I’ve found an aquagym class here in Paris that I enjoy. Finally. Almost directly across the street from one of my friends houses in the 15th, I could have been going to classes at this gym and stopping in for coffee and croissants for the last two years. Instead I found it within the last two months of our stay here in Paris. Typical. I wonder if that’s my psyche talking control of my life. For better or worse.

I managed to get to The Photographers’ Gallery while I was in London to see the Deutsche Borse Photography Prize 2009, I loved the nomination of Taryn Simon for “An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar“. Fantastic. Then on Saturday, the girls (Milene, Moselle, Michelle & I) went off to the National Portrait Gallery to see Gerhardt Richter which was amazing. I adored this show, I’m going to give it a go myself, the dry paintbrush affect over his paintings was great, similiar to the varnish I use over my photos. Moselle returned Saturday evening and painted her first nude painting on canvas, inspired by the paintings she saw that day. I expect that we’ll be off to the Tate Modern to see her own exhibition one of these days…

Sunday was dedicated to the pub and a game of football in the backyard. I love London.

We’re hurtling quickly into the ‘running out of time’ mode that I dread so much. Keep your eye on the availability calendar if you want to catch up before we leave Paris, I promise to keep it as up to date as I possibly can, although we have several plans “under discussion” that have not been entered at all, not until dates get finalised. We are currently assuming we will be finished up here by May 1st, although depending on some responses from various sources that could be extended up until, but definitely not beyond, June 1st. When I know, you’ll know.

Another video from our street, this is where I spend most of my days…

maybe this will tempt the rest of you to come and visit before we leave…

5 museums tomorrow, then a family weekend visiting with our 2nd family in London. We’re going to miss them when we leave so the plan is to spend as much time as we possibly can with them before we move to the other side of the world.

Where hopefully they’ll come to visit 3 or 5 or 10 times a year so we don’t miss too much of the kids growing up!

I found this when writing the previous post, and called JD to have a giggle. Surprisingly, he never did tell any of us he was an internet star…..

and another…

Since getting back from Tunisia on Thursday evening, I’ve been busy discovering restaurants, catching up with new & old friends and generally having a good time. As a reminder to me, and a little taster for you, here is a list of places I’ve been over the last couple of days…. Les Papilles; Le Chateaubriand; Salon de l’Agriculture; Vintage; Caves du Pantheon; Le Marché aux Puces de la Port de Vanves; Joe Allen; Slumdog Millionaire; and the Repaire de Bacchus on the rue Montorgueil…. as well as spending as much time as possible with friends I’m going to really miss like Jean Denis, Mathilde, Philippe, Anne & Olivier and Valerie.

Time is speeding by, we have to pull our finger out to start preparing the move.

The search is on…. click on the image to see it full sized.

Do you think Pete will be brave enough to wear this on Saturday 21st March for the Italy vs France game?

Pete the englishman, wearing the french football(!) jersey in support of Michelle and I in France, while watching the 6 nations rugby tournament in the house of a fervent Italian supporter in Australia.

Is he game?

It’s true, this does get funnier everytime you watch it…

The understatement of the week. Paris’ two airports have been closed down for the last 12 hours, I’ve had to pull all my window boxes in for fear of flying off their perch. The wind is howling around our little apartment in the sky, and coming in through all the little nooks and crannies we always knew we had, just weren’t sure exactly where they were…. It’s incredible. And now, just as I started writing, the rain has started lashing against the windows.

Someone, somewhere is making it very difficult for me to get motivated to go outside to get to the gym…..

Today I returned to my pre-holiday habits. I had lunch with JD & Carl at a little wine bar called Coude à Coude on St Honore that was said to have “good food, good wine, good ambience”. They’d both been there before for apperitifs and saucisson, but never for lunch, the recommendation was good. The food was good, the wine was good, the service was good. Nice simple, french fare. The perfect round off of a morning where I started to work on my list of what I would miss the most here in France, if we ever get the contract for the job in Australia…

There’s snow on the ground today. Saturday & Sunday were cold but sunny…. and I was complaining that it was cold in Australia(!). I’ve unpacked, done a huge shop, and discovered “chouquette”. Big mistake. You can’t buy one, you have to buy 10 at a time (10 for 1 euro). Michelle introduced me and now I know why I won’t be able to lose any weight between now and moving to Australia. One word. Chouquette.

By the way…
If you live in Australia, this French bakery called Chouquette in Brisbane may have some to try. But I warn you.

I may be a bit ahead of myself. But where are we going to live??? I have my list of a) “must-haves”; b) my “would be nice to have’s” and c) my “if we can have’s”. Now I just have to put them in the right order, maybe invoke a rating system, perhaps points, ask for input etc etc…. Dave? Michelle? you probably have a mathematical formula that spits out a solution… don’t you?

So far, the list includes:

– must be able to walk to the beach
– must have a farmers market nearby
– must have good public transport links to city and Woolamaloo (Garden Island)
– must have a funky/cool cafe nearby, that makes excellent coffee
– must have restaurants (good ones) within staggering distance
– must have outside living areas, including grass and a space for a bbq
– must have 2 bedrooms
– must have lots of light
– must have an alternative cinema nearby or on a direct bus route away
– must be on the top floor (if apartment)
– must be big & stylish
– must be affordable.

If you hear of anything, if you have any suggestions, if you have any input whatsoever.. we’d be very interested.