As you know, I do love a good cemetery.. Why is that? anyway... Pere Lachaise, like Recoleta , falls into the dramatic Catholic city of the dead variety, with beautiful tombs and vaults. Pere Lachaise to the non-French, perhaps most famously contains the final resting place of 27 club member Jim Morrison and the much defaced but lovingly so, winged very modern looking angel protecting Oscar Wilde.

Travel Philosophy Number 9 - Get an apartment

I recently went to Paris for a few days..3 short hours door to door on the Eurostar to a cute little apartment in Le Marais. I love the apartment thing for a city stay. Its not for the kitchen,who wants to cook on holiday.Though, being able to have a cold drink in the fridge and some stuff for an impromputu breakfast is convenient and saves a bob or two. No.. its that feeling of pretending you live somewhere just for a little bit. Theres something a bit special about not having a reception with people knowing your comings and going or having the maids trolley and hoovers thundering past your door in the morning when your having a sneaky lie in. This place was in a lovely old very French building in the cobbled Rue des Rosiers, buzzing with cafes, I had a security code to get in to a courtyard and a typicaly French tiny little lift to take me up to a 3rd floor studio, with a window overlooking the street below and the rooftops of my favourite area in Paris.



Ive done this elsewhere too, that week in the 'Cher' apartment in Buenos Aires at the start of my travels last year - see previous post . And there was a lovely little place in Krakow last year with my parents. Something about that home from home in a city, with a slightly less formulaic style than a hotel room, and an individual touch and flavour of the place adds something to your stay

Even better if more than 2 of you and you get a 2 bedroom place - costs per person usually fall dramatically below 2 hotel rooms

Heres two shots taken from my window - Jour et Nuit

Issues with Wolves

The Loop by Nicholas Evans

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


OK maybe Im feeling mean, its prob a high 3 - I did enjoy the book, in an easy non-confronting, woodsy shack in the mountains way. No complaints, just didnt grab me as much as for some others. I liked the wolfy bits best. It made me pine a bit for Prodigal Summer though, that felt much more real to me.



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