Paris faves

In no particular order, a few of my favourite things.

That you can see the Eiffel Tower from just about anywhere in the city.

Jour et nuit.

The Seine. Avec Le Tour Eiffel. Naturalement.

And that they import sand to make a beach during the summer - random!

The Metro.

The buskers in the Metro - these guys are a mini orchestra and they sing amazingly. Buskers will get on the train and play for one stop and jump off again before they get busted by the ticket collectors. Tres cool.

Lunch.

La touriste!

While I have been to Paris more times than I can count, I have never done the 'tourist' thing. A friend from Villefranche and her 15-year-old niece were staying so no more excuses for not seeing the sights.  First up was the Louvre.

After we made the pilgrimage to La Jaconde (absolute shitfight, no idea what the big deal is personally...) we spent the next few hours happily wandering.

This is my personal favourite - why aren't there aren't crowds of people around this one?!

Then onto Le Tour Eiffel - it was a complete mosh pit underneath with people queueing to walk up. We were happy just to admire from a distance - Jen and Jazmine struck a pose.

Final stop Musee D'Orsay - unbelievable collection of impressionist art, I was actually more blown away than by the Louvre. By this stage I was however feeling a bit like the guy lying on the floor...

The Hood

Went on a bit of reccie to check out the hood and discovered that (naturally) there really is a Chateau de Vincennes which was started in 1379 and completed in 1552.  At various times Louis's XIII and IV also lived here.

And where there's a chateau there's always a chapel and reportedly a fragment of Christ's cross and a thorn from his crown was housed here for a while.  So technically this would be 'the local' if one were religious...

but check out the gargoyles - they're awesome!

Revenez à Paris

Back in Paris - yay - and am now settled in my apartment, courtesy of our French publisher Jean-Louis.  It's in Chateau de Vincennes, which is in the northeast of the city, just over the border of where the inner arrondisement finish.

And for those of you who are wondering, no I'm not living above a strip club - it's a lingerie shop...

It's a sprawling apartment on the second floor and like most older Paris apartments surrounds a shared inner courtyard.

Being publishers, Jean-Louis and Florence's place is full of books, music, art and movies so it really does feel like a home away from home.

And there's a street market three days a week literally right outside the front door which stretches for three blocks selling any and all kinds of food, flowers, clothes, shoes, bags and even - you guessed it - lingerie!

Rellies!

Last stop on les tour du Angleterre were the rellies in Basingstoke.

From left: Claire (Ian and Janet's daughter), Janet (Ian's wife), me, Ian (my first cousin and my Uncle Andrew's son for those of you who can't pick the family resemblance), Mike (Ian and Janet's son) and Gillian (Mike's girlfriend).

And this time sans moi and avec Brad (Claire's boyfriend) on the far left.

Claire and Brad have literally just returned from their 8-month tour of Nouvelle Zealand three weeks ago so we had a good old catch up ably assisted by Ian's excellent wine cellar. Seems to be a recurring theme in my travels...

At the risk of sounding like a tourist...

After a red wine-induced headache thanks to Jude, Jane and Joe took me to Trebah, another stately quite close to where they live and renowned for its beautiful garden. The most amazing thing was that the garden has alot of NZ natives - bloody amazing where us Kiwis turn up.

As well as the largest tree ferns I've ever seen, they have 'forests' of giant rhubarb, which apparently is also a NZ native. I've never heard of it but they grow so big every summer you can walk through them, and then they are chopped back to nothing for winter only to do it all over again the following year. See, can't keep us down.

After wandering down the most beautiful and bountiful Hydranger valley I've seen,

you feel like Alice in Wonderland as you come across a hole in the wall and et voila - the most gorgeous little beach!

Apparently the family who originally owned the property and the neighbouring four properties were Quakers and made their money out of freight using tall ships, including to NZ, and they brought plants and trees back as ballast hence the proliferation of NZ natives in the garden. Stranger than fiction.

I call this "boy on a rock" - aka Joe.

Kotaworld

Headed further south today to the marvellous hospitality of the Kereama's in Porthleven, a delightful little fishing village at the bottom of Cornwall.

Excuse Joe, he was a bit grumbly on account of the fact that we'd subjected him to two late nights in a row courtesy of one Richard Marshall and then me.

After just bagging Rick Stein, I discovered that Jude and Jane have a world domination plan all of their own to turn Porthleven into Kotaworld. As well as the infamous Kota Restaurant and B&B, they have just leased the entire top floor of the neighbouring building at the top of the port.

It is being renovated now and will open on 1 October as Kota Kai - THE ultimate food and activity destination in Porthleven. Hmmm, maybe I should sign them up now for the signature cookbook?

As well as an stunning restaurant and bar (trust me it will be amazing when it's finished), it features a children's games room, a skittles bowling alley and a 15-seat soundproofed surround-sound cinema where they will have film nights playing classic movies three nights a week with table service.

Jude is particularly excited about the view from the kitchen... not sure if that's such a good thing...! but I'm definitely coming back to check it out.