Oxford to Paris

I write this from our little apartment in the 19th arrondissement, Belleville in Paris. We arrived this evening after an epic 24 hours or so of celebrating Emily's 10th birthday yesterday, on our last day in Oxford (previous post) and packing up our belongings after our 2 month stay there.

The Eurostar brought us here smoothly this afternoon into the hustle and bustle of Paris. After acquainting ourselves with the cosy 2-bedroom apartment owned by a Franco-Australian couple we walked around the hilly block to locate the nearest supermarket, bakery and ATM.

Dinner was had at the Parisian dinner time of 8.30pm at the place Mon Oncle Vigneron across the road from the apartment. A homely, delicious two course meal. How grateful I am for Alex's high school french of which remnants remain!

We have 6 nights here and while we plan to see some of the sights, we don't feel pressed to do them all as Alex and I have done so before and know the kids just want to, and we just need to, hang out in this quintessential Parisian neighbourhood and eat too much bread, cheese and pain au chocolat and pretend for a week.

Luckily the parc du Buttes Chaumont is just around the corner for walks and runs to balance things out!