Vive la France

Paris is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, beautiful. No other city I've been to has as many amazing buildings clustered together. My planned site seeing degenerated almost immediately to randomly wandering the streets just admiring the architecture. If you manage to find something to climb* the scenery becomes even better.

One of the gargoyles on top of Notre Dame looking over the city.

I was also treated to some very mild days and two cracking sunsets. In addition to Notre Dame I also manage to see the the outside of the Lurve (I didn't even attempt to go in as I'd need to set aside a weekend just for that by all reports), Jardin des Tuileries, Ile de la Cite, Tour Eiffel, the Champs Elysees and finally the Arc de Triomphe. As mentioned the casual beauty of the place is remarkable. Even the Parisians have a bad wrap and will generally try to help even if they don't speak English.

The Sainte-Chapelle

On top of this I also had a very gracious host in Luke who put me up for the weekend and took me out 'on the piss' (as it was Australia day after all) with some of his mates. We went out both Friday and Saturday nights with a great little group and had lots of drunken fun both nights. It was perhaps not the traditional Paris weekend with several hours spent at Cafe Oz and several more sleeping off hangovers but all in all a most enjoyable weekend indeed.

Next destination; Tignes Les Brev where I'll be both carving up, and falling down, the slopes (I predict I'll being doing far more of one than the other).

* This isn't a problem as almost all buildings in central France are 4-5 stories tall. All that "French woman don't get fat because...." is just woffle. The real reason is everyone is climbing stairs to get to and from the shops full of pastry goodness.**

** Mmmmm, pastry goodness.