Arrived in Paris

 Hi all,

I ended my last post in Sri Lanka saying I hoped I could squeeze a trip in in the July holidays. Well here I am! I’m really grateful to be overseas again, and am very excited to be headed back to my favourite continent! I’m off to two fabulous places on this trip - Paris first for five days staying with my aunt and uncle, and then eight days in London visiting some dear friends I haven’t seen in a long time.

It’s been a hard term. Losing Nan was hard, and work has been insane dealing with lots of really intense issues stemming from lockdown effecting the students I manage and teach. I’m looking forward to a break and hope that I feel refreshed and more like myself, more able to deal with everything once I get home after a good dose of European sunshine. I asked Nan a few years ago “if you could go back anywhere, where would it be?” and she answered “Switzerland or Paris!”. So it seemed appropriate to spend a few days with Ian and Robyn in Paris, enjoying one of Nan’s (and Pa’s!) favourite places together. We played the opening scene of ‘Midnight in Paris’ to begin her funeral, which shows lots of beautiful Parisian scenes to the gorgeous song ‘Si Tu Vois Ma Mere’ that Nan and Pa love. It’s going to be great but a little emotional seeing a place she loved so much and that we discussed at length. We will enjoy it in her honour.

Mum, Dad, Rob and Houston dropped me off at the airport. The line for the Virgin domestic terminal was insane - people were queued all inside the terminal, and then out the door and partially down the drop off ramp. I have never seen anything like it. Everyone wants to get out of Victoria in the school holidays! Thankfully, the international terminal wasn’t as bad, it only took 20 minutes in the Thai Airways queue to check in.

After that, the time at the terminal went fairly quickly. I walked around a lot (did 7000 steps!) while speaking to some friends on the phone and then we boarded. I had the loveliest person next to me, Mikhaila. We were very similar - myself flying through to Paris and then onto London next week, Mikhaila flying to London and heading to Paris next week. Both of us had been to both destinations before, and we agreed that after all the madness of the last two years, visiting an old favourite and experiencing the familiarity is great, especially already knowing how to get around etc. We chatted away with ease and the sense of overwhelm I had been feeling disappeared. Despite being excited, the first long haul (and solo) overseas flight for a long time was a bit overwhelming, particularly as it’s the first since my hip has deteriorated.

The first flight (9 hours) went fairly quickly. We both watched ‘King Richard’ and I read my Paris guidebook, noting good places to eat. The plane food was yummy and I had a short nap. I then had the longest layover I’ve had since my first ever trip in 2010. It was nine hours in Doha. This was eight hours in Bangkok. There wasn’t too much to do, and it would’ve been pretty miserable alone. But Mikhaila must’ve been sat next to each other for a reason, because she had basically the same layover. We spent the time chatting, buying a coffee and realising how much we had in common (including mutual people at home!). It turned out we are both turning 30 this year. She was lovely. We reflected on how interesting it is when travelling that you meet people you instantly click with, and for a period of time share an experience. We ended up finding what we called our “zen” corner of the airport where hardly anyone flights were leaving. We alternated between lying down and stretching here, and walking around. Eventually we said goodbye and went our separate ways.

The French man two seats away from me on my second flight set the tone early. “American?” he asked. I shook my head viciously and replied “Australie”. He shot me an approving look and then pointed to the seat between us, saying “non American” and crossed his fingers. He got his wish - a French girl rocked up and neither of them could speak any English. Very different to sitting next to Mikhaila!

I was lucky enough to sleep for 6-7 hours once they turned the lights off. I spent the final five hours watching some shows and movies on my phone (I finished ‘Midnight in Paris’ again!) and reading more of my guidebook. I spent the last hour watching where we were flying over. Seeing us fly over some of the amazing places I’ve visited in Europe made me so happy. It finally started to sink in that that was where I was about to be, for the first time in a while.

We landed 40 minutes early, and I had a dream run after that. At first I joined a huge “non European” queue, but I eventually realised there was a shortcut if you were Aussie, Canadian or from the US and had a chip in your passport. This cut the queue by 90%. Once through there, my bag came as I walked up to the carousel and then after a very broken French conversation with my Uber driver, I located him and he dropped me near the apartment. Magnifique!

Unfortunately our phones played up at first, but after 15 minutes or so I met up with my uncle and aunt, Ian and Robyn, at the apartment. It’s in a fantastic location, by far the closest to the action in Paris I’ve stayed. In 2010 I stayed in Montmartre and in 2015 I stayed near Gare du Nord. This place is close to Bastille station, and we started off walking to the Bastille Sunday market together. It was full of life, with delicious fresh produce and cheeses being sold. I bought us some strawberries and they were wonderful.

Then, Robyn and Ian went off to lunch at Le Train Blue at the Gare de l’Est. While they did this, I went wandering. I won’t be detailing lots of facts bout everything I’m looking at on this trip, because I’ve done that before for paris in 2010 and 2015. If I learn new interesting facts I want to include, or visit something new then I will. So the 10km walk I set off on (13,000 steps!) was mostly just wandering.

I walked to the nearby Ile Saint-Louis first where I enjoyed a delicious ice cream at Berthillon, I got the honey nougat and raspberry flavours. I rounded a corner to walk onto the Ile de la Cite and couldn’t believe my ears. I don’t believe in heaven or anything like that, but the universe worked in a mysterious way today. As I rounded the corner, some buskers on the bridge started playing ‘Si Tu Vois Ma Mere’, the song from Nan’s funeral. I raced over and listened, they did a beautiful job, and then a minute later they kept going with some other lovely music. I sat and enjoyed it, and enjoyed watching kids dancing along too. Such a weird coincidence that they played it right as I arrived..

Next I walked past Notre Dame. It looked very different to in 2010 when I visited the inside and the tower and bells upstairs. The fire in April 2019 destroyed the back section and spire. Nowadays, the restoration began in late 2021 (after delays due to Covid) and the area is surrounded by a fence with photos and information about the restoration. Notre Dame wasn’t all I noticed under work today though, bits and pieces are all over the city in preparation for the 2024 Olympics.

After this, I enjoyed walking along the Seine, crossing bridges, and just feeling the warmth on my skin and soaking in all the beautiful architecture. I passed the Louvre and Palais Royal, and reflected on the very different summer vibe of this visit. In 2010 I was here in Winter. We saw and did everything, but it was very cold and snowing. In 2015 it was Spring, and it was quite cool during the day. This time, even though it was only 22 today it was the perfect sunny temperature, with cafes spilling out into the streets and squares, and people reading their books by fountains. I then met Ian and Robyn back at the station. I popped into the restaurant quickly and the building was beautiful!

The three of us then caught the train to the world’s most visited cemetery - Pere Lachaise. Established in 1804, it is home to 70,000 tombs and 800,000 occupants. It opened in response to local neighbourhood graveyards being full, and it was groundbreaking at the time for Parisians to be buried outside the area in which they lived.

The cemetery was gorgeous. It was full of beautiful trees, and different sections had a different feel. We started off up a hill and first looked at the Monument aux Morts. When a mausoleum falls into disrepair and is no longer visited, the concessionaires are notified. If repairs aren’t made, the bones from the mausoleum are exhumed and moved inside of this monument in labelled boxes.

Once we reached the top of the hill, we went and saw some famous graves. First we saw Sarah Bernhardt (an actress) then Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf (singer), Jim Morrison, Heloise and Abelard and the Rothschild family tomb. It was interesting seeing the different sizes and shapes of the tombs, and additional monuments to Jewish people at various concentration camps, and memorials for a few different plane crashes.

Afterwards, we caught the metro back and had a pre dinner rest. I was starting to hit a wall at this point. We had a quick dinner at a nearby creperie where we each enjoyed a ham and cheese crepe, and I had a dessert crepe too. I hope this blog makes sense, but I am really starting to hit a wall. It's nearly 4am in Melbourne which means it's been 48 hours since I had a proper sleep. I've had an amazing first day and I hope you enjoy the photos.

Love to all,
Claire
Xoxox