Sunday was our last full day in Shetland and we still had one thing to do... Brian's bucket list item of "if there is a sea or an ocean where we travel, I want to put my feet in the water".... and in this case he just had to go to an extreme... the North Sea at the northernmost settlement in the UK.
The weather was forecast to be really lousy but when we awoke it was a nice clear blue sky with only a little wind. It was still early and Fjara didn't open until 10:00AM so we stopped at the Old Harbour Cafe for an egg and sausage roll and a latte each, however in this case, latte meant a really weak cup of instant Nescafe and the egg and sausage rolls were, well, let's just say that Fjara doesn't have to worry about the competition!
Anyway, up island we headed. Close to an hour to Toft (on the mainland), ferry to Ulsta on the island of Yell, a hurried 25 minute drive to just catch the ferry at Gutcher to Belmont on the island of Unst. Once on Unst we took our time as the weather was still quite good although the wind had picked up a bit. This day was unfortunate timing though as pretty well every tourist site we stopped at was closed (only open to the end of September, and here it was Oct 1). We did find one petrol station open so stopped there to fill up, just in case! Just outside of Haroldswick we came across one tourist thing that was open, a re-enactment of a Viking longhouse and boat...
...then we continued on our mission. Just outside of Norwick the road not only became a constant single track but narrower and narrower with the last few miles being mostly two ruts with grass in the middle and barely wide enough for our little Hyundai with no passing places. We guessed that the farm family living at the end of the road must have few encounters with other traffic. Lucky we didn't encounter anyone on that part (we did encounter one car on the way back but it was farther back where there were a few passing places and the other guy was nice enough to back up 100 yards or so to allow us to pass by). Anyway we did make it to Skaw Beach where Brian did get his feet wet...
... and Kris took a few minutes to become the northernmost knitter in the UK at that time (pretty sure since we were a bit north of the farm house)...
On the way south again we stopped at the
Muness Castle just outside of Oyeasound...
... and like the Viking longhouse it just had a sign on the door saying "door open, no key needed", so in both cases use the word "open" a bit loosely!
Since nothing much else was open and the sky was getting a bit darker we decided to just head back to the Shetland mainland before bad weather set in and maybe the ferries get cancelled! On the ferry from Yell to the mainland we were parked just behind a guy pulling a trailer full of sheep...
... there was much sheepy bleating on that crossing!
The weather stayed decent (i.e. dry) across Unst and Yell, but just after we got off the ferry at Toft, on the mainland, the skies opened up and it absolutely poured with heavy winds all the way back to Lerwick. At times it seemed the little Hyundai was going to take flight!
By the time we got back to Lerwick and had a bit of a rest and finish packing at the guest house, the rain had abated enough that we decided to walk down to the Queens Hotel pub one last time. BUT... they were out of haddock, so we settled on scallops for Brian and salmon pate for Kris and, after that day, definitely some beer and wine!
Monday morning we stopped in at the Peerie Shop Cafe for our final Shetland meal, a breakfast of scrambled eggs for Brian and smoked salmon with cream cheese on a bagel for Kris and a couple of real lattes. Then it was off towards the airport. On the way we stopped in Hoswick, where Kris picked up one last Shetland scarf and a pair of mitts, then since we still had a bit of time, at the Jarlshof archaeology site that Brian visited last week. Man was it windy there, so just a pretty quick visit so Kris could have a look. Returning the rental car was the easiest ever. We took the keys back to the counter, the agent asked "was everything ok?" Yes. "Did the car have about the same amount of petrol as when you picked it up?" Yes, about the same. So she turned around and tossed the keys onto another counter. The end! While in the airport it started pouring and blowing a gale again but aside from getting a tad soaked walking out to the plane we left pretty much on time. It was a very bouncy flight but the strong tailwind did knock 20 minutes off the normal 60 minute flight. We wondered what the flights going the other way must have been like.
Back in Aberdeen we had a rest at the hotel (Carmelite) before Ann and Andy picked us up and we all went to Helen's place for a really nice home cooked Scottish meal... mince with mashed tatties and neeps (with some carrots mashed in) along with some
white pudding. This was followed by a tasty apple crumble with ice cream. We had a wonderful evening, chatting, reminiscing, and only a little drinking. Here we all are...
Tuesday morning we had enough time to walk up to the Cafe Nerro on Union Street where we likely had our last scones with jam and clotted cream of this trip, along with the usual lattes. Then it was time to get a cab to the airport and our Air France flight to Paris. Landing in Paris we thought we would not have to clear customs because we were coming from an EU country, but not so. The line was long and slow. Over an hour to get through which meant we were in the Paris rush hour going to our rental apartment but eventually we got there, met the owner's wife, and started to get settled in. Our apartment is on the fourth floor ... with elevator!!! and overlooks Place Voltaire and Au Cadran Voltaire, which will likely become our go to place in the evening for a sit at their sidewalk cafe, some great people watching and, of course, some wine...
Wednesday morning we started by going to the metro station downstairs and each getting a weekly Navigo pass. Kris had hers from our previous trip but Brian had to buy a new one (5 euro). These passes run Monday to Sunday but even though we are buying it on Wednesday, it is still cheaper than pretty well all alternatives. This weekly pass is 22.80 euro where a 5 day visitor pass with the same coverage is 65.80 euro. The visitor pass does offer some discounts but they have to be pretty sweet discounts to make up that difference.
When in a place like Paris we tend to limit ourselves to one touristy thing a day. Today we went to
Les Arts Decoratifs so that Kris could see the Christian Dior Couturier du Reve (Exhibition)...
We had to stand in line for about an hour before getting in. It was quite crowded but could have been worse. Apparently in these parts it is not considered rude to simply step in front of someone when they are reading about the exhibit in front of them! All in all a very interesting exhibit showing off some fabulous designs. The white dress on the left below is embroidered with feathers and the artist palette is a hat. Wardrobe staples, to be sure...
... and a lot of other House of Dior "stuff" that we quickly passed by. We spent about 2 hours in there. We then walked over to
Les Halles, both had a nice onion soup for lunch at Le Pan Quotidian, and the metro back home. Long day of standing and walking. Later, in the evening, while sitting at the sidewalk cafe Au Cadran Voltaire and having some nice wine, Kris asked "What was the best thing you saw today, at the Dior Exhibit?" and before Brian could answer she said "I know...the EXIT sign!!!" Sort of true but there were some interesting things in there. We had a good laugh. For dinner we had our own first homemade meal, a nice salad with boiled egg and sliced smoke duck meat. While in Paris this will be our main food strategy... nice lunch out then small salad with egg, fish, pork or duck for dinner.
Thursday we decided to head over to the "
Left Bank" and do some walking around. We took the metro to the "Palais Royal; Musee de Louvre" stop then walked through the underground shopping mall to emerge in the Place du Carrousel where there is the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel (a smaller version of the Arc de Triomphe at the end of the Champs d'Elysees)...
... we continued on, past the massive crowds lining up to get into the Louvre, crossing the Seine via the Pont du Carrousel, to get to
Sennelier, a purveyor of fine art supplies, namely paints, brushes, etc of all varieties, where we splurged a bit (a big bit actually) and bought some most excellent watercolour paint brushes. In their window they had a neat display of sculptures depicting paint tubes being squeezed in mouse traps with the paint squirting out...
We ambled along the Quai Voltaire before turning down Rue de Beaume in search of a place to get some lunch. On the corner with Rue de l'Universite, we came to a popular looking place, L'Esperance, so decided to give it a try. Excellent lunch of quiche and salad for Kris and croquet madame with salad for Brian. A busy little place with good food but the "facilities"... well, the men's was a squatty (see lots of that in Paris). After lunch we wandered numerous streets making our way to
Oska on Rue du Church-Midi, one of Kris' favourite clothing stores, but nothing in the way of a purchase today. Continuing on we did a lot of window shopping and in shop browsing until we made our way to Grom, on Rue de Seine, where we both had a rather large dish of delicious ice cream.
After that brief break it started to rain a bit so we headed down Rue du Four towards Le Bon Marche, a rather huge, and expensive, department store. Mostly we were interested in the food store, a separate building behind the main department store, where Kris picked up some "sugar buttons"...
... a fav with her knitting group back home. By then it was late afternoon and starting to rain a bit heavier so we jumped on the metro and made our way home, a quick stop at
Monoprix for groceries, a brief rest at home, then after the rain abated, we went across the street to Au Cadran Voltaire, for a glass of wine and more people watching. Kris pretty well called it right when she said "... this is like the anti-Shetland, noisy, bustling, with tons of people and no sheep...".
Friday, we decided to wander around
Le Marais, a great historic neighbourhood for window gazing. We started out along Blvd Voltaire to Rue du Chemin Vert where we stopped in at
Boesner, a fine arts supply shop. It has a small street presence but like the
Dr Who tardis, it opens up to a large world of paint and graphic art supplies once inside the door. Hard to escape without some supplies and we didn't... a few more brushes (these are all brands and types that are harder to find and more expensive at home). Continuing on down Rue du Chemin Vert we passed by the apartment, on Blvd Richard Lenoir, we stayed in a few years ago, then on into Le Marais to just wander about.
Les Minines on Rue de Turenne looked like a popular spot so we went in there for lunch. Excellent cobb salad for Brian and seafood salad for Kris. Continuing on, we stopped at the Musee Picasso which houses a large collection of his work. A couple of samples...
... and had a look through their gift shop before continuing our wandering. Eventually we made it to the Oska store on Rue Vieille du Temple. Kris got some ideas to follow up on in the large Oska store in Frankfurt but no purchase today. After a sidewalk cafe cappuccino break we walked over to the very large
Place de la Republique where we took a wine break and watched the myriad of kids skateboarding in the plaza, the heavy traffic flowing through and around it and, of course, the excellent Paris people watching. Then we took the metro home.
Saturday we took the metro to the
Porte de Vanves marche aux puces (flea market). You have to love the Paris metro system; 2 lines, one change, 22 stops in total - less than 35 minutes. Sweet!...
One thing we noticed though is that they have added signage, in the metro station, pointing the way to the marche aux puces. These were not there when we came a few years ago and we got lost leaving the metro station (we had taken the wrong exit and ended up blocks away from the market). With the signs we emerged right around the corner from the market; with another street sign making sure we took the right turn. Nice.
After getting off the metro we stopped at the Boulangerie/Patisserie at one end of the market street. Man, you have to be careful here not to just blurt out "un de tout, s'l vous plait" (one of everything please)...
... we chose one croissant de buerre and one pan au chocolat... yummmmm!
We spent over a couple of hours wandering through the market checking out the wares...
... but mostly looking! Kris found some nice beads, buttons and a set of silver ware serving spoons and forks to bring home. At one point she commented that if we lived here we would have an apartment full of wonderful...junk!
At the far end of the market there is a little food and coffee truck, so we stopped for a couple of lattes. There is a guy there that brings his little portable piano and plays rag time music. He is out of tune and sounds terrible but is the perfect fit for this place. He is very popular...
.... when we were here a few years ago, he was playing a rag time tune and there was an old (yes old) lady dressed to the nines, kicking up her heels and having great time. Not here today though.
By the time we got back to the beginning of the market many vendors were starting to close up so we decided to jump on a bus (see some above ground instead of the metro) towards the centre of Paris. As we neared the Gare Montparnasse, the avenues widened and formed a nice looking shopping area and, as it was time for some lunch, we got off the bus. In that block, the restaurants were clearly "higher end" and expensive, we walked along one more block and found a definite change. We had an excellent lunch of seafood salad for Kris and coq au vin for Brian at Le Veronese, on the corner of Blvd Montparnasse and Blvd Raspail, for less than half the price of what lunch would have been just across the street!
After lunch, realizing we were relatively close to the Left Bank of the Seine, we decided to walk the 2.5 or so kms to St Chapelle on the Isle de la Cite. Our walk took us through the wonderful
Jardin du Luxembourg where people were out enjoying the great Saturday weather...
This city has such great outdoor park areas. On one of the fences around part of the garden we came across a series of ink and watercolor paintings that resembled pages of a sketchbook. They were about 3' by 4' or so and all were fabulous. Here's a sampling (more on our album)...
We stopped for a rest and a couple of lattes at a Starbucks on Blvd Saint Germain before crossing the bridge to arrive at
St Chapelle. Unfortunately, even this late in the afternoon, there was still a very long line to get in and after all our walking we didn't have the energy for it, so we jumped on another bus and headed for home. After a brief rest we went out to Monoprix for some groceries, stopped at Au Cadran Voltaire for some wine, wandered around the local area for a bit and called it a week.
