Paris, 12 April 2012

No matter where you go in the world, you always have dirty laundry. We are extraordinarily fortunate that in this flat we have a wonderful Whirlpool (remember, "Guess whose Mum has a Whirlpool") washing machine with a fantastic 1500 per minute spin cycle. As a result, hanging overnight is usually sufficient to dry them completely.

Once we had done our morning chores, we set out to go to Place Saint Michel. We caught the Number 85 bus which wends its way through some of the most scenic and intriguing areas of Paris. The trip takes about 45 minutes to an hour depending on traffic, a journey which taken on the metro would be about fifteen minutes - but without the views. We wandered down to Shakespeare and Co., perhaps the most famous English bookstore in Paris, and then strolled back to the Île de la Cité, an island in the middle of the Seine.

Inside Shakespeare and Co.

Here, we made our way to the place Dauphine. This is a seriously classy section of the city. The triangular Place Dauphine is the second oldest royal square after the place des Vosges and dates from the first decade of the seventeenth century. It is named for the Dauphine, later Louis XIII whose statue can be found at the "pointy end."

The Dauphine

Knowing we probably could not afford the prices at the restaurants there, we picked up a baguette elsewhere and sat on the benches in the square with our picnic lunch enjoying the view. And what a view it is, some of the most picturesque old buildings in Paris.

Then it was back to Place Saint Michel to wander through the alleyways around the Sorbonne. Here, one can find good food at prices that are nothing short of phenomenal. A three course lunch will cost you about ten euro or about $15. But, of course, that doesn't include wine.

Beat that price, if you can!

Since we are going to Bourdeaux in a few weeks, we wanted to check out the place of departure, Gare Montparnasse. Back on a bus - this time Number 96 - which went through some of the swish neighbourhoods on its way to the station. It turned out to be an easy place to get around in , and we found the platform from which our train will depart. Hopefully we will have less trouble than the Granville-Paris express in 1895.

Granville–Paris Express wreck on 22 October 1895. The original Gare de l'Ouest name of the station is visible on the outside of the building.

A long underground hike took us to the Metro where we could catch the Number 12 which had us home in just over 30 minutes.