The Sounds of Paris

It's 3 o'clock on day 1 of our stay in Paris, and we are having a little lie down after the initial survey of the St Germaine neighbourhood, and a stroll along the River Seine past the stunning Notre Dame Cathedral. We had been here just half an hour before we felt the need to go into a cafe, sit at the bar and eat freshly buttered baguette and drink excellent coffee.  The owner smiled kindly at Deb's attempt at ordering in French, (though of course he spoke English), but with a big grin he generously commented on how well she had done!

Through the open shuttered windows here in the flat there are the sounds of people sitting at the numerous open air restaurants that line our small street, the echo of the church bell at the top of the hill has just sounded, and everywhere there are the sounds of Parisians enjoying a perfect Autumn day. It's probably about 22 degrees - just right!

We arrived into Paris after a 13 hour flight from Singapore, and you can't help but notice the difference in how things work. Changi airport was the model of efficiency, whereas CDG is tired, dirty and everything takes forever. The only highlight was that Jean-Paul (the taxi driver) was waiting for us at the appointed place and was only too eager to please. The check -in at the apartment went smoothly and we can now settle in to our incredibly (and typically so in Paris) small but very cute home away from home for the next 8 days.  We have everything we need here and are eagerly awaiting Cookie's arrival on Wednesday to share it with her.

D2 (David)