Feb 2008

We'd been back in Edinburgh for a few months after our last big odyssey and our first wedding anniversary was fast approaching. So what better excuse to take another trip to a 'romantic' city, and what better place than Paris.

It was a bit of a flying visit and we only took the Monday off work (well Rach took the day off as hadn't found a job yet). And since we only had the 3 days, we did all the standard Parisy things. The first day was a walk from Notre dame to the Louve, a mandatory walk down the Champs Elysees (final stage of the tour de France) to the Arc de Triomphe. Had a nice dinner out in some random Paris suburb and tried out what limited French we knew, "Do you know English"? "Oui"....phew.

Next day, the 10th our 1st wedding anniversary. Didn't really start out to well, no-one told us that the bakeries in our area wouldn't open early on a Sunday. And since we had a pretty relaxed view to how we wanted to spend the day we just strolled around got some pannin’s and pastries and went to the Luxembourg Park on Boulevard Saint-Michel.

We grabbed two of the many steel chairs and parked up for a while. Rach took and book and I got a coffee and soaked up some Vitamin D (which had been lacking a bit in Scotland).

That night we went over to the Eiffel Tower and saw it all lit up. We also stood in line for over and hour to get up the series of lifts that take you up to the top viewing deck (ah well your only there once right). Anyway it was a really clear night so we got some good views and pics of the city. And apparently Wellington is the furtherest city from Paris (that they acknowledge).

They last day in Paris we dedicated to going to the Louve and getting some culture in us. We knew how big the place was from walking past the outside but inside the place is just massive. So much to look at and after a few hours we were getting a bit sick of all the stuff. So we did a bee line to the Mona Lisa going past the Venus Di Milo. The room where they had Mona was jam packed full of tourist groups so we took a quick pic and got out, there was way better stuff to ponder around the area anyway.

probably not the best picture of Mona so you're just gonna have to go yourself

Neither of us had a picture in our mind of what we were expecting from Paris, maybe rollings hills cheese and wine. And I'm sure that it is in France somewhere but we can wait for another trip. Paris is a big big city, Big block buildings line the wide boulevards and everything just seems so grand. Our impressions were also helped by the weather, it was bright, crisp and sunny the whole time we were there. So big ups Paris.