for one reason. It was a purpose built museum to house the stunning Lily series by Monet – in special oval rooms. The rest of the gallery contained a mixture of collections. One gallery space contained the biggest mish mash of images – and was not enjoyable to observe, but the other gallery contained a collection of famous painters works that were all appropriately grouped and were stunning to see. This included works by Matisse, Renoir, Cézanne and Picasso. Again, some of my favourite artists and images. But I was happy no matter what because I had finally seen the famous Lily rooms!

On the way back, outside d'Orsay - For Carlie

A short hop across the river, and we met up with Alex for a drink. He had been working in Axelle’s parents bakery all day and was ready for a leisurely afternoon. We took a casual stroll back to our apartment via the Eifel Tower and just thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon weather.

Suitcase collected, we took one final tour via the Patisserie, saying our goodbyes to Axelle and stocking up on pastries for our airport dinner. Well, that was the intention...

Alex put us on the correct train to get us out to the airport, and we said our goodbyes.  One long train journey and a shuttle later and we were back in that weird airport terminal at CDG. Arriving at the Lufthansa terminal, we were shocked to see big makeshift posters plastered all over the counter stating that Lufthansa France had been fired. We weren't sure of what was happening but you can understand we were concerned. Especially when the ticket machines couldn't find us in the system. So we braved the counter staff who we assumed were quite upset. Luckily they were professional and set about trying to find out what had happened… Our booking had been messed up. Very messed up. Instead of travelling home on April 21, we were booked in for July 21! We don’t know where the screw up happened, and because we can’t prove it wasn't our fault, we will probably never get our money back, but Michael and I know we booked April. It is however our fault that we didn't pick up July on the final forms we were sent. Ooops.

So of course, this mean we couldn't fly home on the flight we planned. Not with Lufthansa, and not for under 1000€! So we both sat down in a corner with all our belongings surrounding us. We probably looked like a sad pair. Although we were laughing at the situation. That’s all we could do. Laugh! We were thinking Stockholm had jinxed us! So the next problem was that CDG only allows its visitors 15 minutes of free wifi. Which, when you are trying to rectify flights in an emergency situation is nowhere near enough. But we were very lucky. Some angels came to our rescue. Angels by the name of Alex and Axelle. They insisted that we go back to their house where we could at least figure out what we were doing.

That was another lengthy trip back into Paris. But at the end of it, Axelle had some yummy quiche waiting, and we then shared the pastries (that were supposed to be my airport dinner). By this time, Michael had ascertained that we were not able to get home that night, by plane, train OR automobile! So, having notified work that I was stuck in Paris, we booked an early train home from Paris to Munich. Then Axelle and Alex turned their couch into a comfy bed for us. As I said at the top of this blog – we didn't know just how much those two would do for us by the end of the trip. We only hope we can repay them someday.

So Tuesday morning, we got up super early and got ourselves ready before making a dash for central station. Despite more ticket complications (French ticket machines seem temperamental), we did manage to board the first of two trains that would get us back to Munich. The first train was actually really cool as we scored (or were rather forced to take) first class tickets. It was good because we were served a nice snack box of goodies, had lovely comfy spacious seats and I was able to sit and start my blog! As it was, a 6.5 hour train trip was just enough to finish off the draft!

The sad end to this story comes courtesy of my work. Sadly, because my ‘I can’t come to work today’ was not a sick call but rather a panicked ‘I’ll get there when I can’ message, I was expected to report to work as soon as I had arrived back in Munich as there was a staff meeting after work.

Despite the not so good end to our journey, without doubt, the holiday itself was amazing. Michael and I really love Paris and hope to come back to both Paris and the greater France region one day. And we also hope to see Alex and Axelle again sometime soon so we can thank them for everything!