Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Ah, a weekend in Paris. NO, not Hilton - France.

On Wednesday night my French friend Sylvian said he was free for the weekend if I wanted to visit. I booked my tickets online that night and flew to Paris on Friday after work. It is certainly one of the rare and special advantages of single life that you can plan holidays three days in advance. I've been paid and have a weekend up my sleeve, so why not go and see a friend I haven’t seen in two years - in Paris. *sigh*... life is beautiful.

Sylvian met me at the airport, and drove me back to the flat where I met the flatties and dropped off my stuff. We ate some home-made pizza, and drove into town for a drink and a walk around. That part of town was definitely the red light district in Paris, as every second shop was a sex shop, a strip joint or a brothel. Men stood outside and beckoned passers by for a ‘good time’. Apparently if you ever go in the girl will ask you if you want something to drink, and then crack open a €300 bottle of champagne. Ouch. Sylvian took a photo of me in front of the actual Moulin Rogue, and I’ll upload it when I get it from him. We drove around a bit and saw Paris by night. And that was Friday night.

The next few photos are what I took on Saturday morning. Sylvian had work, so Christophe helped me buy a day pass for the subway, gave me a map, and left me to my own devices.

Paris Subway, and popping out from the Subway onto the street.



Just outside Invalides.



Invalides courtyard (left), and a statue by the enterance (right).


I also made it to the Eiffel tower on Saturday (topmost right image, roughly joined in PhotoShop) before return for lunch at 2pm of chicken and potatoes, which was really good. After lunch Sylvian had to go see about a girl, so I walked to the local market and bought a leather jacket I've always wanted but never had the disposable income to justify buying.

Later on we took the subway into the Paris city proper (the flat is just outside the ring that defines Paris city). We walked through some of the parks and had a look around.



I reckon this'd look good in the garden.


Hey, it's that Louvre pyrimad from the DaVinci Code where Jesus was buried. Crap - did I just gave the whole movie away?


And that was Saturday night. Went home, drank some fine French vintage and played poker till 4am (almost won too, but lost the gamebreaker with a pair of 10s vs a pair of Jacks). Sunday morning I walked down to the baker and bought croissiants and baguettes for breakfast. Some friends came over for lunch, and then Sylvian dropped me to the airport at 3pm.

If you've been following my posts, you'll remember I theorised that airports are built to reflect the character of their land? Well judge for yourself (image above right).