A good day, the two of us
Sometimes, the best fun is what you make yourself. We were too peeved with mass humanity to want more tourism, so we spent the day wandering and catching experiences by chance.
Our morning walk was along an icy Canal de Saint Martin. We saw a workboat pass through the locks: free thrills! We footbashed our way down through Beauborg Les Halles, bought nothing but childrens books for Jeremy’s two (we figure Ros will have them bilingual by now). The ice rink outside Hotel de Ville was made charming by the moppet who hit the ice first and performed for an admiring crowd. St Merry was ancient but closed, but we were fascinated by the hotel built into the old building and the up-market sex shops outside.
We walked through the Latin Quarter and by the Sorbonne. A visit to the Pantheon was unforgetable: Rousseau, Voltaire, Hugo, Dumas, the Curies – the French are on to something with the cult of the great. Foucault’s Pendulum was a highlight.
Nice lunch, because NYE was going to be expensive and crowded, then some shopping for our cold picnic tonight. We make our own fun!
Hi Chris and Paula – Don’t you just love Paris? Winter or Summer it is a very special place, but visiting cities all over the world is special. Buenos Aires was wonderful, full of colour and excitement – tango dancing in the streets, music and people everywhere. We were there for only a day, but managed to get in a lot. We were in Paris for Bastille Day in 2007, your thoughts on the fireworks reflects ours. The Eiffel Tower looked great, but the fireworks failed to impress, the people were amazing, the stopped their cars and just stood and looked, we were at the Place de la Concorde and the streets were at a standstill. Well we are finally home after our travels, Fraser Island was wonderful and very seductive in its freshwater lakes and magnificent beaches. The marine life was active – dolphins playing of the beach. We certainly have experienced diversity in our wonderful planet! Looking forward to reading the rest of you blog. Cheers and enjoy – Mark