Arriving in Paris

Cafe in Paris

As a prelude to our year in Thailand Celine decided to take a few weeks trip to see her family in France. Luckily, I was invited. It has nearly been two years since Celine had been back to France. I have not been back since 2008; before we were married.

We arrived on Sunday morning where we met Celine’s father. He lives in the centre of Paris in arrondissiment (inner city suburb) 9. It is a very cool part of town. He picked us up from the airport. We drove past the Arc de Triomphe and down the Avenue Champs-Élysées on the way to his apartment.

We spent the day walking the streets, eating French food and catching up. It is such a treat to walk around Paris. Each shop has it’s own quaint identity. The shops are quite small but always endearing. There are a mass of cafes in Paris, always filled with Parisians drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes.

On a Sunday the streets are relatively empty as most shops are closed. For this reason the bakeries have long lines as people queue to collect their bread. French people buy there bread once or twice a day. Everywhere you walk people are carrying baguettes, ripping off the tip and eating it as they walk home. We stopped at a café, sat outside and ordered a coffee. A very famous Parisian, Micho, king of the cabaret, walked in. Apparently many famous people stop and mingle in and around this area; not to far from Montmartre. We chatted to a few Parisians, who are in the acting scene, and they warmly welcomed me to Paris.

Lining up for bread

I love the architecture in Paris. You can walk around either small cobbled streets or large Haussmann inspired boulevards; admiring the grand buildings that line the roads. Celine would point out specific things like the shutters on the houses or the specific style of roof; both typically French.

We ate a steak and gratin (like a potato bake) for lunch; first enjoying an aperitif – again typically French. I have not had a steak for a while – it was awesome. We spent the afternoon walking more of the nearby streets; discovering the Opera and a few other famous landmarks. By around 7pm, which was 2am Hanoi time, we walked back home had a delicious meal and went to bed. At 5.45am we got up to catch the TGV to Marseille.

Paris National Opera House

I am very excited to be back in France.