A very Parisian reunion

Last weekend I finally did something that I should have done a long time ago and got on the train to Paris to visit Sacha and Lottie. It was only when I got there that I realised I hadn't seen either of them for something approaching six months, which is quite a long time really. So it was great to put that to rights.

I've always had a thing about Paris. I don't quite know what it is, but of all the places I've been, Paris is the one that I like the most, and I'd go back tomorrow if I could. I've only even been in December, but it's a lovely time to go with all of the city lit up for Christmas and Paris does the cold-winter mornings very well indeed.

I spent Friday night staying with Sacha and he took me on a walk around the main sights in central Paris, and I mean all of the central sights. I think we must have walked for about 7 miles in the end! I visited the University Paris II, the Pantheon, Notre Dame, The Louvre, the Champs-Elysées, the Arc de Triumph and numerous parks. It's all lovely:


Unfortunately, my language skills let me down again in frightful fashion when in a rather busy boulangerie failed to order a macaroon by asking in a rather unconvincing combination of Dutch, English and French. Thankfully Sacha rescued the situation and I did make up for it the following morning when I managed, on my own, to order a baguette and two croissants. Maybe one day.

The next day Sacha took me to a couple of art galleries before meeting up with Lottie for lunch whereupon I transferred hosts before I headed off to the Race of Champions at the Stade de France. Essentially this is an even that gathers some of the best drivers from around the world and puts them all in the same car to see who wins:


The setting was quite spectacular and it was good fun, but being 50 metres up in a stadium with no roof for five hours at this time of year is rather less fun and I was quite glad to escape into the warmth afterwards. Unfortunately, the French guy lost in the final round as well, which as you can imagine, led to a rather disappointed home crowd!

On the final day Lottie and I travelled around Paris a little more and visited Paris's equivalent to (and better than) Canary Wharf before heading to the Eiffel Tower:


It was a shame that I could only stay for a couple of days. I almost think that I might have picked the wrong country to spend my Erasmus year in! There's just something about France, and Paris especially, that I love. I can't speak the language though which is obviously a major drawback, but I can't do that in Holland either. Sacha said that an architect in the 19th century had pulled down lots of Paris to make way for its sweeping boulevards and avenues. Usually this would horrify me, but it might well be on of the best things that happened to Paris and it's precisely this that makes it unlike any other city I've been to before. At the end of the day though it has class and style, something that even extends to the Metro:


Can you imagine seeing that in London?