Life is indeed good, picking up from my last blog there. So good, in fact, that I've fallen back into bad habits and not been keeping this here blog up to date! Okay, one week of my inactivity I was actually lying in bed so ill I could barely wake up properly. So life wasn't that good just at that point. But I'm fully recovered now, and have the strength to write about what I've been up to recently. Which is plenty!

So, let's rewind to 18th October, when Christian & I flew to Paris for the weekend. The main reason for going then, rather than any other time, was that Johannes (my Austrian in Australia) and some friends of his were also there that weekend. When he mentioned this to us during his Munich visit, it seemed as good a reason as any to plan a few days in Gay Paree.

And oh! it was wonderful! The flight over with Air France was comfortable; the journey into town from Charles De Gaulle airport amusing (our RER train driver, upon stopping unexpectedly between stations, announced that he wasn't in fact allowing us to admire the delightful view - of hideous suburban decay & factory walls - but was held up by a slow-coach driving the train in front, and he much appreciated our excellent patience and beatific understanding for his predicament, or words to that effect); the squeak of the rubber wheels of the Métro exciting; and the urbane atmosphere of the nighttime Parisian streets was just phenomenal!

Our hotel was pretty central, close to the Place de la République in the Marais quarter, and - more importantly - surrounded by cafés, bakeries, and brasseries. We had a bite to eat in a fashionable eatery and then walked into town to meet up with Johannes & his friends in a jam-packed tiny bar behind the town hall. It was great to see him & his friends Alan & Dez again (I met Dez in Sydney back in '05), and to meet their friends Glenn, Chris, and Simon. We had a very amusing night standing on the street in front of the bar, chatting & watching the world go by.

On Sunday Christian & I had a splendid breakfast in a nearby café (having fetched our croissants & pains au chocolat from the divine bakery next door) and then did the whole tourist thang, with a trip to the Eiffel Tower followed by a hop-on hop-off tour bus that took us past loads of sights and to the Notre Dame cathedral (which I'm not sure I've ever been in before). After a croque monsieur and a café au lait in a nearby brasserie, we wandered along buying prints & enjoying the late autumn sunshine. The next church we looked in had fabulous stained glass windows that were aglow in the afternoon sun. And the next café we looked in had fabulous cakes & pastries!

For dinner, we met up with Johannes & his crew again, this time in a very posh (but somewhat faded & jaded) restaurant called Julien that happened to be very close to our hotel. The food was nice enough, but the price was a little steep and the service was appalling! Our waiter even complained to Glenn (who booked our table) that Alan was complaining to him about the service! Hello!! Since when do waiters get customers to tell other customers off? Rather than just doing what they clearly haven't done in the first place, or Alan wouldn't have had to complain? The mind boggles.

On Monday Christian & I completed the bus tour, seeing the bits we'd missed on Sunday including the area around the Opéra and the Place Vendôme with its monster Napoleon statue. We jumped off at the Louvre - where we had the chance to admire a fantastically amusing teeshirt with a picture of two cute seals wearing sunglasses on a dancefloor under a huge glitterball, with the inscription "Stop baby seal clubbing!" - but didn't actually have time to go in so we just grabbed a bite to eat and then headed off to the hotel and thence to the airport.

It was now that my cold kicked in. I think I caught it from Michaela just before leaving for France, and it incubated while I was there. Now it floored me - for a week! Unfortunately I had a few bits & pieces I had to do that week, otherwise I think I would have just stayed under the duvet and re-emerged only when I was feeling completely well again.

Among the nicer things I had to do whilst still under the weather (hark at me! "had to do" indeed! It was my choice, and that's a fact) was to do some kulcha in the form of Munich's Long Night of Museums. Christian, Lisa, Bénédicte & I met in the evening at the Neue Pinakothek, the art gallery devoted to 18th & 19th century paintings, and went right round, following this up with a big old wander through the Pinakothek der Moderne, which features 20th century art. We even had a glimpse inside the new extension to the modern art gallery, which was very funky in its sleek Scandinavian wood look and will I am sure be fantastic when it opens next year. It was two o'clock before we headed home, all cultured out but having enjoyed ourselves immensely.