Paris: Bon Apetit and C'est la Vie

We arrived in Paris at the ungodly hour of 6am after a 9hr bus ride, with seats that reclined to almost 45 degrees and a 2am bus changeover. Felix was ecstatic to be back in the mother(/father)land, and Phoebe was ecstatic to be surrounded by crowds of grumpy Parisians.

We were welcomed by Felix's grandmother Mounie, who frequently mistook Felix for his dad Geoffroy. Mounie's apartment is ideally located opposite the train station, and about a half-hour train ride out of central Paris. Her generosity made for a very enjoyable 5 days, with endless amounts of delicious food, wise words on where to go in Paris, long hours of sleep and even the use of her little car! We managed to get to Chartres and back driving on the right side of the motorway, without a single death.

Our days spent in Paris were filled with meeting lots of Felix's family, eating sheep cheese, rabbit, wine and bread, and of course doing our best to blend in with the locals, while blatantly tourist-ing. Continuing our trend of learning new European board games, we learnt some sweet new French ones from Felix's uncle Thomas (the introducer of Werewolf) and his family! Some of the games weren't particularly European, and involved shouting at each other in Japanese.

 Us with Mounie in her cute wee apartment.

Lac du Mail, 2 minutes from Mounie's apartment in Orsay.

A gargoyle-like statue in the Jardins du Luxembourg.

Notre-Dame de Paris... It was too grand not to take a photo of it!

Felix doing a pretty good job of looking French, eating a crepe by the Seine.

 Croissant! Hoh hoh hohh!

Felix and his French/Irish cousin/tourguide, Neal.

 

The Mona Lisa at the Louvre. Just tricking, that's Phoebe. Lol.

 The best of our dirty selfies, taken near where Neal lives in Paris.

Phoebe frolicking in the bushes behind the Chartres Cathedral.

 After realising how terrible our selfies were getting, we slowly began to master the art of self-timer...

 ...To breath-taking effects.

Little Felix, lost in Chartres.

The clouds parted for a glimpse of our lady in all her glory. The splendid Cathedrale de Chartres.

 Phoebe losing her footing on the catwalk.

An old woman solemnly walking through the autumn leaves at dusk near
the Viaduct at Bures-sur-Yvette. (Just tricking, that's Phoebe again.)

Next time: Shovelling snow in Sainte-Foy!