A few days later my workaway was over, and as it had made sense to take my flight back to England from Paris, I had organised to meet up with my good friend Emily who lived in the capital, whom I had met in Annecy. We decided to meet halfway in Tours for a night, then pop by Amboise for another night, and then train back to Paris together for a couple of days before I caught my flight.
I arrived early in Tours and met my airbnb host and got settled in. As Emily had work that day she was training in from Paris late that evening, so, reveling in my freedom from workaway and being in France, I wandered down to the local store for baguette, brie and a bottle of red wine to enjoy my evening.
As it was late by the time Emily arrived, we headed straight to bed so that we could have a full day of exploring in the morning! Tours was a lovely city and I really enjoyed wandering it, walking down to the river and grabbing a drink in place de Plumereau (or Place de Plum as my airbnb host had called it) especially as we were lucky enough that our little apartment was only a two minute walk from it! The bustling square was an awesome place to grab a drink and watch the nightlife, or recover in the shade from the burning sun.
Aside from a lovely old center and shady river to wander along, the shopping district was fantastic and we ended up doing rather a lot of accidental window shopping! That evening we bought a bottle of bubbly and stayed cosy in our apartment catching up.
The next morning was market day, so we bought some supplies to keep our meals cheap and nice, before heading off by train to Amboise.
I had messaged our airbnb host the time of our train arrival and that we would be checking in about half an hour later as it was a bit of a walk from the station, and to my great surprise our host was there to meet us at the station and drive us back to their house! We had the top floor of their house to ourselves, with a lovely big wooden bedroom with twin beds. They were lovely and welcoming, and I was super happy with our accomodation.
Not wanting to lose the daylight, we headed into town to see the castle from the outside, and check out the popular chocolate shop 'Bigot' which I had heard good things about.
We of course couldn't leave without sampling a thing or three! We had wanted to check out the Chateau de Clos Lucé, where Leonardo da Vinci had died, but unfortunately it was too late in the day and it was closed. We admired it from the outside instead, before sitting by the river and picnicking on our chocolate as the sun set.
Friday was a rainy day, but I had already decided to head to Montmartre, and a little rain wouldn't stop me! Because I wanted to see some things on the way, I decided it was worth the long walk rather than hopping on and off buses or the metro. Emily lives only a ten minute walk from the Eiffel Tower, so I was wonderfully located to wander around and take in all the sites (though rather far from Montmartre!)
I had a wonderful day wandering, passing lovely churches, admiring the view from the Sacre Coeur, walking past the famous Moulin Rouge, and wandering past the enormous and beautiful Montmartre graveyard (I wanted to go in but unfortunately it offered no shelter from the rain).
The next day (and my last full day in Paris) Emily was off work, so we planned to wander parts of Paris. We had discovered we could get a cheap hop on- hop off ticket for one of the river-boats on the Seine and use it as a scenic ferry, so decided to do just that. I highly recommend it, as it was a relaxing and beautiful way to see Paris, and we could use it as much as we liked! We ended up in the 4th Arrondissement, which turned out to be one of my favorites! The Marais neighbourhood was historic and chic, and super fun to wander around. It also turned out to be home to lots of off-beat vintage and second hand stores - time for some spontaneous shopping! I managed to walk away with only buying one thing (restraint!) a beautiful, slightly too big but very cool leather jacket!
Shopping complete, we were heading home but ended up running into an acquaintance of Emily's who invited us to karoake that they were on their way to. We shrugged and said why not? After an hour or so of great amusment, we headed home.
I was leaving mid the next afternoon, so we decided to continue with our tradition from my last visit and have a picnic for our last day together. We headed off in the morning to get supplies, baguette from the Boulangerie, cheese from the Fromagerie, desserts from the Patisserie and of course bubbly... oh how I miss France!
The highlight for me were these gorgeous 'Merveilleux' cakes - fluffy and gorgeous meringues coated in whipped cream and delicious white or dark chocolate - they just melt in your mouth! Originally recreated by a certain Fred in Lille (and now extended to Paris) the name of the pastries was inspired by people who after the French Revolution dressed extravagantly and were known as les merveilleux for the gentlemen and les incroyables for the women (now the respective names of the dark chocolate and white chocolate cakes). History and dessert, what could be better!
Unfortunately the Paris weather thwarted us this time, and the rain forced us to have a cosy floor picnic in the apartment, I certainly didn't mind! That afternoon,full of cakes and good food, I headed off to the airport, destination London and then straight on a train to see my good friend Joy.
