In the space of a day we managed to walk up and down the Champs Elysee, visit the top of the Arc de Triomphe and fit in a visit to the Louvre. Boy those feet were sore. Simon hadn't even heard of the Champs Elysee, had he been under a rock? It was very beautiful and chic with its tree lined boulevards with 12 different streets radiating out from the mammoth Arc de Triomphe at the top. Great view from the top. We were tres chic visiting the Louis Vitton store - buying nothing but trying on very expensive sunglasses! Lunched on the sidewalk on a baguette and people watched as Parisian's do. Not very cheap though - the two cokes and a bottle of water from McDonalds later on were 14NZD! Louvre big and grand - saw the Mona Lisa etc as did heaps of other people around us!
Next day broke my jandal at the fricken cemetry that was miles out. Queue too long at the catacombes so we ventured to the Jardins de Luxembourg which were pretty and oh my goodness we saw Jude Law! Si was a good celeb spotter and Jude was gorgeous. We did a bit of Jude spotting as he went his way around the park with his daughter (?). In the evening we walked around les halls and the streets around it and watched buskers in still 30C heat.
Managed to find replacement jandals as we hiked our way up Montmartre the next day to see the view and the Sacre Couer. Fortunate to have gorgeous weather everyday in Paris - to Marseille s'il vous plait.
Paris is an absolutely magnificent city, but I bet you already knew that.
I've never even heard of that crazy street Nicola was going on about - have you?! You probably have. I must admit that my knowledge of France is not particularly comprehensive, but i'm learning fast - you have to.
The overwhelming French attitude is "if you don't know, you're shit out of luck". If you don't speak French that's tough, and if you've been waiting half an hour in the wrong line because nobody told you the correct line to stand in that's tough too.
I said the Eiffel Tower was overrated. That's because of all the lines. You line up for hours just to get up to the middle level and then you line up again to get up the top. You line up to get down to the middle level again, and then you line up to get to the bottom. The view was amazing though, and it's one of the activities that you're obliged to do while in Paris.
The Arc, however, that was amazing. We walked straight up this thing without any waiting around and the view was great. It's so much bigger in real life! The view straight down the Champs Elysee all the way to the Louvre was sublime.
The Louvre was pretty cool. The Mona Lisa is so small! It's this tiny little painting surrounded by a throng of eager and sweaty tourists, fighting for a glimpse.
We visited Jimmy Morrison's grave at that famous cemetary in Paris - Pere Lachaise. That was epic. Imagine so many tourists visiting a cemetary! I must admit it was pretty cool though. I didn't think it would be appropriate to pose for a picture next to the grave though.
Paris is really expensive so we've been living off sandwhiches for lunch and dinner from the local supermache. Next time we come here, after working in London for a bit, we'll have a bit more money to throw around. Still, it's been great, and the weather has been fantastic.
More Paris pics here
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