A romantic trip to Paris, the city of light revisted, meeting Marie, Alcaraz and Sinner through to the Wimbledon final and other stories of the week.

 Paris, Sunday 13th July, 2025

You know where this is. 

Good morning everyone from Paris, the city of light and the city of love. What a wonderful treat this has been for us. Read on and find out all about it.

Last Sunday was a complicated day and rather sad too. Andy and Amanda were leaving after a fantastic 12 days together in Madrid, Montrondo and Asturias. But they weren't leaving until late at night so we had some more time together; mainly to play Sevens and Ludo in our air conditioned dining room. It was so hot in Madrid there was no other place to be.

That day 7 guests from Orleans, France were arriving and there was lots to do to get everything ready for them. Oli and family came to spend time with us at the pool and have lunch which meant we were 9 around the table again. Special thanks to Tana for all her help. Luck had it that the guests were late and arrived after we had driven our friends to the airport. We were both exhausted at the end of the day and fell into bed shortly after a mini, mini dinner.

I won't go through the rest of the week as there is little to tell so shall concentrate on our romantic trip to Paris where I don't think I have been as a proper tourist since the early 80's and that's a long time. But before I go on, I must mention Wimbledon. If you have been following this most prestigious Grand Slam, it's no news to you that both Alcaraz, the reigning champion of 2023 and 2024, and Sinner are through to the final. To get there Sinner had to beat Djokovic who has won the championship 7 times only thwarted by the Spaniard, Carlitos in the last two years. Of course I am routing for the Spaniard as you can all imagine. 

Thursday was the day we left for Paris and we got there late so our sightseeing didn't begin until Friday. Just being in Paris brought back so many memories of visits during my youth when I would always see my Uncle Kolya (Nicholas) and Aunty Valya. They were my reference point in the city and I have fond memories of my Uncle and Aunt driving me around, picking me up and taking me to places. I also remember well visits with my school when I was just 14 and of course many Inter Rail trips round Europe where Paris was always the starting point. In those days there was no internet, nor mobile phones nor did you have to book tickets online. I remember just walking into Notre Dame or Sacre Coeur and probably not even paying anything. I used to love sitting at Fench cafes with their unique wicker chairs, drinking either a café au lait or a créme de menthe. I would take the metro from Gare du Nord to Gard or Gare Austerlitz and nothing felt a challenge; not even changing pounds into francs. The last time we were there was with the girls on our way back from England when they were about 9 and 10. All they remember was going up the Eiffel Tower where we hardly had to queue. These days it's a very different story. 

We had just three days so I did a very touristy thing and booked tickets, online, of course,  on a hop on, hop off bus. That was the easiest way to see the main sights. Thankfully, .although it was hot, it was nothing like Madrid so quite bearable for us "Spaniards". Our first stop was to see Notre Dame after if had been restored, although there seems to be more restoration going on. Again without tickets it was impossible to go in. Paris is the most visited city in the world so all the world and his mother seemed to be there. Crowded doesn't even begin to describe it and it's not cheap either. A cup of coffee now costs about 5 euros, double the cost in Spain and that's just for starters. And here we are by the beautiful Notre Dame which sadly burned in 2019 just before Covid. 

Happy to be back in Paris and to see Notre Dame restored, or nearly

We later went in search of a coffee and came across the Sorbonne, France's most famous University. Later we hopped on the bus again which took us to the Arc de Triomphe on the Champs Elysées. As the cars had stopped at the traffic lights, I couldn't resist going into the middle of Paris' most famous Avenue and take a photo. That's the one I have chosen for this week's feature photo and here is another. It was a very happy moment, my friends.

Enjoying Paris

We had lunch around the corner at a typical Parisian brasserie. It was called Café de Paris, of course and guess what we had? Fish and chips my friends - so in vogue in France these days and with a lot less batter but equally delicious.

Fish and chips at Café de Paris near the Arc de Triomphe on Friday

We continued our bus tour and got off at the Eiffel Tower. We thought we couldn't go up but actually we managed as the queue for non online tickets was quite short. So, wow, we did the number one thing to do in Paris, we went up the Eiffel Tower, the biggest symbol of the city. Here are some photos to prove we went up, hahaha.

Eiffel tower revisited after more than 30 years

We came down feeling like champions and more so because we walked part of the way. I really admire anyone who walks up and down the tower, especially older people of whom there weren't many. 

Saturday came and it was another full day and a splendid one too. I booked us tickets to go on a cruise on the River Seine. The cruises are all called "Bateaux Mouche" but ours was actually Bateaux Parisiens. We set off from the Quai de Bourdonnais right under the Eiffel Tower which you can see from everywhere in the city or so it seemed to me. And here I am just before our bateau set off.

Setting off on our river cruise yesterday

We loved the river cruise which is an excellent way of seeing most of the sights in Paris. Here is just one. It's of us coming up to the Alexander III bridge, my favourite of the 22 we went under.

On our river cruise yesterday

After disembarking, we made our way to Montmartre, made famous by artists from all over the world. I wanted to see the beautiful Sacre Coeur cathedral (from the outside) and walk the cobbled streets watching artists paint famous sights of Paris, do portraits, caricatures and even silhouettes. We did not walk up but took the funicular which was a great experience and stress free for once. 

Funicular to and from Montmartre

Here is one of my photos of the beautiful white cathedral I remember so well and also of a wonderful view of the city.

We had to include Sacre Coeur in our visit 

The view of the city from Sacre Coeur

From there we wandered to the famous Place du Tertre where crowds were watching people play music. The atmosphere was great as was the square.

One of the beautiful cafes on the Place du Tertre

Our last stop in Montmartre was of course the Place des Artistes where we saw artists at work and thousands of tourists, some of whom were having their portraits done. 

Place des artistes in Montmartre

I am sure if Picasso, Miro, Toulouse-Lautrec, Renoir or Van Gogh and many more could see Montmartre today they would be very surprised and probably not too pleased with what the area they used to frequent has turned into. They couldn't even begin to imagine the number of souvenir shops selling I love Paris  or Mbappe t-shirts, not to mention African immigrants selling plastic Eiffiel Towers. Even so, it's still a magical place to visit.

At 15.30 we were meeting my dear cousin Marie and her husband Anas at a very special place, the Ladurée cafe in the Galeries Lafayette. Marie told me they have the best macarons in Paris. We were starving by then and as we arrived early we ordered food. Eladio went for a club sandwich and I couldn't resist the equivalent of afternoon tea. We hadn't seen our cousins since the last cousinade in Île de Ré in 2018 so the meeting was sweet. We ate and chatted for hours and I only remembered to have a photo taken when we parted. It's an awful one of me but it's all I have.

Happy to be reunited with Marie

Marie is the eldest daughter of my cousin Mashinka and I first met her in the early 2000s when I worked for Nokia. We hit it off immediately and have been in touch ever since. Marie reads my blog, so if you are reading this, hi and lots of love. It was great to see you and Anas again. They live in Switzerland but just happened to be in Paris this weekend so it was rather a chance meeting but one I shan't forget.

And today is Sunday and we are leaving. It has been short but sweet and a lovely trip down memory lane.  Soon we will be in hot and sweaty Madrid but hopefully not for long as we plan to escape the heat and go and stay in Montrondo. In our family we have  a funny saying "Montrondo, Paris, Granada, como Montrondo no hay nada". This roughly translates as "Montrondo, Paris, Granada, there is nothing like Montrondo" which of course is nowhere near the truth, haha.

On that silly note, I shall leave you until next week.

Cheers from the city of light from a very happy Masha.