Ooooooh la la

begging on the train from the airport. liar.

Notre Dame!

the south rose window

right here's where #1 scam tried it on

first time we saw it

imagine they're together...

So, Paris aye. What's it like? Well, this is sure to get long and wordsy, so I thought I might break it up, into a couple parts, So when the story ends abruptly, I've forewarned ye ok?

Paris, the first day.

4.30am, up, ready, taxi's outside to take us to Heathrow, as we sure as shit are NOT missing this flight. (If you'll remember back to the post >Mountains beyond mountains< which was the first time we went to France. We get there so bright and early that we accidentally line up to get on the flight to Paris that is 45 minutes before ours hah! The airport we went to, Charles de Gaulle, is all spread out and horrible and we had to walk and walk and waaaaalk and I should stop complaining really. So anyway, we train into the city and come out of the station to Notre Dame! So cool! There's a mass on tho, so there are a million people there and singing and the middle section is roped so all they praying (almost wrote preying hah!) people can be in one spot, while al us tourists mill around the edges. I be a geek and get the audio tour, which is probably the first time I've bothered, and it was really cool. Facts left, right and centre. I never would have looked at the 'Choir wall' and thought each section was a slab of Jesus's life. I probably would have thought it was one big party and he was only in the first one. Wikipedia just told me it's the most popular sight in Paris, it beats even the Eiffel Tower. 


We went for a walk along the river, Oh how pretty all the buildings and bridges are along there. We kept up the walking, looking for somewhere to eat lunch on the way, we were loosely heading towards the Louvre and our hotel. We ended up in some place called Flams. Flams. FLAMS. We sat down outside, looked at the menus, looked around us and decided it was like being in Pizza Hut. I'm sure it would have been yum, they really did look like good pizza thingis, but it was expensive, there wasn't anything I wanted, so we snuck out. Cheeky buggers. Anyway, then we walked and walked and walked and walked and turned down going to any of the food places, till we came across one of them bridges with padlocks all over them. 


Insert Scammer #1. Poor, would-be-victim: Me. 


I'm going 'ooh wow look at this bridge blah blah' and this lady comes up to me with a clipboard with this deaf n dumb heath helper thing on it, and can I sign and give them some change. I was like, 'Guess so I've got a spare euro in my pocket, why not, Paris is GREAT!, let's be nice here' Shoulda read the blimmin scams section in that Lonely Planet sitting in my bag eh! I held it out and she 'mimes' (bet she can sing better than me that lying rardy rah rah) miiiiiiimes out no I need a fiver or a tenner. Sorry lady, my generosity is fading, I smell scams on the wind and go to leave. So she grabs the € out of my hand and taps her sign a bit more, and I'm hands in there air, get out of my way. Which may sound rude, but if you were there...anywho I'm walking on the bridge and notice this little boy, like, shadowing me, with a clipboard too, and I'm thinking oh great she's sent in the kiddies to make me feel bad. Then I take a photo and the little SHIT is trying to get his hand in my jacket pocket! Blimmin aye, would that I could (been reading game of thrones, that's where that gem came from) slap the mother, who hopefully gets her comeuppance! Raising a kid like that. Anywho.


Back to the fun! So I promptly get over it and continue on my googly eyed walk. The Louvre! Now THAT is a large, grand, beautiful building. As I was standing there going 'Ooooh and aaah and Sam look look' (we are still outside by the way) it's in the back of my mind that...Tom Hanks stood here hahahaha. Da Vinci Code yuss! Snappity snap, we aren't going in cos we gunna do that on my birthday instead, and go walk through the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, and out through the gardens that are in front. There in the distance is the Arc be Triomphe, a straight, trafficky, smoggy straight line away. OOOO. Back across the river on the way to hotel.


Insert scammer #2. Poor, would-be-victim: Sam.


So we are walking along and this random guy picks up a ring he 'found'. He looks around like huh what and then gives it to Sam. Sam's like what? Eh? Not mine, but then the guy 'gives' it to him, shakes his hand and walks off. Sam comes over to me, shows me, and I'm like oh no, that ring looks rather familiar to the one saw some girl at the Louvre 'get given from some guy I wasn't paying attention to. Oh, dear. Then the guy come back and is like hey so do you have any money blah blah, Sam says no, and 'gimmiethering'


Oh where was I. Food time. I've not had savoury crêpes before, but this one was stocked full of yum.  To the hotel! What a cute wee hotel! I decided cos it was my birthday trip I get to stay somewhere a bit more fancy, and this one is awesome! It's called >Hotel de Latour Maubourg<. It's in a really really handy spot to all the things we wanna do, and if you cross the road you can see the Eiffel Tower. OOOO. 


After some breaktime, we went off on our walk to the Eiffel Tower, and, I don't mind how completely stupid this sounds, but it is HUGE. I knew it was big, read about it etc, obviously seen it everywhere, but wow. Just. Wow. And it was night too! So it was all lit up and pretty. And then we see the line. Now I thought the line to the Sagrada Familla was long. We sit and watch it and the tower, then walk along the river to get some dinner, which we stop at a little place called 7 or something. We get a cheese platter, heck yeah, then I try order something called beef tartare. I was guessing it was something like beef with that sauce you put on fish (dunno why I thought it was a good idea even from that description) but then the waiters like, nooo nooo, do you know what tartare is? What it means? No? Oh well its raw mince. Each to their own but I'll have the salmon thanks. Good choice, as the food is amazing, there's a view of the tower, which has started sparkling. I do so love you Paris. Tiramisu for dessert. I'm full to bursting. Good times.