Dijon

We had a 9am departure this morning and after our issues with the metro yesterday there was a unanimous decision to get a taxi to the train station rather than have to try and get on a crowded train with suitcases and backpacks.  

After a restorative coffee at the station we boarded our train and sped south to Dijon, which is in the Burgendy region.  After the hustle and bustle of Paris, Dijon is a welcome change of pace and it's a really charming town.  

We left our bags at the hotel and set out on foot for an orientation walk and some lunch.  It's pretty easy to get your bearings and the town is full of charming buildings of cream or grey stone with distinctive roofs of multicoloured tiles in patterns.  We stopped at the famous owl sculpture (it's good luck to pat it and make a wish) and walked around the farmers market, vowing to come back to buy some goodies very soon.

For lunch we had a gallette (savoury crepe) and then we scattered for a free afternoon to explore. We wandered further towards the residential end of town, looking at charming curved streets and window boxes of red geraniums before stumbling on an Australian bar called the Byron Bay bar.  It was closed, but the menu of beer cocktails wasn't promising anyway.

It's become our custom to end the afternoon in a patisserie with coffee and cake, and we'd already staked out several contentors for the title and chosen our favourite.  I finally found the ideal place for a chocolate eclair and it was the perfect accompaniment to a bitter noisette (espresso with a little milk).

We had dinner in a fabulous restaurant that had a giant underground space decorated with lots of interesting objects and then wandered down to the supermarket to pick up some wine, pretzels and chocolates. The whole group ended up sitting in a park near the hotel, pouring wine, passing around snacks and laughing and talking.  

I'm sure that all this wine is taking its toll somewhere, but right now it's just so nice that I have no intention of stopping! A little more sleep would be nice though :-)

  

Sitting in the park.

Travels in Paris

I woke to a rainy - and thankfully cooler - day and as I didn't have anything on till the afternoon, had a little extra snooze and a leisurely breakfast. My French tour starts tomorrow so I found a local laundrette and washed everything I own and lugged it back to the hotel. Then I set off to the shopping district. 

The French are only allowed - by law - to hold two sales a year and the summer sales are on right now. Every window has a 'solde' (sale) sign in the window. I went into the famous Galleries Layfette' and wandered around, admiring the stunning ceiling. My bag doesn't really have room for shopping but a pair of silver ballet flats did manage to find a home there.

Next stop was the Louve museum for a guided tour. My tour started at 3pm and at 2.45, we were huddled under a monument outside in the driving rain as we waited for the last of the attendees. The rain was horizontal and there was no escaping it, but just as I thought I was going to get completely drenched - it stopped!

To my shame, the tour was one of those where you wear a headset receiver so you can hear the guide talk. I've always vowed not to do one, but in all honesty, there was no way I would have been able to hear the guide without it.

There are more than 300,000 items in the Louve so there was no way we would be able to see even a small fraction in a two hour tour, but by dint of some pretty intense walking (a few people dropped out as the pace was a bit intense) we saw some of the bigger highlights and got a good sense do the history of the Louve palace.  After the tour ended I wandered around for another hour to see a bit more and then wandered down to the gardens towards the Siene and looked up to the Arc d'Triumph.

A friend had told me about a sculpture that has been installed on the banks of the river, looking over to the Eiffel Tower, so I set off to find it - it's a metal sculpture of a Tranosaurus Rex. It took a bit of walking, but eventually I found it! 

By then it was after 8pm, so I ended my last day on my own with dinner in a cafe that looked over to the Eiffel Tower and then crawled back to the hotel to go to bed.

A photo tour of Paris

Today I spent the whole day doing one of my favourite things - I took a photography walking tour of Paris.  I met my guide at the assigned place (no train dramas today) and with a fellow photography participant who also happened to be from Brisbane, we had a fabulous morning exploring hidden areas of Paris to seek out unusual angles, interesting people and great compositions.  Our guide was friendly and knowledgable and took us to all her favourite places.  We loitered in front of cafes, wandered down side streets, circled around churches and peered into shopfronts - chatting and snapping away all the while.

Obviously, I took a LOT of photos.  But have no fear, I won't bore you with them all.  Here is a very small selection, picked pretty much at random and edited only with apps on my ipad.  

                                                            

                                                                

                                                                    

                                                                    

                                                                  

                                       

Such a fun day! I can't wait to download all my photos at home and examine them properly.