We caught an early train from Munich to Paris. The apartment is so well located in Canal St. Martin; the coolest neighbourhood in Paris. No tourists!
Fabulous Liberte bakery is 30m away so breakfast will be sorted.
We've hardly have time to unpack and we're off to Montmarte to Dali Paris.
Life on repeat ; we have drinks at Le Petit Cafe De Montmarte* and dinner at Au Virage Lepic.
We dragged Scott and Lynn back to Petit Cafe afterwards and before we know it, it's nearly 2am and we're hailing an Uber home.
Friday 13 October
Slow start... Walking our neighborhood and ending up at The Red Door* for very interesting cocktails but we find the place way to instagrammy for us.
We pick up Scott and Lynn at Cafe Le Marche des Enfants Rouge which is much more to our liking.
After dinner we head to La Nouvelle Siene, a boat on the river with a restaurant upstairs and a little theatre below. There's a fun Burlesque show here at 10.30pm and we add Rina and Rupert to our crew. Then we pop into La Montebello* just over the road for a quick nightcap.
I'm not sure how or why but next thing the bar staff are packing chairs on tables and switching off the lights and we're back to hailing Ubers after 1.00am.
Saturday 14 October
We meet for a traditional French lunch at Ille Le Flore en I'lle - onion soup, confit de canard and Cafe Gourmand!
We find Aux Tours de Notre Dame Cafe* to watch the rugby at 5pm.Then we head to Georges Cafe* in Sorbonne. At 8pm it's quiet and we get a seat right next to the TV to watch the Ireland vs Kiwi quarters. By 10pm we are enthralled in the match but the place has turned into a packed nightclub all around us! Everyone is dancing. The music is old school disco at least, which is quite nice. New Zealand win the rugby. We grab a late night snack at Le Maison des Crepes and head into Le Caveau de la Huchette Jazz Bar* ; a bit of a Paris institution since 1946. It's too packed on a Saturday night so we sit in the bar area upstairs. And then once again I'm hailing an Uber in the early hours.
Sunday 15 October
I booked lunch at La Verre Vole in our neighbourhood. They had a huge wine list; mostly natural style and Neil's favourite orange wines.The food is interestingly good.
With Rina and Rupert we find Chez Prune* to watch the England vs Fiji game.
We have been nervous all day and this just makes us more antsy. Deciding to get Uber to get us as close to the stadium as he can turns out to be a great idea. SA vs France at Stad de France. The Sprinbok supporters are so out numbered but the atmosphere is amazing.
We are on the edge of our seats for the whole game and it's so fantastic when the final whistle goes and we've actually won. All around us the Saffers are going mad but the French fans are stunned silent or sobbing into their berets and flags. Le Bleu is out of the RWC.
The stadium empties quickly and we walk back to the area where we got dropped off. Traffic is at a standstill everywhere so we hole up in Bar Emailliare* to wait for things to quieten down. Just after 12.30am they start closing up and so for the 4th night in a row we find ourselves in the street hailing an Uber in the early hours!
Monday 16 October
Funny how we aren't up and about early!
Strolling around the neighbourhoods of Paris is such fun and the weather had been so good.
We wanted to go to Bouillion Chartier Grand Boulevards which had been operating since 1896. A Buillion is an historic canteen style place serving hearty cheap meals to workers. There's a queue of tourists outside. Oops! We decide to go in anyway and what a great time we have. It's packed and loud and guests get seated at tables with strangers.Your order is scribbled onto your paper table cloth. The menu has all the old French classics served with no frills. And it's so reasonably priced! The food - and wine - is surprisingly good though. Neil says it was the best steak he's had in France this year. I'd really, really recommended it.
More strolling and stopping for a coffee here or an aperitif there.
It's a pity most of the old cafes in the Latin Quarter and the Latin Quarter in general have become so touristy.. We did have an aperitif at La Flore*..no atmosphere at all..But by 7pm we are ready to head home.. we can't 't make it another late night..and we still hail the Uber..
Note - Don't eat in any of the places marked with * - drinks only!!
It was a treat to relax at "home" a bit after more than two months of travel. We arrived on Saturday - a huge day- the RWC semifinal between South Africa and England. Oh, my nerves; it was a close win.
We did get out and about in Dublin. There's a lively bar and restaurant scene beyond Temple Bar and Guinness..
We needed a few days to recover from that after party.
