Ah Paree!

I’m very lucky in the fact that my job has allowed me to travel all over the world. Quite often I stay on for a day to look at the sites of a particular place. Other than our big chill out summer holiday, when Rich and I go away in spring and autumn we tend to go somewhere where we can explore rather than just laze about.  So it’s a little surprising that as our closest neighbour in terms of capital cities, I’ve hardly ever spent any time in Paris.

We spent a Thursday afternoon there are about eight years ago en route to a boating holiday in the South of France. What should have been six hours of sightseeing was rather curtailed as my mother decided to be admitted to hospital the previous evening and we spent most of the time looking for locations from which to ring home and find out how she was doing, and to see if we could continue the rest of our holiday in the South of France.

So when three jobs presented themselves very early this year in Paris, it seemed more than natural to extend one of them into a weekend stay for the both of us. I  travelled out to Paris on Wednesday evening in order to work on Thursday and Friday morning, and Rich travelled out on Thursday night after work to spend the weekend with me.

The work was great. Nice people, nice work sessions, and very well looked after.

The rest of the  weekend we decided to be shameless tourists  and do a lot of touristy things. So Friday afternoon's tour was to the Eiffel Tower. It’s a magnificent structure and as we approached it from a small park it gazed up to the sky, and made you feel quite vertiginous just looking up. I don't have a head for heights. There have been several familiar buildings that we have tried to ascend where halfway up I have handed the video camera over to Rich and while he has gone on to the summit, I made my way back down to a pavement café to await his return and view the sites via the video footage. In such a way did I see the top of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. If the buildings enclosed and got a lift ithen no problem. The Empire State building, the Rockefeller Plaza, the John Hancock building in Chicago, the Sears Tower, none of these pose a problem. But put me on a cliff edge, or put me on a building that is exposed to the air and I’ve had it.

Mercifully the summit of the Eiffel Tower was closed,  and so our trip was only take us to the second floor. Quite high enough for me thank you. There’s only a small rail around the edge and of course you look straight down. Looking across Paris was beautiful. The Sacre Couer on the hillside at Montmartre, the huge Haussman boulevards stretching out showing the planning of the city that was created in the 18^th-century( yes I did get that from tourist guide!) were a beautiful site, but I just couldn’t look down. It was also subzero that afternoon but I'm never any good at planning business and pleasure, so although I had a suit and some nice shirts, I had forgotten things such as thick warming woolly jumpers!

Suffice it to say that after a walk home via the Arc de Triomphe, I was chilled to the bone and only a hot soak could restore us both to humanity!

Saturday saw a walking tour of Montmartre with a Croatian guide who does free city walks. Found him on Trip advisor and his ninety minute walk was just the right mix of history and gossip. You tip him what you want at the end of the walk. Highly recommended. Lunch in Montmartre and a dash round the Louvre in the afternoon – yes we did see old Moaning Lisa but why is she so famous?

The evening we spent in the Paris branch of one of our favourite London restaurants Joe Allens. Identical but slightly more bistro (that’s a Russian word by the way) and a great evening.

Sunday had time for a quick  trip round Notre Dame, enhanced by the fact that Mass was being celebrated as we were there so the church was full of glorious sounds as well as sights. Very impressive.

Yes, Paris, I think I’m just a little bit in love with you and will have to see you again! All that remains now is to move the French!