The big noise...

Playlist

Handel – Chamber Music Box Set

Paul McCartney & Wings – Band on the Run

David Bowie – Diamond Dogs

Various – Compilations Jukebox on Shuffleplay

Off to Paris today for a five day trip based around Saturday’s Fete de la Musique celebrations – a national day of music all around France which was instigated in 1982, just after I made my last visit to the city having attended the video shoot for Soft Cell’s “Torch” single and the very interesting post shoot party...

Anyway, back to the humdrum present and to the garage first thing with the Cloudland Blue Mobile as Anne suffered a puncture yesterday...

Turned out to be a six inch screw – could have been very bad indeed but in the end it was fine and the tyre was actually able to be repaired for £15...

Amazing...

Picked up a couple of bacon rolls on the way home and relaxed this morning with some lovely Handel music whilst I read Tony Visconti’s autobiography, which led me to listen to a couple of albums on which he worked...

We normally take a taxi to the airport but, today, anticipating delays due to the coincidence of the opening of the Royal Highland Show with our flight and traffic jams upping the fare considerably, we trundled our case down to the main road and caught an Airport Bus...

We were checked in by 12 and off to “Eat” for a light lunch - blackberry yoghurt for me...

An uneventful flight was followed by a very long walk to the train which turned out to be packed and roasting hot, despite the rain outside, which had subsided by the time we arrived at St Michel...

A ten minute walk took us to our hotel in the heart of the St Germain district just along from La Sorbonne...

Our sixth floor room had an interesting view of the nearby Pantheon...

We unpacked and set off out for a walk down towards the river, before long we were sitting outside a café sipping Sauvignon Blanc and Chablis watching the world go by...

We walked to the St Michel district and on along the banks of the Seine trying to find a recommended bar, La Pallette – it took an age as we got lost along the way, though we did see some sights...

This is the French institute..

When we finally found it, the bar in question was packed with no room for us, so we moved on to one close by and enjoyed a cheeky wee glass of red...

...before walking back towards the two islands on the river...

...on the first of which we found a restaurant for dinner, “Ma Salle a Manger” – which was so expensive, I had to get Anne to pay so I wouldn’t know how much we’d spent...

...the food was incredibly tasty though and, after a long leisurely and enjoyable time, a stroll back along the river followed....

Then "home" to a frankly unacceptably loud air conditioning noise in our room...

Highlight of the Day : Back in Paris after too long...