This week is only a two day school week for Aurore and Louis, as they always have Wednesdays off, Thursday is a public holiday which apparently means that school on Friday is pointless, so the schools just turn it into a five day weekend (apparently many businesses close until Tuesday as well - this comes just days after Caroline and Mathias swearing to me that they don't have many public holidays in France!) It is nice feeling that we are already in pretty good ...

Sunday means my official full day off - so I spent the morning being exceptionally lazy by reading and dozing in bed, bliss! I then headed into Paris (My first experience with the metro was a success! Much more pleasant than the memories I have of being squashed and belted with briefcases as a nine year old) I met Edith, who is Caroline's sister's au pair, and is Italian (but of course speaks German, French and English as well) who is lovely (it was a big relief...

After a long Saturday with Aurore and Louis, my first week in Paris was perfectly finished with a quick and spontaneous dash into Paris for ice cream! It took only a ten minute drive to be looking up at the spectacular Notre Dame - I finally got the giddy feeling of absolute excitement at being in Paris! We ate 'the best ice cream in Paris' and it was of course absolutely delicious. We then wandered around for a while before taking the long route home via the E...

This morning I finished 'Perfume' which is apparently very well known in France (I think it was originally written in German or Italian) and so could finally watch the movie, which was probably one of the best movies I have seen that was based on a book I have read, although it was a little creepy! Then I spent the rest of the day doing not much at all - wonderfully relaxing to have a bath and attempt to teach myself some more French! When I picked Louis up from...

Today I started my now permanent habit of going for a long walk which has the combined use of exercise (Therefore making me feel happy from the endorphins and allowing me to indulge in cakes!) and sightseeing, the perfect way to spend a morning! Today (I confess it was actually afternoon by the time I got out of the house - I still blame jet lag!) I walked along the railway tracks (from which I have a clear view of the Eiffel Tower every afternoon as we walk to A...