Surprises

Back in Paris for almost a week and it has been a week of surprises. Firstly there was the very pleasant flight on Vietnam Airways (which we chose on price and because it code shares with Air France from Ho Chi Minh City) - the Air France sector was brilliant, great service, great food and great staff.

On arrival at the Cite we were astounded to be shown to a large studio on the second floor of the main building (approx 50m with seperate bathroom, kitchen and storeroom when we had been told it would be a petite atelier of 25m with a baby grand piano that could not be moved).

The studio overlooks the Quai de l'hotel de Ville, the river Seine and the Ile st Louis. The front wall is all glass and has two large doors which open onto a small balcony which extends the length of the room - with these open it is like sitting on a verandah overlooking the Seine (great for the summer weather - although we do need to close the curtains in the afternoon when the sun shines in to keep the heat out). Amazingly, this studio is even better than the UTAS studio we were in last time which overlooked a private garden - the trees along the Quai are another two stories higher than us so it is almost like being in a treehouse.

We have been surprised at how long it has taken us to get over the jetlag this time (perhaps it was because we stopped off in New York on our way here last time - absolutely nothing to do with getting older!). Anyway we are settled in, are stocked up from the market and the supermarket and I have even managed to make some headway with my work. There was one major problem with our internet connection - after we had been using it for less than 24 hours I found I could no longer connect despite spending hours trying to fix the problem. After a sleepless night worrying about how I was going to do my research (e.g.online access to the catalogue at the Musee des Arts Decoratif, data bases at Kew gardens and email exchanges)  Marcia suggested I try using her logon (what a silly idea, after all it is the same laptop!) IT WORKED - I'M ASTOUNDED. Women's intuition to the rescue once again. We have been out walking, busing and on the metro most days (usually twice) and have been eating extremely well (maybe too well - but the food is so fabulous it's hard to resist (especially the Lapin terrine).

There are things happening all over the city during the summer and we have managed to suss out a few that interest us starting with a free Mozart concert in the beautiful Luxembourg Gardens tomorrow so it will definitely not be all work and no play.

We have also been surprised by the weather which has mostly been fairly mild (23-25) with only one day in the 30's (tomorrow and the next day are supposed to be 26/28) so have been wearing the warmer clothes we brought along for Prague. At least all our surprises have been pleasant and, now that we are settled in, we feel as though we never left but have been here for months already.

The bells of Notre Dame are ringing the angelus so I guess it's time to knock off and settle back with a G&T.