Hi Ho, Hi Ho,it's off to work we go.

February has arrived and the runaway train is fast approaching the station.  After 3 months of down time we are having to think about the impending season.  It is very hard when it is cold and raining to motivate ourselves to leave the fire.

However, today the sun is shining and we have nearly finished some internal tidying up/work at Le Bourg in preparation for this year's guests. Miki, the owner has invested in a woodburner, for which Jim has had to build a raised plinth in the fireplace.


There is a small list of jobs to be done over at Les Balcons  in Le Grand Pressigny  to look forward to as well.

In addition to paying guests this year we are finding ourselves playing host to some family members and hopefully some of our friends, who despite the travel nightmare, are proposing to come visit us.

The booking calendar is looking fairly healthy so far with some previous guests returning and some new ones from as far afield as Australia and America.  We always enjoy meeting new people and have had many an entertaining evening swapping anecdotes over a meal or a glass or two of wine.

Whatever happened to cheap flights?

When we first started visiting this area of France in 2004, before we re-located, we were able to fly to Tours or Poitiers from Prestwick(10minutes from my mother in Ayr, and ironically £10 in a taxi)  via Stansted courtesy of Ryanair for the  princely sum of £10 per flight. When we moved here in 2008, I was able to make regular visits to Scotland easily and cheaply, unfortunately Ryanair no longer fly from Stansted to Prestwick making air travel for us very difficult.

 I ( Pauline) have had occasion to try to get back to Scotland for a wedding at the end of May.  As it is during the letting season, I cannot afford to stay long. Trying to co-ordinate flights is proving to be a nightmare. I can fly to London Stansted from Tours or Poitiers on certain days of the week and get a flight to Glasgow with Easyjet.  It is then necessary to get 2 buses or a bus and a train to Ayr from Glasgow airport or hire a car. To come back I cannot get to Glasgow airport, unless I hire a car, in time to catch a flight to Stansted.  Academic, as the flight to France leaves before the Scottish flight gets in. Other options include Tours to Dublin, Dublin to Prestwick, but coming back it is again difficult to co-ordinate flights from Prestwick to tie in with the flight to Tours.  Another option is CDG to Glasgow but involves train travel to Paris and buses to and from the airpport.  In short, a £60, straightforward return journey has escalated into a very costly exercise in excess of £200 and involving a great deal of research in order to co-ordinate flights.  I have decided that I have to decline the invitation and pay a flying visit to my Mum at a time when flights are not too expensive and I am not having to be there for a certain event.Maybe I should have learned to ride a Harley like Jean.

On a recent visit to Scotland we met up with some friends, who like us relied on Ryanair to get them to and from London Stansted and Prestwick.  They are finding the same problems, increased costs and inconvenience with travelling times.  We all agreed that while we are aware of the bad press afforded to Ryanair, their prices are value for money and that as long as you do not expect too much from them, you will not be disappointed...if you can find a flight!.

The video below still makes me smile and hanker after those cheap flights.

€ 1.00 coffee in Paris? - yes you can!

When we were out and about recently in Paris with Richard and Francoise they said they would take us to a local cafe where you could get a coffee for € 1.00  - in Paris? - surely not! We went along to 'Caves Populaires' or was that 'Caves du Chalet' - anyway whatever the name, sure enough there it was on offer € 1.00 coffee! As it happens we decided on a glass of wine - I actually had a Touraine blanc to support our local vintners - very nice too We also had cheese and charcuterie for two that fed the four of us - great - and all for € 22.00. The place itself is simply decorated with very pleasant staff - we'll go back.

As it happens in my continuing research for about-paris.com I actually found out that the € 1.00 coffee is not actually so rare - there around 100 establishment offering this -you can check their location here on the Paris.fr website.

Church on Sunday...Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois

Another Paris church this time the former 'Church of Kings',Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois, which sits opposite the Palais du Louvre on Place de Louvre. There has been a place of worship here since the 8th century this was destroyed during the Norman invation at the end of the 9th century.

It took until the 11th centuy before it was rebuilt, it was then modified in the first half of the12th century and then again in 14th and 16th century. The church was badly damaged during the French Revolution and converted into a feed store and then print house before being restored between 1838 and 1855.

It was during the 14th century That the church became the Royal parish during  when the Royals moved to the Louvre.

You enter the church through a porch consisting of five arches front and two side arcades.

..The nave of the church.

Only a two of the original 17th cwntury stained glass windows remain within the apse of the church

There are two impressive, if shallow, side chapels.

  

The organ in the church was originally intended for Sainte Chapelle.

Where's Joan...

The church sits beside the Marie of the 1st arrondissement and with the bell tower separating them gives it a symmetrical look.. Legend has it that the bell of St-Germain l'Auxerrois was used as a signal to begin the St.Bartholomew's day massacre in 1572.

Love locks of Paris...

We love many things about Paris but some of our favourite things are its bridges this is Pomt des Arts near the Louvre with its 'love locks' and as ever there is more to these than meets the eye...check out the story here. 

2013 calendar...February

February

January

Paris a walk in the park...

While still on the subject of Pais I thought I'd share this little video I found will making a page for one of our favourite parks in the city (Parc Monceau) for my site about-paris.com  - quite charming

Meeting your Paris neighbours...

When we stayed with Richard and Francoise In Paris on the way home from Scotland we took the opportunity to introduce them to a nearby neighbour of theirs - much to their surprise!

 As it happens French friends of ours who have a holiday home in Barrou stay within a shot walk of them. We were invited round for an aperitif and the introductions were made - with hopefully the beginning of new friendships. It is certainly a small world.

Church on Sunday...Saint-Étienne-du-Mont,Paris

Staying in Paris this Sunday with a visit to Saint-Etienne-du-Mont (Saint Stephen on the mount) which sits behind its grand neighbour the Pantheon in Paris. Although dedicated to Saint Etienne the church has a greater part to play in the religious order of Paris.It was here that the remains of the Patroness of the city, Saint Genevieve, lay entombed awaiting the completion of what was going to be the most spectacular church  in the city. What is now the 'Pantheon' was intended as her new resting place built to replace a small church that had been nearby where her tomb had been since the sixth century. It was Louis XV who had it built in her honour and indeed she did spend time there after its completion in 1626 (it  had taken over 130 yrs to build) before being removed by the Revolutionists in 1789.The church was then dedicated to the Revolution, and  immediately secularised as the 'Panthéon'.

After the Revolution some bones and a few other relics of the saint were said to have been recovered and replaced in the sarcophagus they had once occupied within the church of Saint-Etienne-du-Mont - so in fact the Patroness of Paris has no 'official' resting place!


That said, her current location isn't shabby...it just happens to bear some other saint's name!

It is built in a very flamboyant Gothic style and certainly has the 'wow' factor.

It has a rather elaborate rood screen separating the nave from the choir, probably  there to separate the riff-raff from the nobility, with spiral staircases on either side.(Much better pictures than mine here...)

It has a rather ornate altar worthy of its surroundings.

The organ

We actually didn't spend as much time in here as we;d have liked as guests started to arrive for a wedding although they showed no heed to us or the other tourist mulling about.

It was fitting that the church  dedicated to the saviour of Paris should also find a place for our own Joan - the saviour of France!

Storing...

Way back in 2009 we bought a towel radiator from the above store - due to some bad project planning on my behalf it wasn't actually fitted until over a year later (must have been on sale). After it was installed it was fine for a couple of years but suddenly stopped working. It was not used that often as it was in 'Les Balcons' and we only do summer lets,so it was a bit disappointing. Thinking it was sure to be out of the guarantee period we bought a replacement (different type obviously) but I kept the old one as it was still 'brand new' and perhaps I could fix whatever problem it had - into storage it went for me to look at in my spare time!

Imagine our surprise on our return home from Scotland to find among our mail a letter from Leroy Merlin telling us these radiators had in fact been faulty and should be returned to the store for exchange!

Now I wonder how many people still had them after this time? Anyway on Thursday I went into one of my my 'storage areas' and retrieved said item and took it back to the store in Poitiers with the receipt that Pauline's efficient filling system had no problem in producing,

They handled it as if bought yesterday and when we told them we had already replaced it they said it was not a problem and immediately credited our card with the value (at today's price) plus gave us a voucher for €30 for our trouble - who said customer service was dead?

Now this little story highlights a couple of things about us - my inability to throw anything out and Pauline's obsession with receipts / paperwork - but on this occasion these little foibles were to our advantage. Now as Pauline says if we could turn all the items I have stored away into capital in this way we might get a nice holiday out of it!

Inside out...

Looking through one of the windows at the Musee Carnavalet in Paris into the courtyard.

All a question of taste...

Here's a Picasso from 'Mussee Carnavalet' in Paris...mmm...

Francoise much preferred this - me, not so sure about those clouds.

Paris...always entertaining!

Entertainers at Place des Voges

Prêt-à-manger, Paris style...

 During our walk around the Marais district of Paris, Richard and Francoise suggested we head along Rue des Rosiers to 'L'As du Fallafel' to sample what is said to be the best Falafel in Paris. What they forgot was that is closed on Saturdays (the day of our visit) respecting I suspect the Jewish Sabbath - Marais  has a large Jewish community (as well as a large gay community). The establishment across the street however was obviously not as observant and was taking advantage of the closure - I wonder if it only opens Friday pm and Saturdays? - it did have a 'temporary' feel to it.

We joined the small queue and were soon in possession of our various 'takes' on this middle eastern dish.

Pauline and Francoise had the vegetarian option (above) while Richard and I had the lamb and turkey  option. Now I have only ever had lamb carved from a rotating spit once in my life - post-pub obviously - when drink induced hunger demanded salt and fat in some form or other - I did not particularly enjoy it and it only served to convince me that it was not for me! I think the vision of a piece of meat that looks nothing like any animal I am aware of doesn't help matters. Notwithstanding the meat shavings I rather enjoyed the messy combination of 'things that I pointed to' served in a hollow pita bread. We ate on the pavement with fellow diners some of whom were better dressed for the occasion. 

Replete, we continued our walk.

Church on Sunday...St.Paul's, Paris

The St-Paul-St-Louis Church can be found squeezed between blocks on Rue Saint Antoine in the Marais district of Paris. The church was built between 1627 and 1641 in the Jesuit architectural style. Its design is said to be based on the Gesú church in Rome. If you are visiting one of the other attractions in the area you should make a point of popping in - you won't be disappointed!

The first Mass here was celebrated on Ascension Day, May 9, 1641 by none other than Cardinal Richelieu you can imagine the pomp and ceremony that day.

Looking up is a delight to the eyes, even on a dull day light filters in through the many windows of the church's 63 metre high dome and galleries.

The architectural detail is amazing.

Due to its proximity to the Bastille the church was badly ransacked during the start of the French Revolution.but it has been restored to its former glory aided by the inclusion of some paintings, one of them is 'Christ in the Garden of Olives' by Eugene Delacroix (French Romantic artist) hangs in the left transept of the church.

Built in 1867 the organ is rather impressive, its wooden housing is actually recognized as an historic monument. 

Where's Joan...she's here in all her glory.

Love the big red  front door!

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