Paris….

City of lights, city of love, city of rain, wind and hail!! Yes, we’ve been unlucky with the weather but it hasn’t stopped us for long. The views might be a bit grey and the wind bitingly cold, but a crêpe and hot chocolate soon improve the spirits.

Our hotel is 2 minutes from the local market and métro station, 3 minutes from the Séverin area packed with cafés and restaurants, and 5 minutes from Notre Dame. Kathy and I are in the roof up 168 winding stairs but it’s OK because we have the boys to carry our cases! With a very helpful owner, and free Wifi, laundry, kitchen and breakfast, it’s a good place to be.

It didn’t take us long to hit town when we arrived and within 5 minutes we were gawping at Notre Dame, its sheer size, its intricate carvings, its huge stained glass windows. After dinner was a cruise on the Seine while the sun set. The bridges and buildings were beautifully illuminated and we got our first look at the Eiffel Tower, lit up like some kind of dazzling jewel. We had to pinch ourselves to realise we were really in Paris.

Since then, it’s been the Eiffel Tower again, up the 689 stairs, the Eternal Flame at the overpass where Princess Diana died, the Arc de Triomphe from the top with a fantastic view of the 12 avenues which radiate out from the roundabout, the unbelievable traffic manœuvrings on that roundabout, the Champs Elysées in the wind and pouring rain, and, dare I say it, McDo there for lunch. Quelle horreur! Then the Louvre and, of course, the Mona Lisa (why?). Ollie reckons we climbed and descended 2349 steps on our first day here!

Today, the local market at Place Maubert where a stall-holder found out we were from NZ and decided his son (23 years, an injured rugby player but rich ((lies, we assume!!))) should marry Ashleigh; the Notre Dame Towers (one of my favourite things – up amongst the gargoyles seeing what they have been watching over for hundreds of years, and reading Victor Hugo’s descriptions of the city); the Pont de l’Archevêche covered in padlocks declaring couples’ love; dancing to the tunes of an accordionist; the Jewish Memorial; the Île St Louis with its classy buildings and chic shops where we fitted in some gauffres au chocolat and the manager got so excited to discover that we were from NZ that he started telling everyone in the restaurant; the Hôtel de Ville (immense town hall); the Marais area with the immaculate and elegant Place des Vosges, the oldest square in Paris; the Centre Pompidou; and, of course, shopping in the Forum des Halles (where will they fit all they have bought? I hope they still have enough money to pay the excess baggage.)

This is only two days. As you can see, we don’t sit around!

Dinner here has so far been in the Séverin, the party area of Paris since the 1400s which now has many touristy but cheap restaurants. Here we can work our way through a 3 course fixed menu for as little as 12 euros, including for example, escargots (which most of the group has braved by now), steak and chips, mousse au chocolat; or pizza, dessert and drink for 15 euros. A bit tacky, but still very good value.