I was quite excited about going across the Channel after watching the Masterchef episode where the contestants got to sit on the Eurostar to Paris. I don't know why but I guess it's something you NEED to do when you're in the UK for a holiday. The trip on the train was a pretty standard affair but we did manage to strike up a conversation with a group of ppl sitting across from us. One lady in the group picked up our aussie accents and from there we talked about travels and it seemed this lady had pretty much travelled EVERYWHERE. The startling thing was that this lady had managed to travel to places in Malaysia which none of us had heard of before (which kinda put us to shame).
Anyway I digress, after hitting a tunnel we hit sunlight and we were officially in Paris. There was no fan fare or announcement over the PA to say we had hit French soil, everything looked like we were still travelling through British country side...ahaha but alas we were in France. After checking in to our quaint but very comfortable apartment we decided to explore the city.
I've often heard friends and colleagues who have been to Paris say "It's a beautiful city" and have wondered what they meant by it, but whilst walking around Paris I came to understand what they meant. Paris is a BEAUTIFUL city, the awesome architecture and parklands generate this vibe that I can't really put into words but you sense it and it makes you love the city more and more.
We managed to cover a lot in the week I was there. We visited and climbed Notre Dame, saw the amazing stain glass windows at Saint Chappelle, spent a day at Chateau de Versaille, visited Napoleon's tomb at Invalides, trudged through the WW1 and WW2 museum, gazed at artwork by Picasso, Tanguy(my favourite) and Matisse @ the Pompidou Centre, saw The Thinker at Museum de Rodin, was blown away by the size of Monet's Water Lilies @ Museum de La Orangeries, climbed the Arc de Triomphe at dusk and looked down the Champs Elysees and also that crazy roundabout, saw the Effiel Tower by day and at night and of course hung out with the Mona Lisa and Venus Di Milo @ the Lourve. We did heaps more but these are the ones that come to mind as I'm typing this.
I didn't know that there was soo much to do in Paris and Parisians are soo friendly, I've heard that French ppl had a reputation of being unfriendly and almost to a point of being arrogant towards tourists but in the week I was there that 'reputation' or myth was busted, the ppl I encountered were friendly and very helpful which made experiencing Paris even more enjoyable.
I know this is a long post but there's one more thing I need to write about this french connection...FOOD. If Paris were to have an item of food that would symbolise its cuisine it would have to be the baguette. Yes this long stick of dough was our staple for many meals while staying in Paris. Baguette for breakfast, baguette for lunch and YES even baguette for dinner too!!!! Besides eating baguettes, I had other french dishes like terrine and confit duck. One culinary highlight of being in France is that you get to try sooo many desserts too but the one dessert that kept us going back for more were the MACAROONS. Chris and I stumbled across this unbelievably awesome macaroons store after a gluttoness meal. We only intended to 'look' but when the look and hopeless attempts to stop drooling whilst looking through the front window turned into a "we'll only go in to buy one each to try". Well that thought was a fail and we both ended up with coffee and two macaroons each!!! They were the BEST macaroons I've tasted and their flavour combinations were sooo perfect. Needless to say Chris and I made a point to go back there on our last day to grab a sample pack for Gav.
Paris has left an unforgettable experience in my memory, I'll definitely want to go back again and again and again....heck I want to take up French!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment