Viva La France

Not many cities come with as big a’ rep as Paris, and thanks to a little pre trip homework I arrived pretty pumped and with the most ambitious ‘to do’ list of any City I’d visited thus far… and man do those cheese eating surrender monkeys know how to put on a Capital City. An all you can eat smorgasbord of world class… everything! The Louvre, Notre Dame, Centre Georges Pompidou, St Michel Chapel, Eiffel Tower, Hotel des Invalides, Arc de Triumph... In 6 days (the longest I’ve spent in one place in over 5 weeks), on the go from dawn to dusk later, I still didn’t get to do everything I wanted to.

The 411

• For mine, the place and people definitely ooze a somewhat classy vibe, an air of confidence and self pride, an X-factor… Hot!
• Multicultural influences made it difficult to find affordable authentic French restaurants in the city centre (All the way to Paris for sushi or Indian, I don’t think so) but delicious pastries, baguettes + cheese + cheese + more cheese are rarely more than a block away.
• The Louvre is absolutely amazing, and frikkin enormous. After over 5 hours hanging with my mates Mona, Hercules, Ceaser, Aphrodite, Hermaphrodite and the rest of the crew, I swear some of the statues and paintings were talking to me, or was that the audio guide?
  
• De Vin – My budget made it a lil’ difficult to guzzle delish French wines, but the cheap plonk I did drink was pretty good
• CSI’s much better in English but Wheel of Fortune isn’t… Gotta love the unashamed French male chauvinist attitude that had the middle aged male host accompanied by a hot, ditzy, Anna Nicole Smith’esk blonde co-host. Big Broth still rubbish, although hot brunette triplets did win. Nicole Kidman doing Nintendo ads in French, weird!
• Weirder – People taking their cats and dogs everywhere with them. On holiday to hotels, on the train, to dinner.
• Weirdest - without doubt the most spun out moment in Paris was randomly running into Barrie Collis and Jane at the top of the Eiffel Tower. I didn’t even know they were in France, freaky shit!

Great times, earning Paris a guernsey on the holiday favs list. Viva Le France!