A return to Paris for me, where we stayed in my great aunt’s (slightly small) apartment in the 5th Arrondisment. It’s in a great location with 3x weekly markets in the square around the corner, a boulangerie and boucherie on the next street and a metro station nearby, and let us live lice locals again.
Having seen a lot of Paris when I was there two years ago, I was happy to mooch along day by day rather than Seeing the Sights. The few things we did involved ducking out through the showers which were prevalent throughout our stay.
The exception to this was a day trip to Giverny, where Monet’s house and studio has been preserved, along with the famous garden with the water lilies in it. Whilst it wasn’t water lily season, it was tulip time, and the garden was bursting with them in so many different colours and petal shape. Unfortunately it was bursting with other tourists too, so we had to be content with a crowded, rushed walk through the place.
We got taken by my family to a restaurant called ‘Bel Canto’ which features french cuisine combined with waiters who burst into arias regularly throughout the evening – a bit cheezy but great fun overall.
The best highlight however, was the tour at night-time my great aunt treated us to in her car with massive sunroof, where we saw the lights of Paris with a personalised itinerary. It included a funny scare when we were trawling past the President’s house and must have looked suspicious because we got a tap on the window by a Gendarme and given the move along in pretty clear language.
