How good it is being back in Paris, second time in four months, how about that? It’s only topped by knowing home is within days and I will meet my new grandson, Benedict Ignatius West, what a strong name. Phil has sent me pictures and as I knew would happen, big brother Arty is taking the lead as his “mate”. Can’t wait to see them all.

Back to Paris, our train arrived right on time 5.19pm and with the aid of a porter waiting on the platform he took command of our luggage and steered us through the terminal to the taxi queue. He short-circuited the long queue, perhaps by intention, perhaps knowing that his colleague steering waiting travellers to available taxis would call up a taxi for us, and that is exactly what happened.

We arrived at our hotel about 6pm and we welcomed as returning friends. Our room though a little smaller than the one on our previous stay was lovely. Those heavy overhead beams and vaulted ceiling was evident in our room on the second floor and so made the space appear larger. The bathroom was well appointed, charming room indeed.
I didn’t do a full-on unpack, we would only be staying four nights so I opted to unpack few items of clothing needed each evening for the following day. Bathroom items of course were well on display! Phil being an expert packer/unpacker had all his things in place in wardrobe and shelf being retiring. We had dinnDDer at our favourite local restaurant. I was exhausted from the long travel and bed beckoned.


Highlight Day 1 It was drizzling when we woke but having no commitments, and our hotel providing breakfast until 10.30am I enjoyed a lie-in. I wasn’t feeling very well so missed breakfast. Phil dined alone and we ventured out about noon, leisurely strolling our familiar street, it was good to be back. This is a delightful area.
I did a little “shopping therapy” revisiting a lovely scarf shop and finding a new boutique run by Tibitan heritage family. The shop owner was so helpful giving advice on how to achieve the French look with scarves and bought three winter hats (promising myself I would reintroduce winter hats to my wardrobe, French designed), very chic.
Day 2
We walked across the bridge at the end of our street to revisit We walked across the bridge at end of our street to revisit Notre Dame. I couldn’t see the progress that must have been made in the four months since our last visit but re-reading the placards erected on one side of the building reminded me of the devastation and the wonderful restoration project and the enormity of the project. From there we again revisited one of our favourite little cafes, not far from Notre Dame for lunch, then leisurely stroll home savouring this time in one of our favourite cities.
A short rest was in order before we dressed for dinner, back to our favourite, just two minutes from our hotel.
Day 3
My cold had taken hold and I wasn’t feeling well. Very mindful we were leaving tomorrow, I opted for day indoors. Again I declined breakfast however Phil made an appearance. He also visited the local Pharmacy for some cold tablets, which together with our flu medication from Italy I medicated myself to the hilt and rested. Phil of course explored the neighbour and beyond on his own returning with interesting snippets of shops and galleries he found, priding himself on his fluent French conversations. We both took a walk in the afternoon to stretch my legs and breathe in Paris air, however I wasn’t well enough for dinner so Phil dined at French Lebanese restaurant he found on his travels earlier in the day. Dosed up I tried to sleep again at 8.30pm. Tomorrow I needed to be well to travel.

Thankfully next morning I was feeling heaps better so we rose, we had breakfast early, finalised our packing and we ready to leave by 10.30am. Luckily our driver was ready at 11.30am to pick us up for the drive to the airport.
Sadly we were leaving Paris.
Flying home
What can I say, it was long. We left Paris at 3.30pm for Dubai, arriving at midnight (Dubai time). Our connection onward to Sydney meant a two hour wait which was needed as we had to make our way from Terminal 3 to Terminal 1, train, walk of kilometres, this airport is enormous. We made it to the Business Lounge for 40 mins wait which afforded us time for some food and freshening up before our plane was ready for boarding.

I changed my time to Sydney before leaving Dubai, so in fact it was 8.15am 26 Sept, we arrived in Sydney at midnight and our chauffeur pickup was waiting. He took charge of our luggage, steered us to his waiting vehicle and drove us home, arriving 1.20am.
So good to be home, our adventure, trip of a lifetime was over, Olly was waiting.