Onto to Paris and our walking foodie tour!

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Janine decided, given it was our last day in champagne, that we needed to have a champagne breakfast! Both of us were first up so we set up the breakfast table and eventually Peri, Sue and Louise joined us. Once again we had freshly cooked croissants as well as muesli, fruit and yoghurt. We had a coffee pod machine which meant we were able to make our own coffees - yay! We then all started getting ready to leave, which required showers, packing and cleaning up the apartment! Busy busy.

It started raining this morning - just when we needed to head to the train! We had decided we all wanted to walk to the train station so the rain made it more interesting. After 20 minutes we arrived all a bit wet! We were scheduled to get the train at 11:15 and we made it with time to spare. The trip only took 45 minutes to arrive at Paris Est. as we came off the train we saw Jess and Con! They had just arrive from Strasbourg and it was so great to see them! After waiting for a while to get Metro tickets, that weren't happening very quickly, Jess Con Janine and I decided we would get a taxi as we were all staying in the same apartment. We left the girls to their own devices as they had to check into different apartments and hotels. We needed to be at our apartment to meet the lady to check us in and we got there with 5 mins to spare. She arrived a little later and we got our bags up to the first floor, thanks to an extremely skinny lift! Once we finished the check in process we sorted ourselves out as we had to be downstairs to meet Ute for our Paris walking tour.

i had read about Ute and her Paris foodie walking tour in the Qantas magazine almost 2 years ago and told Janine about her, knowing that she was going to have her birthday in France. Ute is very good friends with George Colombaris from Masterchef as well as many other well know chefs in Australia. She lived in Australia most of her life but has lived in Paris for about 10 years. Ute arrived in time and we just waited for Peri, Sue and Lou to join us and then we were off on our 4 hour walking tour.

Ute was fantastic! Over the four hours she pointed out all the good boulangerie (bakery) and fromagerie (cheese shop) as well as a local market that she knew would be open tomorrow - all in our local neighborhood. She explained we are staying on the left bank and the area our apartment is in is the Latin Quarter. Peri is in St Germain but it is just further down the Boulevard St Germain, which we are also on. After exploring our area and purchasing a lot of baguettes, cheeses, terrines and assortments of other goodies including a bottle of wine, we headed to a park to have a picnic. She explained this is a very French thing to do - and sure enough, we were not the only people in this little park, enjoying the good food and wine and sunshine! So many parts of Australia we cannot drink alcohol in public yet in Europe it is very accepted. Such a shame.

After our delicious lunch we walked over to the right bank and Ute showed us how Parisians enjoying sitting on the banks of the Seine, eating and drinking with friends. She then took us through Haut Upper Marais and we visited a beautiful place that only locals know - Les Archives. Everyone thinks it costs money to get in (it doesn't but there is a bag check) and why would you want to see an archives building anyway! So, we went in and it is a beautiful place! Stunning - and has this amazing garden that the public can wander through but given it isn't well known, is very peaceful. An oasis in the middle of a busy city! From here we walked to Marché des Enfants rouge (covered foodie market), La Glacerie (amazing icecream), and Ute's favourite Pâtisserie Pain de Sucre where we got to try a pie made with duck and foie gras! Ohmygoodness - amazing but oh so rich! We wandered up Rue de Temple and saw where our restaurant for dinner tonight was. We ended the tour by sitting in a bar on the street enjoying Ute's company until it was time to part. What an experience - I would highly recommend www.uteinparis.com Unique Taste Experiences.

We all headed back to our accommodation to get ready for our dinner tonight, which was booked for 7:30 and Ute advised we cannot be late for! Not long after arriving back at our apartment, Ferris and Phil arrived! More excitement as now the whole gang is together. Ferris and Phil had been in the south of France since Monday following the Tour de France! It was quite the challenge to get everyone ready in time to head out and in the end, Jess Con and I jumped into a cab as we knew we were cutting it fine. We had received a message from Sue and Lou so we knew they were at the restaurant - phew! In the end Janine, Ferris and Phil walked as there were no cabs but they arrived about 5 mins after us. Traffic was crazy as it was a Friday night so the taxi wasn't the best option. Peri then joined us and the whole team was together - yay!

We had a lovely dinner at Grand Cœur which is another Michelin star restauran. The restaurant is outside but in a courtyard, surrounded by buildings that have a theatre and dance school so we got to hear the music being played and it really added to the atmosphere! Especially cute were the little ballerina's walking past in their tutu's.

My first course was a delicious mussel crevice and for the main I had the lamb shoulder (as did nearly everyone else in our group!). We had a fun night with lots of conversations as we all had many, many stories to share with each other!

After dinner we walked back to our accommodatirón via Notre Dame cathedral - what an amazing sight! Everywhere you walk you seeing these imposing and amazing buildings. Oh la la - what a city!

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