End of days

We are stretching out our last days, saying goodbye to the people and places that have made up our Paris experience. We held our farewell party the other night (sorry, no cameras!) and are doing a lot of walking, eating and box packing.

Today we went for a long walk past the Trocadero, then to spot the mini-lady-liberty and finally, at long last, up the Eiffel Tower.

To warm up went to say goodbye to the chocolate chauds and réligeuses of Ladurée, singing to ourselves the song "do you know the way to Ladurée?"

David hits 30 in Reims

A town where women's menus don't come with prices, architecture ranges from Roman to art deco and the Christmas street parades feature wizards dancing to the Addams Family theme tune.

Views from the Pompidou

I would recommend the Futurist exhibition on at the Pompidou centre at the moment to any and all, it ranks as the best exhibition I have visited in my exhibition visiting life. And the side benefit is that in rising to the sixth floor on glass fronted escalators is that one is rewarded with these views.

Caffe Nation

Deserving a post all of its own, even though I didn't get a picture of it, is Caffe Nation, the best cafe in Antwerp which we smelt out thanks to the exquisite roasts they use. We went each of the four days, had three baristas and each made brilliant coffee. In particular I loved an earthy Ethiopian blend which made a wickedly delicious espresso. They also have a long list of inventive drinks like Dr Pepper (ie coffee with lemon-pepper and honey) or Bouchee Blanc (ie a white chocolate mocha). The mood is chilled, you can sit for hours overhearing lame philosophy conversations and see creative types doing their thing.

Antwerpen

Highlights included, the Museum of Contemporary Art - not normally a fan but this was, to me, contemporary art at its dicursive best. The national gallery and its collections of Rubens, Van Dyke and Magritte (on different floors). Dinners at Fiskebar where the swordfish was utterly sublime and Yohji Yamamoto's flagship store which reminded me of the extreme beauty of simplicity.

Below are selected snapshots of the fun we had including, but not limited to, the Bed and Breakfast where we stayed whose Dutch name was "Bed, Bad & Brood", an allegedly 400kg chocolate elephant and the famous cathedral.

Autumn in Paris (DMH Guest post)

Well it has begun. Just as Parisians leave the city in summer, the leaves do the same in winter.

With Alice working long days the adventuring and blogging has fallen to moi, and thus the delays in posting. We are of course on the downhill slide back to Oz, with our final journey all booked and planned to the last detail.




The days are getting cooler and the streets becoming tourist free, perhaps it is now time to visit more museums. Until then, please enjoy the turning leaves, I'll take more snaps as the situation progresses.

Alice goes to work

This is the walk I take every morning between the metro and my office.





End of the Louvre



Pont des Arts



Institut de France



Ile de la Cite



Musee D'Orsay and Eiffel Tower



Dries Van Noten, aka Alice's favourite shop which she could never afford.



The view from my desk down onto the best patisserie in the world.

L'Orangerie de Sceaux

I think it was a brochure I picked up in a cafe which pointed me to a concert on at a chateau in the banlieues of Paris which hosts chamber music in it's Orangerie every summer.

Since my parents were coming I thought I'd get some tickets. We saw Schubert's Trio No 2 in mi bemol major, op.100 and Tchaikovsky's Trio in minor, "In the memory of a great artist", op.50 performed by Svetlin Roussev on violin, Francois Salque on cello and Elena Rozanova on piano.

The experience was sublime. Un-amplified the music filled the room, once quite literally used to grow citrus - as well as host parties according to the brochure. Aside from the cellist sweating rivulets, the performance seemed effortless. The concerts run every year and I'd recommend it to anyone in Paris. Not to mention the fact that the chateau and gardens are exquisite also.

I managed to forget my camera so pictures are from Wikipedia and the Orangerie festival website.

The opening photo was the Orangerie itself and this is the unprepossessing house built by one of Louis XIV's ministers.



And here's some of the gardens

Come on Eileen

We discovered a great new second hand shop yesterday called, incongruously, Come on Eileen. It's not particularly cheap but the quality is good and the space is enormous. There is everything from heavy coats, party shoes and handbags to sun-dresses and hats.

I won't say the staff are particularly friendly and helpful but it's certainly worth a visit. When I get around to it, I'll put up a photo of the Givenchy vest I picked up.

16-18 rue Taillanders Paris 75011