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Au Revoir Paris

Last day in Paris today. And I'm not sad....not that I haven't enjoyed it but time to move on...to my favourite place in the world. My body is here in Paris still but my heart and mind are in London already....I slept in this morning. I did not go to the celebrations for New Years last night for quite a few reasons - the biggies being lots of stairs with my bad knees, my foot was bothering me and the crowds. Oh man do I sound old...well guess I am....and I don't regret it at all. If I want to see what it looked like I am sure I can find out on the Internet! Next year I will do the same - wherever I will be I will celebrate with a quiet glass of wine. In fact last year in Kathmandu I was in bed at midnight as we had our early morning flight to Everest... I had breakfast here and then headed off to the metro station. It would not take my ticket - well it did but it got stuck and that's when I realized they hadn't fixed the free entry from last night. After I had bought enough tickets for the day from the machine. I got out at Gare du Nord as needed to get my Eurostar ticket for tomorrow. Am I glad I did. First of all was trying to get it out of the wrong ticket machine and it kept telling me no reservation - then I had to go upstairs and tried to retrieve it from the correct machines. It said printing ticket but nothing came out. By now I was fuming...I had to stand in line which luckily wasn't too long and after fumbling and getting my passport out of my money belt the ticket agent printed the ticket out for me. So now I am good to go. So glad I did that today and not tomorrow morning.From there I took the metro to Les Halles and after getting temporary misplaced in a huge shopping mall (which is the modern Les Halles) I found my way out. Kept going in circles though as there is a lot of construction in the area. I did not have my morning coffee yet, only tea which I love but NOT first thing in the morning...anyway I stopped for a cafe au lait and to get my bearings with my map. I got myself sorted and headed over to Hotel de Ville which is the old town hall or the Rat house!! :) It was a beautiful building and something I have missed on previous trips to Paris. There was a skating rink in front of the building as well which made it even nicer somehow. I then carried on walking to the Bastille although by now my foot was acting up again. I saw some interested Christmas trees - made entirely of recycled plastic red and green bottles. Very cool! Took photos of the Bastille statue and also of the opera house where I saw the ballet the other evening. Took the metro back to an area where I had spotted a restaurant earlier. It turned out to be kind of a disappointment. I ordered a set meal but misread the menu and I could have a starter OR dessert -not both. Oh well...I ordered French Onion soup which was delish and then a 1/4 chicken with herbs. Well it was tough as old boots - it came with french fries so I filled up on those. It was such a cute little place too. I then walked over to the Louvre - it was closed but still wanted to visit the area - wow tourists galore. But that was nothing...took the metro to Anvers in Montmartre and it was a zoo! The narrow alley to go up to Sacre Couer was chock a block full of people. I just took some quick photos and left - it was a quick walk back here. Now to walk up to the church would have been a whole different thing as it's quite high with lots of steps. There is a funicular but did not even want to think how crowded that was. Anyway I was up there three years ago...back here to pack up for tomorrow. Simon is not back yet - that makes nearly 11 hours of Sadie not going out. I feel for her - her bladder is much better than mine though. But I would never leave a dog that long personally...I think it's cruel. However she is sleeping on the sofa in here - she did come to me and whine but then went and got her food. She does a cute thing - she tosses her hard crunchies in the air and chases them. She does a weird thing though - all friendly when I am in here and wanting to sit on my lap, etc. but when I go to walk out the dor she growls and barks at me and even bites at my legs. She is a little sweetie though and I will miss her. The London B and B has cats but with luck I won't have to see them....

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