Paris

Our apartment is  400m down the hill from Sacre Coeur in an interesting older area. The nearest Metro Lamarck has 100 odd stairs to climb up at the end of the day before you hit street level. We have a 2 level apartment with a spiral iron staircase linking the living area with the downstairs bathroom and kids room. Arkady has a loft bed high above Anika's bed. The courtyard at the back is small and surrounded by tall apartment blocks and stepped rooftop views going all the way back up the  hillside.
We have little corner shop areas close by with boulangeries, bistros, cafes etc. There is a beautiful square nearby which caters for the many young children living in the area - cool playground facilities and run-around hedged courtyards.
The Montmartre backstreets are ancient and narrow - many artists have lived here at various stages of their careers and drunk themselves into creative oblivion in the bars and cafes.

The Sacre Coeur continues to be a tourist hotspot day and night so we are lucky to be on the other side of the hill. We can enjoy the atmosphere and then leave it behind. We've enjoyed shopping for food and have settled in for some lovely meals on the enclosed sunroom at the back of our apartment.

How good is goat's cheese? We had actually discovered  'chevre' (cheese) in Sydney but the French love it and it's everywhere on the menu- crepes, quiches, salads.












Yesterday we had a nice aimless, leisurely stroll around Isle St Louis near Notre Dame Cathedral and then through the Tuilleries gardens.
The weather has been sensational so there were thousands of sun worshippers on the lawns, by the ponds, lounging on those heavy duty iron Parisian lounge chairs, smoking en plein air and enjoying a glass of wine on the terraces.

All the major monuments look sensational, glistening in the sun, ready for their big close-ups. And millions of touristy shutterbugs can't be wrong. It's packed with people soaking it all up. In fact most of the tourists seem to be French.
Actually there were a few German school groups and a few noisy Italian school groups and some weird dutch-sounding Belgians.




How much fun can a European school student have?