Our home exchange partners (Helen and Phillip) came back on Friday around noon.
It was great fun, we ate lunch chatting and sharing our stories then they drove us to the train station where we caught the train to Paris for the weekend. Sorry have to repeat - "going to Paris for the weekend" - never used that phrase before.
We rented a private but tiny apartment in the Marias (4th Arr.) as it is much cheaper than hotels in Paris. We decided not to have an agenda for Paris - no monuments, no museums, - just walk and explore the neighborhoods of Paris for both days.
We started out in the Voges Square which is just around the corner from our apartment, then from there we just followed the river. Ended up the day in Montmartre where we had planned one thing - to have dinner at the Tavern du Montmartre - where we had dinner the first time we were in Paris in 1976. It was still there and we had dinner - it was different but still very fun.
Sunday morning we visited one of Paris' flea markets - a smaller one in Porte de Vanves. Lots of interesting things. How come junk in other countries seems more interesting than our junk?
Then we took the metro back to our apartment to drop off our purchases (sshhh can't tell - gifts)and ate lunch in our apartment - cheese and bread of course. Then took a late afternoon stroll over to the Ile des Cite. We didn't realize that Parisians go here on Sunday afternoons for ice cream. The neighborhood/island was packed with happy Parisians eating ice cream. So we joined them and kept walking.
Ended up back at a restaurant just next to our apartment for a great dinner before packing for our early flight home to San Francisco. What a wonderful weekend in Paris.
