Paris - 2005

This time last year i was in Europe having the time of my life. I'd go back in a minute.
Between me and Em we took 800 photos; I've tried to distill down the holiday down to about 20 photos.


Our hotel was just around the corner from the effiel tower, so we spent breakfasts walking around eating crepes and evenings just strolling. It is a very pretty structure. We did walk the two levels up and then waited in line for about 3 hours to get to the top. It was alright - i'd advise people just go to the Sacre Coutre. Its higher, cheaper and involves not being squashed by other tourists for 4 hours, especially loud shouty ones who seem to have no concept of personal body space.


Em and the stupid video camera she lugged around and shot hours and hours of film which we have not watched yet. Which i knew was going to happen so - ahem - 'I told you so'


Taking hints for the satorially saavy french, i made sure my shoes matched the attractions. Pigalle was kind of cool, one for all the prostitutes and more so for the discount adidas shops (though i lacked funds or space for purchasing)


This was the only artist at Montremartre who was not selling cheesy Paris landscapes or doing carcitures. Em, barginned him to 30% of the initially asking price (we got the nude on the angle)


I really loved Paris. Em said she did french at school but after 2 attempts of using her classroom french she reverted to starting all conversations with locals with "English? English!?". I fumbled with my the phrasebook. We only had one run in with a rude Parisian, all the rest were very cool. London was cleaner and easier to get around but Paris had more personality.

Highlights

• Louvre; by the end we were a bit burned out with galleires and museums but it was still awesome. I'm disappointed at not going to the D'orsay gallery but there's always next time.
• The food; we ate like kings (but walked like paupers) Two course lunches, 3 course dinners. I ate snails and liked'em. Only 2 bad meals in 5 days is not to bad. I learnt that good ingredients make a difference. I also had the best raspberry ice cream ever which I'm this close to duplicating.
• Just the city itself; it has a cool vibe

Purchase I had to carry around for the rest of the trip - Painting and apparently the wrong hardcover Spirou annual for Weber.