Was nice to mooch around today after the hectic few days 

We decided to have a proper dinner so went to a restaurant two doors down, had an amazing meal

I ordered kind prawns, I have never seen prawns this big, it was so delicious, we all had a great meal

 Trev and I shared this dessert, chocolate fondant with red berry nice cream, sensational

Then they bought this out for us to share

Yum. It was a bit quieter today as we have discovered its noisy when there is a cruise ship visiting, they are here almost everyday.

We caught the train from Paris to Villefranche, it was about 5 and a half hours. Our apartment is sensational right in the middle of the village and on the waters edge.

The view from our window.

Trev in the window

This village is so lovely, it’s warm, approx 24 degrees and doesn’t drop much at night, 

Our room is lovely, we have no air conditioning, but have fans, thank god, it’s very noisy at night, but the fan blocks out some noise, lol

On our last night in Paris we did the night lights tour

Jenny and I set off to the shops this morning we had a short couple of hours before I had to leave to go to Monet’s Garden.

After such a beautiful afternoon we drove back through wee villages on the way to Paris.  I had the best day.  After dinner we headed out to the ‘Paris by night’ tour,  will put the photos up tomorrow.

This morning we had a wee sleep in till 7, lol. Trev and I headed off to the Louvre. It’s very impressive and you can take photos. 

 

 

 This is the scrum to see Mona

We all met up for lunch and did a river boat cruise.

 

We headed home for a snack and a snooze cos we were booked into the Moulin Rouge show and dinner at 11pm. The show was amazing and the costumes (what there was of them) were outstanding, the only thing was we didn’t get dinner, oops so on the way home at 1.30am we had to stop in at a kebab shop in the red light district and get dinner, lol

We left London on Friday and travelled on the Euro Star train to Paris. Arrived to a beautiful warm sunny day.  As we were exiting the station we were approached by a nice Frenchman who offered us a ride to our hotel in his luxury van, the cost 85€. We were unsure about this, I had read in the guidebook that taxis don’t like taking more than 3 passengers plus the queue for taxis was a mile long, it was hot and we had large luggage, so to be sure we approached another man and asked how much his van was, he quoted the same, so we sucked it up and took the van. It was a very nice black luxury van and we were given free water!!  We arrived at our hotel and checked in, I asked the lovely lady how much it should cost for a van from the station to our hotel she said €18, WTF!!! We’ve been ripped, and after looking on the map, the station was just near our hotel, sigh.

We headed out for a nearby cafe and a celebratory drink to toast our arrival in Paris. Found one on the corner with a lovely Frenchman waiter, he was funny and very helpful.  We ordered champers and cheese, yum. 

Just a wee aside, when we got to Singapore, we headed for a bar in the airport, playing an all blacks game, ordered drinks and Trev went to pay, he was promptly handed the card back …….. It was his NZ eftpos card not his visa, sigh! Anyway we have those cash passport cards but only with Euro on them, so at this Paris cafe it was his first opportunity to use it.  He heads up to the bar to pay, a few minutes later, he calls out to us asking where the # button is on the eftpos terminal ???? The guy calls out for the wife to come help, Jenny goes in lol, he asks if she’s the wife, Jenny says she’s the second wife.  (Trev had stored the pin for this card in his phone) Anyway I head in and remind him that he had put random numbers in his phone with the pin to foil anyone who might take his phone and try to use the card, the guy was hilarious, Trev completes the transaction and we head off to have a look around. We are near the Scare Coeur.

We climb the 300 steps to the top, awesome views.

There are guys hanging around here with boxes of Heineken selling individual bottles, one guy must have got tired of selling and drunk his box, he was surrounded by security trying to make him sit up etc but he was very floppy, lolling on the ground and couldn’t sit up, so funny.

We had a light dinner and then had the best nights sleep, so much better having air conditioning and quiet room, yay.

Phew yesterday was action packed as we tried to accommodate everything we all wanted to do. We were up early and had breakfast at our usual spot yum! Then off on the underground to the Tower of London. 

When we came out the queues were long so we were happy we had got there early.

Absolutely amazing.  Couldn’t take photos in some parts, the Crown Jewels were incredible and even a non-royal like Trev thoroughly enjoyed it.  Then off on huge tube, thanks Jenny T for the Oyster card, very handy, to Westminster to go through the Abbey.  

We had to queue for about 15 mins but it was soo worth it, so amazing, weren’t allowed to take photos but got some in the cloisters and outside.  Got talking to one of the guides an ex-policeman who was really interesting and told us lots of stories about the royal family and the ones buried in there Abbey.

This photo was a plaque showing James Cook’s circumnavigation.  After the Abbey we headed off for refreshments to Harrods.

I didn’t realise how massive the store is, mind blowing.  Headed to the Tea Room and had lunch, pea and ham soup with sandwiches. I had English rose tea, made from roses.

Had a wonder around the store, Trev walking around with his mouth gaping, mainly at the prices lol.

 This table was £250,000.00!! We had a look at the Christmas department. 

Then on the way home stopped off at Notting Hill. Called in to see Jamie Oliver. An awesome shop and cafe.

I am totally over my ‘flying nun on steroids’ hairdo, you know what I’m talking about Helen, so called into a salon in Notting Hill for a wash and blow dry…… Turns out the salon is owned by a kiwi!!! Think I paid top dollar tho @ £39!!! Last night we went out for dinner with friends of Jenny and Kelvin at a local pub, lovely.  

All packed up now and off to Paris today.