Salut Paris

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So half a bottle of palinka last night doesn’t seem like such a great idea now. But we got ourselves together and to the airport by not long after 5am, and waited around for a couple of hours for our flight, only to be told that it was delayed until possibly (whatever that means) 9am.

Top tip for tourists to Hungary…if you want a coffee or a bite to eat, don’t wait until you get to the airport. The airport terminal mark up is horrendous, 4 - 5 times what you’d pay at the market hall or a little side street café. On the other hand if you are after some Unicum to take home and torture your friends with (and you should do this), don’t buy it in town (5500 Forint for 1L), or at Viségrad (8000 Forint for 1L), or even at the market hall (4500 Forint for 1L), but pick it up on your way out at the airport for $10E (2600 Forint for 1L). We brought our street cred’, and waited until the airport.

We arrive in Paris a couple of hours later, and got into town around 1.30pm after a little bit of fatigued dehydrated and aimless wandering the streets searching for our apartment. It’s an awesome afternoon - nearing 25C - and after a nap (having a baby is a great excuse to catch some zzz’s in the afternoon) we decided to make the most of it with a stroll around the local area. We’re in the 2e district - right by a metro stop (Bonne Nouvelle) and close to a lot of Parisian activity…its literally humming here (with vespa’s and scooters everywhere), and despite a bit of noise from the neighbours it’s a superb location. Our stroll lead us down a number of intriguing side streets in a district full of dodgy looking fashion outlets, down to the Pont Neuf and the arbitrary wander past Cathédrale Notre Dame, and the Town Hall. I think Quasimodo got it wrong when we lamented “The bells, the bells!”, if he had really been paying attention we would have hailed “The doors, the doors!”. Mon dieu, c’est magnifique!

3 hours later we found our way back to the apartment and crashed after a very long day in the field. We’ve gonna have to get back on form to be back into it tomorrow.

Kaspar is 8 months old today. This month he has flown half way around the world, learned how to squeal piercingly loud when he wants whatever he can see someone else eating, met his Hungarian rellies, put on what feels like 10 kgs, and grown a couple more teeth. That will take some beating this month.

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