Back in Carqueiranne enjoying the wonderful warmth of the sun on our balcony as I write this. Paris will always be my favourite city in the world but it felt like coming home on the train the other day as soon as we started going through Provence with its palms, pines, vines; olive trees, the mountains, the ocean, tile roofs etc. It is a very special part of the world.

On Sunday we wandered through our old neighbourhood and market area around the Pompidou centre. We really enjoyed this area thelast time we were in Paris and rented an apartment for 2 weeks in '97. All the same sihts and smells...I do enjoy seeing people do their Sun shopping on a Sun morning for a special meal that day.

Pompidou too busy so went to Marais district and the Musee Picasso...always a treat...the gallery and the area.

In the evening we strolled the Rue Mouffetard (Latin Quarter but higher than St Michel aea) and went to the restaurant where we had the most fabulous paella ever. Perhaps a mistake to recapture a balmy summer night in winter but it was a pretty good paella this time and the people were great - offered a sangria before and a pear liquor after -- not the usual tourist treatment.

Had a rather mediocre meal in Ile St Louis the night before and ordered the wine of the month at 18 Euros only to be given some bulk plonk that cost them less than a Euro...wouldn' t be paris if you didn't get ripped off I guess. They also had a fabulous jazz pianist which pretty much made up for it.