Paris in the rain…

Queueing up is inevitable in Paris if you want to see the most obvious sights. Unexciting at the best of times, in the cold wind and rain, it’s not much fun at all. What’s more, when it takes an hour and a half of this just to see a heap of old bones, you start to wonder if it’s worth it. But most seemed keen to experience the Catacombs, old quarries beneath the streets of Paris which were filled up with the bones from the cemeteries when they became overfull in the 1800s. At least it was a chance to get in out of the rain.

Afterwards we enjoyed the chance to warm up over a hot lunch at a typically Parisian café with red and gold- striped chairs and views of the street, thenwe were off again to the Montmartre area for a look at the Moulin Rouge and the Sacré-Cœur, and to rub shoulders with all the tourists at the Place de la Tertre  where artists paint your portrait for as much as they think you’re likely to pay, and tourist shops sell tacky souvenirs and ‘I LOVE PARIS’ t-shirts.

Montmartre is a quaint bohemian area with steep cobbled streets which aren’t much fun in the rain. We managed to have a look into the Café des Deux Moulins, where Amélie (in the film the Year 13s are studying) worked, but with a freezing wind howling into the front of the Sacré-Cœur, the only really happy people that afternoon were the umbrella salesmen.

Paris has been the place for everyone to choose a dinner to their own taste at a very reasonable price. The Rue Mouffetard/Place de la Contrescarpe area, where students, writers and poets have for years sat, eaten and debated the ways of the world, offers many little French restaurants where those who still wanted to could try ‘escargots’, ‘jambes de grenouilles’ (frogs’ legs) or other local delicacies.