Day 1: A day of wander!

Well it was a long, long, long flight journey via Gaungzhou in China, where funnily enough we met an interesting guy from Melbourne who is a FIFO Pizza Maker! What an interesting character ; a retired Italian pizza shop owner who does one month on one month off at the airports Pizza shop, purely so he can show the Chinese chefs how to make dough, and so the shop looks more authenticand sells more pizzas. What a world we live in!

But after over 24 hours of travelling, 4 movies and Sim watching a season of Americas Next Top Model, we arrived in Paris.

Charles de Gaulle Airport itself is insane. The scale of the place is like Sydney CBD to mascot, and all the roads and freeway flyovers and crossovers, it's crazy. I pitty those who rent a car here. Good luck!

So after a long drive into the city in Monday morning peak hour, an experience in itself, we get to our hotel in St Germain de Pris. Thankyou booking.com. Booking.yeah indeed!

Our room on the top floor has an unreal view over the city building tops. A landscape of rooftops, chimneys, turrets and domes. Oh and the Eiffel Tower sneaks in in the distance.

However on the downside, the shower is tiny, it's like whoever designed the bathroom was designing it for ants... It needs to be at least 3 x bigger.

We then head out and wander the city. It doesn't take long for me to make an idiot of myself by trying to order coffee in French. Languages really isn't my thing, but Sim stepped in and we got our coffee , albeit for equiv of $5AU

We journey up the Seine River side across to Notre Dame cathedral. The most impressive part from the outside is the richness of the stone carvings of Christ and all the saints. Inside however is unreal. It's a monumental and beautiful space filled with light and shadow and awesome vaulting arches. I love it when the rich history of a place envelops you.

After a walk around the cathedral, we cross the bridge, the 'pont' with all the locks with love messages on them! Some poor Phillippino bride was getting her wedding photos taken. It was freezing! I don't know how she did it. 

We wander some more up along the a Seine River, passing Jean Nouvels Institution de Monde Arabe, Museum of Arabic art. Walking a little further we get to the Botanic Gardens and Natural history museums. This is quite cool. A mix of formal gardens and informal paths and a zoo. Sim thought it was amazing that you could go for a jog in the zoo. There's lots of joggers in Paris.

Botanic Gardens (managerie du Jardin des Plantes)

Continuing our day of wandering we pass the Mosque de Paris. Elegantly decorated and a nice counterpoint in the streetscape. We are now in the heart of the Latin Quarter district, near Place Monge and we venture up a small street with lots of growers markets, cheese shops and crepe stalls. The Rue Mouffetard is a cool local strip with lots of cheap eat places. It was here where Simone made the great comment "French people just look very French"

I replied,  "Well there French"

We settle on a crepe for lunch - best crepe ever. Very cheesy with mozzarella and feta.

Continuing thru the Latin Quarter we stumble across the Pantheon, the mussoleum housing remains of Victor Hugo and other famous frenchies. It's domed roof is undergoing restoration but even the scaffolding is a work of art.

We wander back to our hotel for an afternoon rest as the long flights start to take there toll. 

In the evening we head out back along the Boulevard St Michel to the Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris' playground ! It's a bit like our Hyde park but more casual. People are sitting around on loose chairs, watching people go by. The lawned gardens are kept perfect as people adhere to not walking on them. There's a nice sense if civility about the place. People have come down after work it would seem to relax. 

It's now early evening and we just go for a stroll. We're enjoying the freedom of just being able to wander - the flaneur as they say!

We stumble across another Jean Nouvel building. [for those playing along at home he's a famous French architect - the guy who did the New green wall Central Park building in Sydney]. The Foundation Cartier Pour l'Art Contemporain is a gallery which plays with glass and layered space of indoor and outdoor. Quite interesting. 

We wander back and stop for a pitcher of wine at a brasserie in the Place de Ka Sorbonne, it's filled with young university students. It's nice to just sit and watch the city go by.

It's now off to dinner to a new age french bistro. It's very art nouveau inside but has a great ambience. Entree was a shellfish,lemongrass and ginger soup and main was Suckling Pig. Sim had the classic Steak Frites. 

And so it's off to bed for a well earned rest for us. We didn't make it to Midnight in Paris unfortunately. Maybe tomorrow!

Lots of walking and plenty more to come.