Paris - Run Jason Run!

For some reason...it ended up being a present week...I love presents when you are least expecting them (hint hint Yang!). Yang had a bottle of 1995 Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame Champagne Brut (La Grande Dame is the prestige label for Veuve Clicquot...like Dom Pérignon is the prestige label for Moët & Chandon) delivered to his desk at work...a gift for just a really simple favour...THANKS HENRY & INCHEE!

Then the next day I received this hamper from Harrods...courtesy of Qantas...long story...but in essence, after my horrendous flight from Perth to London in December, instead of being 'passive aggressive' (I usually never officially complain...instead I just winge winge winge...it's the English thing to do!), I decided to write a 3 page letter of complaint and for once, they actually did something about it. Cool hamper...not sure how we are going to finish everything.

On Thursday, Yang and Ryan went to watch The 39 Steps, an Alfred Hitchcock inspired 'whodunnit' play. With only a cast of 4 and limited props and sets, they managed to recreate every scene in Hitchcock's acclaimed 1935 interpretation of John Buchan's novel. It was quite impressive as the cast members played 150 characters between the 4 of them!

On Friday, Yang headed out to take night shots of the London Eye and South Bank with Linus, Felix and Jason Tsui. Then dinner, with them and their respective halves at Strada on South Bank (the Royal Festival Hall branch). Yang's curse struck again as his meal was served after everyone else had finished eating. And then it was not what he ordered. And then it was under-cooked. Perhaps another candidate for the "Smiths of Smithfields boycott"? It's a story for another time perhaps, but in summary "SOS" remains the pinnacle of bad service; what a fitting acronym!

Saturday 14 April 2007
Yang and I headed to Paris early this morning and made it in good time to join Jason, Ammy, Peter and Janie at Café de Flore on Boulevard Saint-Germain. This cafe (and its neighbour Les Deux Magots) were haunts for the literary, intellectuals, existentialists and artists in the post-war years. This included Gaby Aghion and Jacques Lenoir, whom, in 1956, debuted the first collection of Chloé over breakfast at Café de Flore. This is also one of Kylie Minogue's favourite spots in Paris. It's a bit of a people watching cafe...and the guys got a great seat on the terrace for us to do just that!

After brunch, Yang and I headed off to run a few shopping errands. We discovered a new street (Rue de Grenelle) this trip which is a quainter version of Avenue Montaigne...without the tourists. We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping around St Germain (such a lovely area) and also made our first trip to Le Bon Marche, the first department store in the world. The current Le Bon Marche building was constructed by L. A. Boileau and Gustave Eiffel. I don't know why we never made it to Le Bon Marche before...it has such cool stuff on sale and the interior of the store is modern mixed with Art Deco.

Next stop was the recently completed Louis Vuitton Flagship Store on Avenue des Champs Elysées. We were very impressed with the architecture and the interior design of the store (especially the central dome of the building with the mirrors and hundreds of suspended metal rods), but the number of tourists in the store was quite overwhelming. However, most of the tourists were on the ground floor, so Yang and I spent most of our time upstairs trying on clothes (well I did!). As you would expect, the prices (though cheaper than anywhere else in the world) are tear inducing, so we left empty handed.

We followed this with more shopping at Galeries Lafayette before dinner at La Table de Joël Robuchon. After dinner we had a drink at The Hemingway Bar, a quaint bar which kind of resembled a library (wood paneling on the walls and pictures of famous people with Hemingway). We were however a bit shocked that a G&T and a glass of champagne cost €26 and €29 respectively...our most expensive drinks ever...glad I am still earning pounds.

Sunday 15 April 2007
We woke up early and met Ammy, Peter and Janie on Avenue des Champs Elysées for the start of the Paris Marathon, as the purpose of this trip was not actually shopping...it was to support Jason in his first marathon. Watching the start was amazing...30000 people running at you down the Avenue des Champs Elysées with the Arc de Triomphe in the background was so cool. Jason ran by the side at the start, so Yang managed to grab a picture of him running past us.

After a quick breakfast, we headed to Pont Marie to try and get another glimpse of Jason...this time, we all totally missed him...he actually saw us...but it was not entirely our fault as Jason was about 5-10 minutes ahead of his group at that time so we weren't expecting him so soon.




To ensure we could get more photos of Jason, we got back on the Metro and headed to Avenue Foch for the finish. We arrived about 3 hours into the marathon at the end, but it was crowded...given the winner made it over the line in 2 hours 7 minutes and 19 seconds...that's an average of around 20km/hour...and I can only jog at 10km/hr and only for 1 hour...yikes! We did catch a glimpse of Jason this time (the runners were more spaced apart at this stage), just a few hundred metres from the finishing line. The whole experience was really exciting and the atmosphere was great with spectators cheering everyone on...it makes traveling all the more fun when you have an event to go to...just like the FIFA World Cup we went to last year. We met Jason at the end of the runner's enclosure and he didn't look that tired; he even walked back to the apartment (about 1.5kms away). WELL DONE JASON - who finished in 3 hours 50 minutes and 36 seconds and was ranked 8432 out of 28,261 starters...not a bad first effort!

We had a late lunch at Crêperie des Arts on Rue St André des Arts (mental note...lots of Crêperies on this street) and then Jason, Ammy and Peter left to take Janie sightseeing, whilst we wandered around more of St Germain and its many Art Shops. As it was 30°C, we queued up for 20 minutes for ice-cream at Amorino...it was definitely worth the wait! Then we walked along the Seine and towards the Lourve before heading back to our hotel to pick up our bags.

We took the Metro to Tolbiac for a quick dinner at Pho 14 and then made our way back to Gare du Nord to catch the Eurostar back to London.

Having been to Paris 4 times (Yang 5 times), this was one of the best trips because the weather was great, the atmosphere at the Paris Marathon was great (we even had a French man come up to us and ask if we needed help with directions whilst we were looking at a map...you don't get usually get that from Parisiens!), the company was great and we discovered some more new things too. Paris has definitely grown on me over time...I didn't really like it when I first visited, but once you stop going to all the touristy places and just enjoy the shopping, the café lifestyle (it's like the Subiaco Hotel and Oriel in its heyday at every corner!) and most importantly the food...it's fantastic...I could see myself living here for a while (Yang?). I can definitely see what Cole Porter was on about when he wrote "I love Paris".

I love paris in the spring time
I love paris in the fall
I love paris in the summer when it sizzles
I love paris in the winter when it drizzles