The day we have been longing for...

The road trip from Paris to Madrid is 1250km long. This year given the circumstances we decided not enjoy our habitual pitstop in San Sebastian. We would skip the long walk along La Concha, the crescent shaped urban seaboard of the city and the delicious Basque "pintxos" the local word for small bar bites otherwise known as tapas in the bustling old town.

We would rise at the crack of dawn to avoid the Parisian rush hour starting at 7am and hopefully make it to our destination in time for dinner... Spanish dinner time that is to say is anything after 10pm.

We had cool runnings, we cruised out of Paris watching the long queues form coming into the city. We sailed around Bordeaux, usually a hotspot for traffic riddled with speed cameras. We hardly noticed the border crossing... no check points, no police, no nothing... and were in! Loud cheers and yelling followed by a feeling of accomplishment that we had finally managed to get out of Paris, past the 1km radius, further than the 100km radius and the realization that confinement was definitely over.

We were lucky, the journey took us 12 hours door to door with a few coffee stops along the way. No tourist cars in sight, petrol stations were deserted but trucks were lining the right hand lane of the road from Paris to San Sebastian. We assumed this magnitude of the single queue sometimes denser than others was due to the Iberian border just having opened up and the air transport still extremely limited. Thankfully, however, the lorry drivers stuck to their side of the highway and let us sail by to make it home in time for dinner.

Let the summer begin! 

A reconnaissance mission

What to do when your hubby's snoring wakes you at six am on a Sunday morning and you cannot get back to sleep? You sneak into Expat Girl's room to pinch her Vélib card and head out into the deserted streets of Paris to soak in the sun rays.

After living in Paris for nine years I have finally rented a Vélib from the city's public bicycle sharing system which has defiantly risen to the challenge over the past months by providing citizens a way to get around during general transport strikes and confinement rules. Apparently during peak hours more than four Vélibs are picked up from a station every second?!

On a reconnaissance mission before the new normal sets in, I decided to enjoy Paris to myself one last time before all the governments restrictions are revoked...

A heartwarming "Welcome back" greeting from the Mayor of Paris

Palais de Chaillot bathing in the sun at 7am on a Sunday morning 

The Eiffel Tower all to myself

Majestic view onto a very calm River Seine

It's just my Vélib and I

Place de la Concorde, Paris' largest square is abandoned 

Paris' Town Hall

World-famous Café Les Deux Magots should be back in business next week

No tourists on Place St. Germain

Paris as it was in the olden days....

All of Paris' parks and gardens are opening today after three months

One of my favourite Parisian icons: 

public drinking fountains designed by Sir Richard Wallace and sculpted by Charles-Auguste Lebourg 

Not a soul in sight

Place de Fürstenberg, labeled as being one of the most picturesque squares in Paris

Rue de Rivoli has just been declared off limits for cars this month.

Biking through Paris has never felt better!

Iconic Champs Elysées deserted by tourists, cars and public transport.

It's a beauty!

Merci Paris pour cette sublime ballade un dimanche matin.

Parisian bikes are called la petite reine

Mayor Anne Hidalgo wants to make Paris the world’s most bikeable city but we are a far cry from Amsterdam or Copenhagen. During France’s 46-day transit strike last year, however, many metro-goers switched to cycling, doubling the number of cyclists on the roads. Le vélo became known as la petite reine (the little Queen).

Then, Paris rolled out emergency bike lanes for the use of key workers during the lockdown. A total of 650 km of cycleway - including a number of "pop-up corona cycleways”- were readied when déconfinement began two weeks ago.

Bicycles were very popular in the French capital up until the 1940s. They were then gradually squeezed out by war and the boom in the auto industry. Bikes are now back in business with a 131% year-on-year rise in the number of cyclists. Car use in Paris is falling for the first time since the 1940s!

If Paris' mayor has her way, we will become the "Ville Du Quart D’Heure" (City of fifteen minutes) an ambitious plan promising that every street will have a cycle path, every bridge will have protected cycleways, and every resident can walk or cycle to get anything they need. Stay tuned...

A quick flight back home

When your friend celebrates a big birthday there are no excuses not to party, no matter how far away she lives. Friendship is a precious gift and life is worth celebrating.

With that in mind I travelled to Lugano from Paris for a weekend and treated myself to flying straight to Ticino with SWISS rather than the usual easyjet to Milano Malpensa and then having to trek up from Italy. And what a treat it was...

Taking Switzerland with me from now on...

A little treat from the Lugano tourist office... a traditional Easter "colomba" nicely wrapped up in a mini-suitcase! Ready for take-off!

A spectacular bird's view onto Lugano.

Silserli und Süessmost... the chocolate was eaten before taking off.

Sunset over Lago Ceresio bordering with Italy.

A U-turn and we are traversing the snowy peak of the Swiss Alps.

Thank you SWISS for making me feel at home all the way to Paris Charles de Gaulle.

The joys of travelling by plane

Trying to catch a flight nowadays is like an obstacle course and I cannot rid the feeling I am participating in a TV reality show challenge.

Braving heavy Parisian traffic on the periferique (ringroad) at 7 o'clock in the morning and - 35 minutes later - managing to find a parking spot a million miles away from the terminal, I enter the airport to be stopped at the sliding doors and asked to open not only my handbag but also my carry-on for a standard security check. At this point, I have not even set foot in the terminal yet... Let the gymkhana begin!

Having not being allowed to check-in online because of some obscure reason, I set off in search of flybe's check-in desk.

About to go through my first passport control to reach the desks when the friendly airport usher tells me the check-in is the other side with Air France. 

Off I trod only to be told by yet another friendly Air France assistant to return where I came from. A friendly banter with the first usher to tell him Southhampton is indeed located in England and not in the US for him to let me pass after having checked my passport.

3 minutes later - after another passport control - I am holding my boarding pass.

Heading towards the boarding area I am asked to show my boarding pass and stand in line for yet another passport control by the police this time before I go through security control (after queuing patiently) and a second check of my boarding pass.

A good 50 minutes and I have finally made it from the airport entrance to the boarding area. I wonder how long this would take during high season?!?

A quick coffee and a croissant and it is time to board. Another passport and boarding pass check and I am expecting to board the plane.

But wait, we are now ushered into a bus and driven half way around the enormous Charles de Gaulles airport for 10 minutes to another terminal area before we are allowed to cross the tarmac and finally board our little plane to Southampton... WITHOUT having our Boarding passes checked.

The crew were clearly not expecting their passengers since we "caught" them enjoying their breakfast break on the plane.

The flight from Paris to Southampton took exactly 45 minutes!!!

Where  on earth are we heading to... the UK via bus?!?

Is it the aircraft company or the airport authorities

that is making a traveller's life so complicated?!?

Finally taking off!!!!

A celebration cruise on St. Martin

Every year, when the school year comes to a close our dear friend Mona organises a grand boat tour along the Seine or the Canal St. Martin. So why would we sign up for the same tour every year you are wondering? Easy, it a chance for the parents to gather all together once more to reminisce in past adventures and exchange future addresses while the kids are wrapping up their school work. It is sort of a goodbye tour without officially ever been named such.

Someone brings snacks along, others something stronger but it is always more of a happy celebration of our little international community within Paris rather that a sad goodbye cruise. Of course, we never pay much attention to the actual tourist attractions along the river bank - tells you how spoilt we all are - but rather we try to get that last conversation in or just plain let each other know how much we enjoyed meeting and how different it will be in September when half the bunch will have moved on to new destinations.

So thank you Mona for your diligent and perfect organization in bringing us all together and making these cruises an integral part of our Paris experience. It would not be the same without your dedication and passion to share the beautiful sides Paris has to offer.

No matter from which angle you look at her, 

La Grande Dame is always impressive

The bridge of love locks has gone all pink!

A late-comer who hopped on with a little help and lots of loud cheers

Notre Dame from the "other side"

Entering the Canal St. Martin and the first canal lock

Even the metro line looks picturesque in Paris

Graffiti somewhere in the 19th arrondissement

   

It's the bus...run!

It's the bus...run!

Every morning, the same ritual. Rushing out of the front door just in time to see the No.22 bus pass in front of our nose before we sprint down the avenue pass the huge scaffoldings avoiding cars driving in and out of garages to the near bus stop.

A friendly "Bonjour Monsieur" to the driver albeit slightly out of breath. A smile to the two Moroccan ladies who's Arabic chatter always accompanies us throughout the bus ride. A greeting to the two Philippine girls who are off to work. A little chat with the Russian mum and her three small kids.

After riding the same route to school with the public bus every morning at 8:35 for the past three years, we know the characters sitting in every row. A feeling of familiarity and therefore a tiny little bit like home.

We know who gets on at which stop and who gets off where. We invent stories about our fellow bus riders' lives. We check out the window display every morning of the most dazzling haute couture shop, deciding which dress we would dare to wear. In winter, we see the Christmas trees all bundled up lying in front of the florists' and in spring watch the men dressed in business suits sprinting to grab the last Velib bike.

I love the early morning bus rides with my daughter even though I'm not much of a morning person. She, on the other hand, never stops talking. What does a lawyer do? What is an insurance? Please explain what M.Holland does? Heavy duty subjects for an 11 year old.

I explain as best I can while walking the last stretch to school. Many a times we decide we need to google a particular question after school and then forget what it was we were suppose to look up.

However, we never ever forget to turn towards La Grande Dame when the bus drives past her across the enormous Place de Trocadero and every morning with a little meditation and a smile, we greet la Tour Eiffel feeling grateful for living in such a beautiful city.

Expat Daughter started Secondary School this week and is off to school by herself.

I miss our morning bus rides more than she will ever know!