September, 2005
We really ought to visit Paris more often—it's really close to London, it's full of cool stuff, plus Storme's aunt happens to live there. And it has crêpes! Maybe you're thinking that this last factor doesn't really signify in the grand scheme of things, but you have to realise that a crêpe with Nutella is one of the standard items on the menu of a French typical brasserie. I love crêpes, and Nutella is one of my all-time favourite substances of any kind. So we booked a little hotel room on the rue Molière and hopped on the Eurostar to see what we could see.On the first evening, we wandered at random and ended up at the Forum des Halles. It was too late to go inside, but we ambled around the park and admired the various buildings nearby in the golden light of sunset.
Bourse de Commerce
Jardin des Halles
St-Eustache
Second day: the Louvre! This was just a few streets away from our hotel, so we had no trouble getting there bright and early in the afternoon.
The Louvre
It seems strange now that the pyramids over the entrance were originally hugely controversial.
Palais and pyramids
Archways
So what's inside? Well, paintings! And sculptures and the like. They also have lots of no flash photography signs, although this had no impact on the massive crowds of people taking flash photographs of the Mona Lisa. I rebelled and put my camera away.
Portrait of manliness
Although I couldn't resist taking a (non-flash) photo of this guy, with his terrified-looking and possibly rabid horse, tigery saddle and Colin Firth sideburns.
Back outside, and Storme didn't understand why I found this cafe sign quite as funny as I did. It's a French typical brasserie, see? In France! I'm sure they sold crêpes, being typical and all, but as it happens this is probably the only cafe in the vicinity of the Louvre that we did not go into.Speaking of French typical stuff...
Pont Neuf
Banks of the Seine
Notre Dame
Palais Royal
Heading out to Montmartre... The director of Amelie complains that it's become even more of a tourist trap since his film came out, but if so it's not necessarily his fault—the numerous knick-knack shops sell generic tat, not Amelie memorabilia.Even if you have a violent distaste for this kind of thing, the trip is worthwhile if only for the view from the Basilique du Sacré Coeur.
Paris
More views from Sacré Coeur
We had dinner with Storme's aunt Jane and her partner Isabelle, who had located a vegetarian restaurant, quite possibly the only one in the entire city, and were even willing to eat there (though they were highly sceptical, especially of the vegetarian wine).They told us that we had just happened to visit Paris during Nuit Blanche, the one night a year when everything stays open all night! Perfect timing, if we'd actually known about this in advance. So we had a good walk around after dinner, saw lots of pretty light shows and art installations, along with a drink or three. (I finally had some grog, having wondered for ages what on earth it is. Pretty good is what it is! It's no Nutella crêpe, you understand, but in its own category it does pretty well; just the kind of warming tot you need when you're wandering around Paris at 3am.)
Louvre at night