Our own Paris Hilton

Yes, we are spending a night in Paris – two actually. Arrived without incident from Luxembourg just after midday. Pouring rain so taxied to the new digs. Didn’t fancy braving the weather to get to the Metro station and again from the local station to the apartment.

Traffic in Paris is definitely worse than Rome. In Rome it was a sort of ordered chaos that just seemed to work. In Paris it’s chaos and doesn’t seem to work too well at all. In Rome drivers only seemed to beep as a warning that they were about to run you over, and not so much at each other. In Paris they beep at everything and constantly. There is probably no recognised road rage incidents though, as it’s hard to say when the usual stupidity ends and the rage begins.

The glossy brochure for the apartment we are staying in failed to mention that it was on the fifth floor. That’s ten flights of twisting narrow stairs. Ninety-one in all, we counted them! It appears that the advertising may have been a bit optimistic on a few counts… It is clean and dry though.

Anyway, the sights. What did we see? We were up early and did a quick round of Luxembourg before we caught the Paris train. We liked it. It is very picturesque, at least in the area around the old city. Managed to squeeze in the Duke’s Palace, Le Chemin de la Corniche, Citadel of the Holy Spirit and the Viaduct, all before breakfast. Breakfast was croissants and a beaut mousse-thingy washed down with coffee. 

  
I have a ‘no photos of food’ rule, as no one cares what you had for dinner. These however are works of art and deserve to be shared. These are the beaut mousse-thingys I referred to above. If in Luxembourg, eat one.

To kick off Paris we went to see the Eiffel Tower. I knew it was big, but bloody hell it’s big! You need to get back about a kilometre for a decent photo. We are going back in the morning on the off chance the lineup for the lift will be shorter than it was this afternoon.

Then it was onto our favourite, the hop on-hop off bus. We hadn’t got too far before it started to rain. Sitting up the top of an open double-decker bus didn’t seem so clever at that point. Most people went below. We didn’t, I mean how wet can it get? Yes, that’s right, pelting rain wet. We were forced to seek cover as well. We finished the lap, but didn’t see too much out of the steamed up windows and huddled under an umbrella. We’ll go back tomorrow for another shot at that.

On a brighter note. After only two train trips, Milly and I have completely mastered the Paris train system. Line number, direction, changing trains, the lot. We are either very clever, or perhaps it’s easier than we think. Michelle hasn’t a clue where she is going, she follows along in the hope that Milly and I really do know what we are doing. So far, so good.

Okay, need to go and hang out more clothes to dry. Rain predicted for the next week, so we’d better be prepared for it.

Enough for now, Steve J.

Apologies for no photos two days running. We have the world’s slowest internet connection, photos would just bring it down. I’ll catch up when we get to Caen (Monday).