Monday, December 05, 2011

Encore Paris - Jour 1

As the title of this post indicates, I went back to Paris. The return trip was inspired by many things but particularly by the revelation from Jul and Christine post-my birthday trip, that despite the proximity of Munich to Paris (well, from an Australian perspective :P), both of them had not been to Paris in years and Philipp, Christine's husband, had not been AT ALL!!! Cue us firing off an email to Amandine to join us, booking flights, hiring an apartment, researching restaurants...then...jetting off!

Big smiles while waiting in MUC!

Seriously? The discovery of short-term rentals in Paris has revolutionised my travel experience. Okay, they don't come cheap and require a deal of planning about who will come to split costs if a bit heavier than booking a hotel but we scored a beautiful (albeit small) place at the border of the 1e/2e arrondissements, between Place Vendome, Madeleine and L'Opera. So convenient!

Our hall table

Nice!

Cheese!

The convenient location made us decide to walk to see the Christmas Market that has been set up along the Champs Elysee and admire the general Paris Xmas Pretty.

Oh hello!

Das Riesenrad and the crazy traffic at the Place de la Concorde.

Proof that we were there! (aka Philipp and 3 girls)


Because the stalls are placed along the Champs Elysee, the Xmas market didn't have as much of the small village appearance of the Munich markets but it did feel a lot less crowded. 

The Christmas lights were damn patriotic!

A really pretty tiovivo. 

This blue light display near Frankie D. Metro were a particular favourite of tourists (yours truly included). 

And because Paris is Paris, I got myself a crepe. And it was Xmas market time, I also got myself some mulled wine. As Philipp said after taking this photo, "That's one happy face!" 


Sure is. Amandine joined us later that night back at the apartment and the happiness continued in the days (and posts) to come!

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