Vanves Flea Markets

Bright and early we headed off to the Porte de Vanves (pronounced verve!?) flea market .  A boot sale meets antique dealer meets jumble sale. It was cold and crowded and the goods ranged from broken fragments of 70's toys to 17th century paintings. Un euro? We were still browsing at the end of trade - and found much by Scvenge (norwegian god of lucky finds). See if you can see Jen and I amongst the jumble.

Amandine

One track mind at the Orsay.

Took a camera and a sketch book. Seem to hone in on some serious statuesque booty.

Lonee

Tribute to Leon's - moules

Haw haw haw!  We love moules (mussells), especially from Leon's of St Germain des Pres.  These tasty morsels are simmered in white wine, tomatoes and garlic - and those special french herbs and spices.
It were great. Can you see the happy face. 

Then we had dessert - check out the "afterglow" reflected in those cleaned-off plates - time for a post dessert cigarette (sick-regret).

Brisgals "do" the Orsay

We love the Orsay - here we are emulating the masters - enjoy.

Escargone!

Where is the escar-gone? Down road for pint?

Here we are doing the tres tourist schtick.  Snails at the Eifel Tower Cafe.  Accompanied by Jenais and Caron - the Brisgals worked those slippery green suckers - the final score was: snails 1, Brisgals 5 (one slid under the table - eeeewwww!!!).

Amandine

The Awful Tower and La Toilette de Terror

Ok, so I know I've always had issues with heights, but this was the Eiffel Tower. I thought that surely I could suck it up and enjoy the views. The trouble started when Loni and I headed for the lift. I started to feel a little giddy, but brushed it off as the excitement of being at such a beautiful place. As we entered the lift, 'giddy' disappeared to be replaced by overwhelming fear as the lift took me possibly higher than I'd ever been (aside from a plane, which doesn't bother me). For those of you familiar with 'The Simpsons' episode where Marge actually gets on a plane, that's what was going through my head at the time. I'm embarrassed to say that upon emerging from Level 1, I found a metal girder several metres from the edge of the viewing platform and almost left fingernail marks in it - as the photo may demonstrate.

The previous night I had become acquainted with the Paris public toilet system, which consists of free toilets on the footpaths - all resembling a kind of 'Tardis' (think Dr Who). As Amanda and I had been searching for such a facility for quite some time, the need was growing urgent. We had read that a 'cleaning cycle' begins after each patron has completed the task at hand. We waited for the toilet to become available and when it did, in my haste, I entered prematurely. The door closed behind me and the light went out leaving me with only enough vision to see the toilet disappear into the wall. Then I realised that the 'floor cleaning' part of the cycle was about to start, and I covered my head waiting to find myself in the midst of something akin to a carwash. Fortunately, it was only the floor that was cleaned, and the walls and ceiling were left untouched. The door automatically opened again - which is when I should have entered. Lesson learnt.

I've been here for just over a week and continue to pinch myself. I've also visited Notre Dame, Musee d'Orsay and had a wonderful night time cruise on the Seine with Amanda - complete with a petit bottle of Champers. The French don't do anything by halves...

Jenais