The wonderful city of Paris

Well to start with, I took lots and lots of photos, I sorted through and picked the ones I like but again there were to many I think for this blog, so I created an album, which you should hopefully be able to view from the link below, so enjoy :) Now it may not show you the thumbnails, but don't worry, if you click on the slideshow it will show you the pictures or you can click on one of the thumbnails and then scroll through the photos.

http://picasaweb.google.com/cesskada/Paris

Now onto to telling you all about Paris.

First off, I loved Paris. Everything about that is city is great, the buildings, the men, the streets, the metro, the food, it is all so very good. I was fortunate enough to sleep the whole plane ride over, considering I had to be up at 5.45am, it was to hard. I woke up just in time to see the Eiffel Tower from the sky.

The train according to the pamphlet says from the airport to the city in 29 minutes, HA, it stopped at Villepente forever, although something was being said over the PA but not being able to understand much French, I had no idea why we were stopped there but finally we moved along and headed to the city.

From the metro to the Hotel, got lost and wondered the back streets for a little while before deciding to go back to the metro and trying again to find the hotel, this time more successful. The hotel is called Hotel Moulin Vert, it wasn't huge but it was clean and nice, the view is so very French.

First day was spent walking up and down the Seine, started off at the Notre Dame and then walked all the way up to the Eiffel Tower. Everything was stunning, I took over 220 photos on the first day alone. I grabbed a yummy strawberry custard tart for lunch, delicious. I walked so much, my feet were balloons by the end of the day. Had dinner at a lovely Moroccan place, I had the Tanjine the first night and ended up back there the second night and tried the Cous Cous, both were amazingly good.

Second day I tried to find the sights from the Amelie movie, my favourite movie. I did have help from a very poor Internet guide, it got me to the places I wanted to see though but boy did it go round and round in circles. It was exciting to see the spots that were in the movie, although a lot of it was props but now when I watch the movie I will be able to think about when I went there. Also went to Sacre-Coeur and looked out over the Paris skyline, stunning, you are allowed to walk around inside even though a service was being held at the church. I unfortunately still got sun burnt even with sunscreen but it was too bad, I'm now browner then most people in Newcastle and at least I'm a natural brown and not orange as they seem to really like being orange up here.

Third day I went to Saint Chappelle, got lost, ended up in the courts that is right next door to Saint Chappelle, I got escorted back to Saint Chappelle by a very nice policeman and La Conciergerie (that is where they held Marie Antoinette before they chopped off her head) both places were very interesting, the stained glass in the Saint Chappelle is absolutely amazing. I then tried to find the Notre Dame but kept doing laps around the police H/Q's, I think I did about 3 or 4 laps before I gave up and decided to head to Le Louvre and on my way there found a sign to the Notre Dame. Again absolutely stunning inside.

Afterwards I walked over to Le Louvre, had some lunch there and watched all the people. Found the Mona Lisa, I didn't find the painting that impressive, it is quite small and you can't take a picture of it, I found watching the security guards telling people off for taking pictures amusing. Venus the Milo was much better and you could take a picture of it as well. I spent a few hours wondering round Le Louvre from there I went and sat in the Jardin des Tuileries, a lot of tourists about, it was good watching them.

Although I couldn't speak much French, I did try and I could get by with the basics such as Bonjour, sil vous plait and Merci and lots of pointing :) The French are really nice people, I really enjoyed being them round them. Quite a few people decided to have conservations with me and although I couldn't understand much of what they were saying, it was nice that they even thought I was a local for a brief moment.

I walked from the Le Louvre down Avenue des Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe, I sat there for about half hour watching the traffic go by and with no accidents which I thought was pretty darn good considering how mad it looks.

Fourth day and it was off to the Musee d'Orsay, it was really good. I then walked the back streets to the Musee Rodin. I really, really enjoyed that place, Rodin was brilliant, the kiss is my favourite statue. I sat and ate my lunch in the gardens, very soothing for the soul. Then I walked to Jardin de Luxembourg and the Palais, again very beautiful and relaxing after quite a long walk. I decided to walk back to the hotel from here, another long walk but really good. I stopped to have a look at the Maccas to see the difference and they serve beer on tap!!! How good is that??

Last day in Paris was spent just walking round and admiring everything and everyone. It is a beautiful city with such beautiful people. I can't wait to go back there. I can see why people fall so in love with Paris.

So enjoy the photos, hopefully they aren't to boring. Now I'm relaxing this weekend as my feet are still recovering. I will be going to Manchester end of May to catch up with family. Then it's off to Rome in June :)