Paris is a city of beautiful buildings. Paris is a city of culture. Paris is a city of wonderful art and music. Paris is a city of great food. Paris is a city of high fashion. Paris is a city of love. We had heard all of these things about Paris and we knew it would be a special city in which to end the European part of our trip. Paris is also the only European city that we have visited before. In 2004 we were able to have a wonderful weekend with our three teenage children in this famous city. We have very happy memories of this very special time as a family. This time we do miss our children, but now we are enjoying this romantic city as a couple.
The day began with a serious attempt to tackle the sales in Paris’s famous department store Galleries Lafayette. We were on a mission to buy an outfit for the mother-of-the-groom as our son Tim is getting married in November. Incredibly we met another Aussie couple, who are on the exact same mission, their son is also getting married in Sydney in November. The only difference is, that this other mother-of-the-groom (the husband whinges to Richard) had already bought two outfits elsewhere in Europe but keeps panicking that the weather might be hotter or colder than she expected and therefore she will need another option.
Later that evening we set out to do something that we did not do last time, and that was to see the sights of Paris at night. We began at the Arc de Triomphe and enjoyed watching the spectacle of the traffic negotiating the roundabout around the arch. It has to be the most bizarre and entertaining intersection in the world. We then wandered down the The Champs-Elysees, which radiates out as one of the 12 axes from the Arc de Triomphe and is one of the most famous streets in Europe. It is lined with many of the top designers’ shops, and we were surprised to see that it is now also resplendent with futuristic car showrooms.
After leaving the Champs-Elysees we made our way through some of the backstreets of the 7th Arrondissement towards Paris’s most famous icon, The Eiffel Tower. The tower seemed to be even bigger than we remembered and we were delighted to see it resplendent with blue and purple lights. After some time admiring it from close quarters we strolled down the Champ de Mars to view it from a distance. We sat on the grass with thousands of others and enjoyed Mr Eiffel’s wonderful creation as the blue lights were further enhanced by a sparkling show of silver fairy lights that twinkled at 11pm.
Can it get any better? Well actually yes!
Crepes from the street vendor parked close by, served with chocolate and cream! Luckily we had walked over 20kms today.
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