Paris and Champagne - ah.

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by anna (and david)

You can never go to Paris too many times, especially if you have good friends to see there. Luckily, we do. Leon and Caro, Dave and Aurelie. This time it was extra special as we were in Paris in time to celebrate Leon's 30th birthday with him and Caro.

We caught up with Leon and Bish on the Friday night over a traditional french meal. Thankfully, this was not too big a night, as we got up at 6am the next morning to watch Geelong (v Hawthorn) contest the AFL grand final in a dodgy Aussie bar, full of Australians still drunk from the night before. Having missed our win last year, I have now watched the Cats lose four grand finals, so I am now thinking I shouldn't watch next time we make it ... assuming we do in my lifetime! They played appallingly, and we were left feeling depressed as well as tired.

Still, after heading back to bed for a while, we woke up to a gorgeous day and whiled away the rest of Saturday with a great baked rabbit lunch (I think the tastiest rabbit I have ever had) on the balcony, followed by a big bike ride around Paris - somewhat larger than we expected as we took a wrong turn somewhere after the Eiffel tower, taking us through Paris' less touristed southern areas. Thankfully we had enough energy, provided by the very "now" Berthillion ice cream, which despite the hype, was genuinely delicious. We had a great dinner in a Corsican restaurant to finish the day.

The Sunday, Leon's birthday, we spent lazing in the sun in Bois de Vincennes with some yummy french meats and cheeses and, of course, a bottle of champagne (although a very pregnant Caro made the most of the zero alcohol beer available).

Finally, David went to the Louvre for the first time, and I went for my second. Up until this trip I had numerous excuses such as strikes and it being closed. No excuses this time - the Mona Lisa was definitely worth a look.

We spent the next week exploring the champagne region - four days, four champagne houses: Mercier, Veuve Cliquot, Mumm and Pommery, one great B&B and a very happy Anna having soaked up not only the great drops but, being the nerd I am, four different brands and their positioning showcases. Awesome. We had an amusing night in the midst of it, when going to the cinema in Reims we watched "Wackedness" in a cinema that we had entirely to ourselves. Very cool, but somewhat strange! I enjoyed the kind use of Leon's Audi for the trip and a little Italian place pre-cinema.

We book-ended our time in France with another weekend in Paris, staying in Bish and Aurelie's flat and also, again, with Leon and Caro for a few nights. David ticked off another great race event, as we attended the Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp. The weather was miserable but the day was great, even if, at 80 euros a bottle, drinking champagne was out of the question!!!! This is the richest race in Europe and is probably the equivalent of the Cox Plate in Australia, so it was fortunate we extended our stay in Paris for another weekend. Great day of racing with foreign raiders attempting to snatch the French prize money, but the Arc was won by a very impressive French 3YO filly called Zarkava who smashed allcomers. Obviously the local crowd enjoyed the win, even if half of the crowd seemed to be from the UK.

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Photos

Us with Caro enjoying Berthillion ince creams
"The" ice cream in Paris apparently

David presents the Louvre
David's finally visited the museum on his xth visit to Paris

Cinema for 2
Reims, France

Ain't love grand ..
... Anna with her first choice in bubbles in its headquarters

The first gallery in the Pommery cellars
The caves were used as a gallery for modern installations representing countries of the EU. This one for France used Ausralian finches who landed on electric guitars, creating music ... go figure ... very cool though

Ah the excitement!
David arrives at Longchamp for the Arc de Triomphe

A familiar image
David using modern technology to avoid the queues at the PMU booths, with the crowds beind him