Paris...the wait is finally over!!!

After so many years of dreaming, the day had come to journey to Paris. The day prior in Marseilles had been bloody awful for many reasons, so we were relieved to get to the Marseille train station, board the train and head towards the fourth and final leg of our trip. We were also sick of living out of suitcases (I said I do not travel that well!) and would be good to get to our apartment and unpack properly.

The train journey was pleasant, and despite being a fast train (it was fast!) we saw a lot of the countryside and it was beautiful. We arrived at Gare de Lyon around 2ish and made our way to the taxi rank...what an organized and pleasant process, we lined up and a guy on the line took each person to a taxi. The ride was the most delightful and divine taxi ride of my life. He took us along the Seine and whilst there was a language barrier, he pointed out lesser landmarks and was enjoying our wonder. I was very emotional and our first sight of The Eiffel Tower was splendid.

We were met at our apartment by the owner's nanny, Monica, and she took us up and gave us a tour. First off it was in an excellent area...now we had researched it carefully and knew that, but real life and google maps are two different things. We were close to a corner of a small suburban square, that is each corner has an open area with seating and trees, very cute. Right off we saw a pizzeria, creperie, bar, fruit stall and pharmacy...all less than 1 minute walk from out front door. We were soon to find out that was nothing!

We stayed in Rue Saint Charles in the 15th Arrondissement on the left side of the Seine, from our street, a fabulous view of The Eiffel Tower.

The apartment is on the 8th floor and you enter through two coded doors in the foyer before arriving at the tiny lift. The apartment was bigger than we thought it would be and as amazing, if not better than the photos. You walk in the front door to a small hallway, toilet to the left, bathroom to the right, bedroom at the end of the hall. Turn right and you are in the spacious living area that looks onto a long balcony with fabulous views of The Eiffel Tower.

The apartment is very modern, with every possible thing you could need, and every possible space made to good and clever use. These are the little things that made our stay all the more comfortable and enjoyable. The fold out sofa so comfortable, Amanda claimed it and is still trying to work out how to take it home. All the windows have electronic shutters to keep sun, cold, noise out. Wireless connection, washer, dryer, hair fryer, stocked cupboards, flowers in a vase, champagne, we were indeed set.

After taking in that view, and looking around, we decided to explore our neighbourhood. We went towards The Eiffel Tower, about a 10-15min walk, so much closer than we expected, many shops, restaurants and cafes in that direction, then we headed back past our apartment in the other direction. About 5mins from our apartment is a larger square and very busy, restaurants, cafes, shops, McDonalds, Starbucks and a large grocery store...the Monoprix.

We did a shop, what a fabulous experience, we just kept adding things to our shopping basket. Sooo many cheeses, and everything so cheap. The strawberry jam I buy at home, Bonne Mamon, only about 2 Euro, the huge chunk of Brie, less than 2 Euro. So much variety, freshness and things you just do not see at home...grocery shopping will never be the same again.

We bought food to cook dinner and headed back to unpack and settle and enjoy a little sleep in the next morning.

As the week progressed we would find out more and more about the neighbourhood. Behind the fruit shop in our square was a park, which took going to the Monoprix about 5 mins. The walk to the local train station about 10-15mins. The closest bridge on the Seine to our apartment has the Paris Statue of Liberty, the streets behind our apartments have hours of shopping and amazing fresh food stores. The markets at the Eiffel Tower end of our street (wed and sun) are unlike anything we had ever seen.

The pizzeria make fantastic pizza, and the creperie is to die for. But on a Sunday night, almost everything shuts down, and Maccas is pretty much it! And our beloved Eiffel Tower never gets old, I like to check for it out the bedroom window every morning when I wake up, just to make sure she is still there; and for a few minutes on the hour, every hour each evening she puts on sparkly show of amazing.

I am typing this with 4 nights left and I wonder how I will go back to reality, we have been so very lucky to stay here for so long, in love with this city for sure...but there is soooo much more to tell you all so I shan't get too far ahead of myself.

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Holiday Road: Venice to Marseilles by car

We collected our car from Venice airport, a Mercedes, which was a lovely surprise. Amanda jumped in and got us out of the city safely, quite a remarkable feat, driving on the wrong side of the road (for us anyway) and navigating in a foreign land.

Our first stop was Verona.



We had lunch at McDonalds, we needed a loo, and you had to buy something to use it, so lunch it was! We then walked to the arena there, the third largest, fully functional Roman arena still standing and from 1AD. It was amazing, and they were setting up for a concert, unsure what, we missed Tony Bennett by a week. Dad and Amanda climbed to the top, love the photo of Dad, looks like he is singing! Then we headed in search of Juliet's balcony, built in 1936 as a homage to the play. There are lots more similar Shakespeare 'attractions' here but we were limited by time. The balcony is as described in the play in a small but extremely crowded courtyard. It was pretty much, look, take photos and leave before suffocation, lol!

We then headed towards a large square, Piazza delle Erbe, where we looked around before heading for the car. Verona is a huge city, very busy with much to look at and do. You would need a few days to cover it all, I really loved what I saw and hope to get back again one day.

Next stop, Lake Garda for the night. This is the largest of the lakes in the lake district, most famous for Lake Como where George Clooney has a place. It was beautiful, and our hotel was near the water close to the point at Sirmione. It was the first of our cheap hotels booked online ourselves, we were relieved to find it to be a very lovely hotel, with an excellent restaurant where we had a range of Italian meals, seafood, pasta and pizza.

The next morning we drove to the point and explored around, you could see both sides of the lake, it went on forever, swans and ducks were swimming and there was a castle with a moat on the headland we went to visit.

Then it was on to Maranello, where we visited the Ferrari museum. This was amazing, well set out and full of old racing Ferraris and newer sports models. Many of their F1 racing trophies are exhibited there along with heaps of other memorabilia. Whilst I'm not a Ferrari fan, I was pretty chuffed to be there, Amanda of course was in heaven. There was also a special tribute exhibition for Gilles Villeneuve, father of my beloved Jacques. This was very special and rather touching.

From there we were back on the road to Parma, this was a challenging part of the journey, very busy, not signposted well and our map was limited, it seemed to take forever to find the hotel, another cheapie, but goodie. We were right on the edge of the motorway, which made it easy to leave, but hard to maneuver around. We didn't want to stray too far, so had dinner at a grill steak chain restaurant. It was an excellent meal, nice to have meat, veges etc after soooo much pasta, pizza etc.

Next day we were on the road again, not too much to see along the way, just keen to get to our destination, Monte Carlo, Monaco! We did stop at the Italian/French border. Amanda did brilliantly again, as someone the roads were tight and difficult. The Italian Riviera was much busier and not as good roads, once we crossed the border we noticed a huge difference for the better. However Monte Carlo is very steep and hilly, but just stunning.

Our hotel was rather impressive, but we headed down the hill to check out this famous town. First stop the casino area, we did not go in, but there was much happening in this area. The buildings here are either old and magnificent or new, tall and shiny, somehow this works and there is certainly a lot to look at. Not far from the casino we found the famous bend of the F1 circuit and the tunnel, so we headed that way towards the marina. Never seen so many huge yachts before, all parked one beside the other, opulence and extravagance! We found a cute little cafe and had our first crepes for lunch. Proper French crepes, oh my!!!

From there we walked around the marina, looked up to the Grimaldi castle, took in more F1 sights and even checked out our first French supermarket...soooo much cheese and wine, love it!!

We ate at the hotel, had amazing veal and a fruit meringue dessert, then walked around seeing the town lit up before heading back to the hotel exhausted.

Amanda took us on a few laps of the F1 circuit before leaving. Definitely a place to add to the come back to list. One of the hills just outside of Monaco takes you up to the little town of Eze, again narrow twists and turns, but the views were amazing and the town was very sweet. There was a local market on, I bought some bits and pieces, we had crepes for breakfast and then continued on our way.

We drove through Nice, was very busy and we wanted to get to Cannes for lunch. It looked like a huge, interesting town, save it for another time...there is so much to do, it makes it hard to choose! We arrived at Cannes and drove around the water front, very appealing city. After finding a park, also a very busy town, we walked to the areas they hold the Cannes Film Festival, this was exciting. There were lots of handprints of actors in the boardwalk, and other movie related things to see. I had my picture taken on the stairs you see everyone climb at the premieres...nothing that great to look at, but exciting all the same. We had lunch at one of the many boardwalk cafes and watched the world walk by.

We then headed for St Raphael with Dad driving for the first time, again twisty, narrow roads and let's just say we were all very glad to get to our destination!! A huge storm was also brewing and hit pretty much as we checked in, so we were stuck in the hotel for the evening, which was ok as we were all a bit tired. Had a great meal of Osso Bucco in their restaurant and amazing Creme Brûlée...my first in France!! (It's one of my favourite desserts!)

The next day we drove to St Tropez, we drove around for a bit, then headed inland for Aix-en-Provence. This is another town that is much larger than you think and I would like to go back and spend more time there. We had lunch in the main street, which was large and full of cafes.

We then headed to Marseille, our final destination of the road trip. We got there easily enough, but it is a huge city and not an easy one to navigate and there was a huge amount of construction and work happening, so routes had changed etc. We got lost, and were off the map, but we managed to get back on track, only to find most of the work was around where our hotel was situated.

The plan had been to drop Mum and me with the bags at the hotel, and Dad Amanda would take the car to the train station a few blocks away and walk back. So we decided it would be easier to all go to the station and come back to the hotel together. There were many one way streets here and getting to the train station was traumatic and the city was pretty much gridlocked. Also the train station was up a hill and a little further away than we were led to believe!!!

Nerves frazzled, tired and done, we just wanted to get to the hotel. We returned the car and the staff rang us a taxi and we headed to the hotel. It was an ok hotel but had been costly, not one we ordered ourselves, so we were a little unimpressed, when the Monaco one was a million times classier and half the price. It was also very cold, and whilst we had a really nice meal at a water front restaurant, the service was slow and ordinary...I am sure Marseilles is a nice town, but it did not leave a good or lasting impression on any of us.

We were ready for Paris...

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