Le jour dernier. A good nights sleep in a comfortable bed in a large airy room does wonders. Energy has returned, so today we took one of the walking tours. Some walking tours are fee based, this one is free but participants are expected to give the tour guide a "tip" commensurate with what they consider the value of the tour.
This tour walked around Montmartre, with its bobo inhabitants (a common terminology for many of the residents, rich population who like to live, or pretend they can live a non-traditional lifestyle ..... BOurgeois BOhemians = bobo).
The walk took about 90 minutes, and the Montmartre area is a bit hilly, so once again we (I, Greg) started to hit the brick wall when we sat down to lunch in a classic French corner cafe-bar called Le Barbe de Papa (it used to be a barber shop, and a couple of the barber chairs are still used for dining customers). A fantastically presented simple egg salad with baby prawns (crevette) and drizzled with balsamic.
Although the hotel would mind our bags for the day (our flight wasn't until 2325), as we prepared to check-out we began to wonder whether it mightn't be a bad idea to have a room to fall back on later in the day, just in case "someone" needed a rest. The hotel was fully booked, but it did include a very late check-in, so they offered us a discounted price to use the room until about 8pm. Perfect arrangement, and it was needed. Greg went back to rest for an hour or so later in the afternoon.
I (Val) headed off alone to do some exploring and shopping. I very much wanted to explore the Marais area the oldest part of Paris but ran out of time and surprise surprise it started to rain so I headed back to base.
Bags packed, taxi from the hotel to Gare du Nord station, RER B train to Charles de Gaulle Airport, dinner in the Business class lounge of Air France, on a plane in an hour or so, and we're 24 hours from Sydney.
Then home to the little kittens who have probably been spoilt rotten by Susan, and who probably expect us to keep it up!
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