Paris

Two Days of Browsing

Excerpts from my Little Green Book

We finally got into Paris at 2am after slightly rough trip from Rome. We ended up staying in a relatively expensive business hotel after the coach from the airport dropped us off in the very centre of Paris, right next to a bevy of plush hotels. The hotel was brand new, we could still smell the fresh plaster in the room. It was wonderful to sleep in a brand new bed though.... Sooooooo comfortable.

Place de la Concorde, historically home to a statue of Louis XV and then the guillotine, is now dominated by a pink Egyptian obelisk.

We got up at around eleven the following day and started the Parisian leg of our adventure by buying baguettes for breakfast. We headed into the centre and got oriented by taking a short walk along the Seine. We ended up at Place de la Concorde, the square at the end of the Champs Elysees.

The Finest Avenue in the World? Perhaps not in the winter, but the broad tree-lined Avenue des Champs Elysees has a certain je ne ce pas as it leads from the Place de la Concorde to the Arc de Triomphe

Although cold, the sun was quite strong and the weather was beautiful. I needed a day off from traveling, so after walking around for about an hour, we decided to head to the Pompidou centre where Anne was eager to see the collection of Modern Art housed within.

The Georges Pompidou centre, perhaps the most distinctive building in Paris, houses an impressive collection of modern art. Or at least, that's what the art appreciators tell me.

Inside it was quiet, warm, and well lit. The perfect place to finish my book. There comes a time in any trip I take where, however beautiful and amazing the sights, I just want to shut all the foreignness out for a while and retreat into myself. I had reached that time. I simply sat and read for about four hours while Anne looked at the art. I was exhausted and needed another good night's sleep before I would be ready for anything more strenuous.

This is Art? A student sketches one of the cavernous galleries that has, among other thing, a crocodile on the wall.

I eventually did get up and look around the gallery, and it was beautiful. I can't say I understood any of the art that was there as it was all 'modern art', which to me means the artist had a idea to do something strange that no-one else had ever done. After looking around I went up to the top of the building for some panoramic photos of France.

A young critic discusses the merits of a rather large Picasso with her mother as the Pompidou centre stretches off into the distance.

Then it was off to meet my French friend Loic. He'd kindly offered us a place to sleep in his apartment on the outskirts of Paris, which made the trip not only cheaper, but also much more fun. We connected up and then headed to a Chinese restaurant for some food. Anne was tired of all the European food she'd been eating, and if I'm honest, I was also missing rice a little.

My friend and host Loic, doing what a Frenchman does: Drinking red wine, eating pate on a baguette and sticking his tongue out at the world.

After a great night's sleep we planned a day of seeing the sights of Paris. Our tour started with the Notre Dame, but I have to say that following Rome and St Peter's, it was a little underwhelming. Perhaps if we had done Paris first, I'd have been very impressed. There were some very friendly birds, and I had fun taking pictures of them.

Anne makes friends with the birds outside the Notre Dame.

Then it was off to Montmatre, a hill in the North of Paris with its own little atmosphere. At the top of the hill sits the Sacre Coeur, a very distinctive church and it was here that we made out first stop. The Church was beautiful inside and out, with amazing stained-glass windows. The steps up to the church were lined with people looking out over Paris. The Sun was setting and the view was impressive.

The French and the Tourists alike sit on the steps of the Sacre Coeur and watch the sun set over Paris.

After a couple of hours relaxing inside and outside the church, we walked around the corner to the Place du Tertre, a beautiful square full of artists all trying to paint or draw the tourists that were browsing through.

Hang out of hopeful artists, Place du Tertre on Montmatre attracts its fair share of tourists on the lookout for a Parisian piece of Art.

I thought some of the pictures were great, and it was certainly a more interesting place to look at art than a sterile Art Gallery. The artists were all quite loud in their attempts to sell painting or draw tourists, but the atmosphere was friendly. We stopped into a nearby shop, ate some crepes and had a much needed glass of water.

A resident of Montmatre sketches the face of a tourist.

Then it was off to the Eiffel Tower, but we didn't have enough money to go up. We tried to find an ATM, but in the end we had to satisfy ourselves with the view from the bottom.

For the first ten minutes of every hour, the Eiffel Tower is lit up by sparkly lights.

Next