Yes, we met him, but more on that later (and perhaps yes, I may have taken artistic license with the spelling, just to make it rhyme…)

Don’t you just love it when you relax so much on holiday, that a few weeks feels more like a month? It feels like Australia is a world away, for more reasons than just kilometres…

However, I’ve finally been able to rouse myself from my rêverie française and will try and bring you all up to date with what we’ve been up to.. Apologies though, it’s going to be epic!

Kicking back in Korea

We’ve stopped over in Seoul many times now. It breaks what is otherwise a very long, tiring flight and the option to sleep in a lovely hotel, in a warm, comfortable bed after a hot shower, is something we really look forward to. It also allows several hours of discovery time, both after our arrival and before our departure the following day.

Our hotel this time was in a little town, Jung- gu, only 30 minutes from the terminal and which had restaurants and shopping in abundance. It was delightful.

Last December when we were in Seoul, we were excited to experience a snow storm, but this time, of course, it was early Spring, with mild temperatures and flowers everywhere. Azaleas are used en masse as street plantings in Korea and with colours of red, purple, pink and orange, it looked simply spectacular. On with our walking shoes and off we went, with lungs full of fresh air and the local parkland as our goal. We pretended that we could decipher the map in Korean given to us by the concierge, however still managed to find Jangchungan Park, which was a beautiful oasis in the middle of this busy little town and the perfect antidote to being cooped up in a plane for 10 hours. Neither of us has ever been remotely interested in taking up twitching (bird watching) as a hobby,  but nevertheless, we were both still very excited to firstly hear, then see, a woodpecker. For such a tiny bird, he certainly made a lot of noise! Beautifully planted, well cared for and with a definite zen-like quality, we’ll certainly include a walk around this huge park again, on future trips.

Not at all keen on making the acquaintance of ‘He Who Must Not Be Named’, residing in the North,  we both think however, that South Korea certainly warrants further investigation, so have decided we will extend our stopover on one of our future trips. With delicious food, friendly people, riveting history and a stunning coastline, it’ll be well worth spending more time exploring here

Holed up in Paris

Sounds terrible, doesn’t it, how bad could it possibly be? But it was only the weather that had us scurrying undercover periodically, as it was freezing cold and raining. Ever the Girl Guide, I had packed raincoats though, so ‘pas de problème’, walk we did… for  6 hours. Naturally, the mandatory side trip to Galeries Lafayette was included and resulted in yes, another pair of shoes in my favorite brand, Arche. But it was raining and cold, so really, what else is there for a girl to do? And, ever mindful of my husband’s comfort, keeping Jeff out of the rain was, of course, my main priority and if it had to be Galeries Lafayette that kept him dry, well, so be it.. 😉

It was love at first sight for me at Louboutin as well, but a sky high pair of flower encrusted cork platforms, while something I definitely would have worn in my young, single, financially uninhibited disco dancing days, are not something I’d now have much opportunity to sport either at home in Australia, or in rural France. With memories of my multi-fractured ankle fresh in my mind and the price tag matching the sky high platform soles also giving definite pause for thought, I decided that, on this occasion at least, I’d say no to a pair of shoes. Jeff’s relief was palpable…

Not a lover of heights, I braved the glass walkway in Galeries Lafayette for a very quick photo opportunity (tout de suite, s’il vous plaît!!), but could definitely NOT be encouraged to also step foot onto the bouncy bridge which lead to the trampoline suspended under the magnificent domed roof, for which Galeries Lafayette is renowned.

It was a very popular choice, just not mine…

We’ve been so fortunate in past holidays, not to have encountered any misfortune, however our day out in Paris this time was coloured by two incidents. It’s difficult, in my opinion anyway, not to love everything Paris has to offer. We find it an entrancing city. On this occasion though, the rose coloured glasses I normally wear slipped a little, just for a short time. In our wanderings, we had found a tiny, enclosed garden, which was beautiful in it’s simplicity. In we went and, aside from Monsieur and Madame sitting on a park bench enjoying a break in the weather, we were there on our own. Or so we thought. Just as we were leaving, a man appeared behind  and deliberately bumped into me, spat on my back and proceeded to hurl abuse at me in French at the top of his voice. He was absolutely vicious. I was in shock and it wasn’t the weather that had me frozen to the spot. Apart from not having known he was there, I could not comprehend what on earth I could have possibly done that warranted being spat on and screamed at. Jeff immediately leapt to my defense, but we both quickly realised Monsieur was ‘fou’ and that discussion of any type would have only provoked him further.

It could easily have made an already very unpleasant situation dangerous, so we retreated. He was still hurling abuse at me at the top of his voice, as we left.

The rest of our day passed almost without incident, just until we were heading back to our hotel. We noticed a man following us. One moment he was just a step behind, then he moved away and pretended to be interested in something, or someone else, then he was back immediately behind us again. It felt very threatening. We stopped, turned around and stared him down. He retreated. He reappeared again a few minutes later. We stopped and turned around again and waited to see what he would do, staring at him to let him know we knew what he was up to. This behaviour continued for 15 minutes or so. Thankfully, he finally realised that he wasn’t going to benefit from us at least and he disappeared, probably to do the same to someone else. We are always aware of the possibility of pickpockets, or worse, and are very security conscious when we travel, so we had nothing stolen and no harm was done, but it was good reminder to continue to be vigilant.

We still loved our day in Paris though. There is so much to see and it’s a city just perfect for wandering even if, as on this occasion, we had to make sporadic dashes inside to escape the rain. With so many churches, museums, art galleries, cafes and shops to choose from, it was certainly no hardship.

It is enchanting, whatever the weather….

Au revoir, Paris, à très bientôt..