So here we are back at home.
The suitcases are unpacked, the mail is sorted (virtual and real) and there are piles of dirty laundry waiting to be done.
Paris seems a very long way away.
We got up on the morning of the last day and lugged the heavy suitcases to the left luggage lockers at Gare du Nord train station.
It sounds a simple task but the reality was far different. First we had to get them down those 7 flights of stairs (including the narrow spiral ones leading up to us in the servant's quarters). Then we had to drag them along the cobbled streets to the metro station. And once at Gare du Nord it was a nightmare trying to find the lockers. Not helped by the fact I was showing off by asking people in my "good" French "excusez- moi monsieur, je cherchez le consigne" only to have them reply in a flood of several fast French sentences of which I could only understand the words "left" and "three".
Once we had done that we returned to the apartment for lunch and to catch our breath. We decided to be real tourists for the day and get tickets for the open top tour buses that we had seen all over the city (since we weren't flying out till after 11pm and didn't want to walk the streets all day with our heavy daypacks).
Our first stop was Montmartre. It was hellish.
Totally and utterly packed with tourists and tacky souvenir shops and completely different from my first visit years decades ago.
We escaped down the hill a bit and had lunch in a quieter bistro. By then the sun had come out at last and I asked that we catch the metro to a place I have been wanting to visit for years but never quite managed - the Buttes-Chaumont park.
It was quite a challenge finding it, since we were well outside the limits of my inner-city map, and once we did The Husband spied a cafe just inside the park entrance and offered begged to be left there guarding the daypacks while Daughter-Two and I explored.
Leaving him very happy with his coffee and his ipad, we set off and found the playground.
And then the homeless camp on the railway line on the other side of the park fence.
And then this:
We climbed to the very top of course.
This picture is so "Paris" - great views, graffiti and snogging couples.
The Husband pretended to be sad he'd missed it, but I think he was perfectly happy in his groovy cafe where he felt like he was on the set of French "Friends" (all self-satisfied young hipsters cheek-kissing and laughing over red wine and lattes).
We hopped back on the open-top bus and spent the next couple of hours driving through the Paris of the movies and guide-books, complete with blue skies. It really does look fabulous when the sun shines.
We ended up on the Left Bank, which was almost as crowded as Montmartre. We were supposed to be heading back to Gare du Nord and then the airport, but The Husband's eyes lit up when he saw a restaurant with food that Daughter-Two and I could probably eat. He insisted we had time to eat and it wasn't until we had been bustled inside and ordered that I did the calculations and realised how tight we were leaving it.
I pointed this out several times during the meal, with the result that we finished in record time and were back on the street with our map in hand well and truly aware we had to efficiently get back to the train station.
We were like an unbeatable team from "The Amazing Race". Truly impressive as we power walked to the nearest metro station, caught the train to Gare du Nord, zig-zagged through the crowds to the left luggage lockers, lugged the suitcases up and down escalators to the RER ticket office (SHUT!), found the machine with instructions in English, bought three tickets to the airport (no time to do a separate child ticket order for Daughter-Two), to the lift (BROKEN), bumped the suitcases down the stairs, found the right platform for the train, agonising 16 minute wait then on the train, off at the airport and up more escalators, from the train station to the airport check-in area.
Smiled and looked apologetic to disapproving check-in woman, repacked large suitcase on floor (OVERWEIGHT!) then headed for the gate (YOU HAVE TO CATCH A TRAIN??!).
Then onto the plane .. which sat at the gate for 45 minutes as it refuelled and waited for clearance to pull back.
I will never listen to The Husband again when he says "we've got PLENTY of time".
Fortunately the flight was almost empty so Daughter-two had a whole row to sleep on, and The Husband and I took turns alternately sitting across the aisle from her and sleeping in another empty row further down the plane.
We arrived in Singapore at 6pm and, after checking into the hotel, went out to get food and some exercise. And, despite the time difference, we slept for 8 hours after going to bed about 9.30pm
In the morning we all had a swim in the hotel pool before exploring nearby Waterloo Road and Little India:
It was a public holiday which meant it was particularly busy and colourful .. but also particularly crowded. Especially on Orchard Road, where we went after another swim for Daughter-Two.
We checked out the shops, The Husband checked out Starbucks. Then we decided to go to Great World City (mall) since there was a good chicken rice place there we like (and which Daughter-Two and I can safely eat at). But the taxi queues were so long we were facing an hour's wait. So we walked instead, getting lots of stares.
It didn't take long before, glowing somewhat, we arrived at Great World City where we had lunch, did some more shopping (The Husband found The Coffee Bean). Then we got a taxi to the hotel for our luggage and on to the airport.
Although the flight was much more crowded, The Husband was able to move to a bulkhead seat (for his long legs) leaving me to be a human bed for Daughter-Two who stretched across her seat, his empty seat and me.
We had six hours at Melbourne airport, then a four hour flight home.
Daughter-Two, despite jetlag and the lack of food (airlines don't cater for people like her and me who are gluten free and also dairy free - you are only allowed one food allergy or intolerance!), remained as cheerful and helpful as always. Having a book on hand always helps!
