Day 1 & 2 - Kate

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How great its is to be off the plane and in Paris. At day 2 and I am now absorbing France, unlike 24 hours ago when my body felt like I’d been up all night on some dance floor. My brain can now focus on the visual splendours before me, and how spectacular that is! On day 1, walking the streets it seems the people around Montparnasse are very down to earth, not unlike people in and around Annandale, where Betty lives. The streets are narrow and the traffic fast with lots of motorcyclists zipping in and around the cars and trucks. Plenty of cyclists too, that it was hard to be accept I had to remain a mere pedestrian. During the day we enquired at a very small bike shop about purchasing a used bike to get around on when we return to Paris. They are not cheap even though the mechanic said he’d buy it back from at 30%. The price was 259E works out to be $440ish. An older ladies 3 speed …. I was puzzled, so might shop around. We had a conversation about my shop and so on, in a hotch potch of French and English, with a few brand names thrown in for good measure! He took my card and was suitably impressed by the shop name, reading it out loud. As per usual, we dressed smart for dinner, and were rewarded in smiles as we made our way through the narrow streets towards the middle of the city. Betty’s grasp of French is impressive and a relief. I have apologised to her for my very basic understanding. My strength is navigation and visual memory, so have enjoyed guiding us up and down and around the streets of Montparnasse. Day 2 we collected a car not far from the hotel and navigated our way out of paris (with one wrong turn) and onto a very small vineyard town south of Dijon, called Saint Sernin du Plain. I have been for a quick walk around the gravel streets and I honestly feel like I have travelled back in time. Crumbled stone walls and iron gates, tiny red poppies sprinkled through the grass beside the road. The church here is one block away. It has a clock in the bell tower which conveniently rings its heavy bell to sound the hour and half hour .. not only that, it sounds the hour twice just in case you didn’t hear it the first time. Thank the heavens I was exhausted and slept right through until 5 am when I caught the last 3 tolls of the bell …. Arrg! I lay for a moment believing the time to be 3am …. But thankfully the second wind of tolls arrived to advise me of the correct hour, 5 am … that’s more like it! The landscape surrounding the town is rolling hills covered in vineyards and grazing fields. It feels somewhat familiar, and reminds me of Tasmanian landscape. The light too is softer, not unlike the warm low winter sun we left behind in Thirroul.

Kate

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Photos

Hotel Moulin Vert
On the right

Saint Sernin du Plain
Ah the bells!

weathered steel door
The door to our house at Clos de L'Abbaye

1930's bikes for sale
At Beaune Antique shop ... I should have brought a bigger bag.

Comments

[LAS & JAK]

Pavots et bicyclettes
Vos descriptions écrites sont très belles. Continuez svp.