Like many other folks in France, and England for that matter, at this precise moment in time la neige is something one cannot help commenting on. It's pretty, picturesque, inkeeping with the spirit of Christmas and, as the 6 year olds I look after would say, it's a sure sign that Santa is on his way and of course now that it's there WE HAVE TO GO PLAY IN THE SNOW! The Scrooge in me is a bit more miffed off, any thoughts of venturing into Paris this evening (I have yet to visit Queens club on the Champs Elysèes, free for les filles wednesday nights) have fled as the RER seems to be a bit manic at the moment due to the cold white stuff.
Having visited Monmatre for the first time just over a week ago, I am a little bit in love with the place. The Sacre Coeur is everything it's cracked up to be, and the mass of people is for once not annoying but exhilirating, as are the many musicians and street entertainers on the stairs, including puppet plays. The little and large sidestreets contain many authentic Parisian shops. The bf and I enjoyed a delicious French meal, accompanied by wine and cheese (how else?!) for a fair price, and the restaurant's charm was very both very Fench and unique. Cocktail bars, cafés, cheese shops, boulangeries... all seem to be filled with 'real' Parisians and are therefore reasonably priced and from what I sampled (the mojhitos were particularly good) are worth the money you're spending.
Another thing we did was of course climb the Eiffel Tower... I say climb, but we took the lift! This was partly due to our late arrival (about 10pm on a Friday night, which turned out brilliantly as we queued for under 15 minutes, miraculous when you consider the queues during the day) which meant they were no longer selling tickets for the stairs. It is by lift only that you can arrive at the very top, and it was cool and all that but it was freezing! I enjoyed the second platform, on which you could happily observe the glittering lights of a night-time Paris and point to all the places you recognise (for me this was quite a few things, for the boy not so much) and marvel at Paris' carefully planned structure. The eiffel tower has a strange existence... I seem to remember reading somewhere that it was intended as a temporary fixture until, well, until it became symbolic of Paris herself. In the brightness of day, it doesn't seem that great standing directly beneath it, but at night... oh at night it really is beautiful. The simple but effective technique of causing its lights to sparkle every hour on the hour for 5 minutes is mesmerising and most definitely enchanting. A similar feeling occurs when walking down a Parisian street and voila, the tip of the eiffel tower is visible in the distance. Our hotel was a 5 minute walk from the Parisian landmark, and we spent the rest of the evening drinking not so fine wine in a bar on a boat (the raving, loud music kind of boat) and finishing with cocktails by Trocadero.
I will write again soon,
bisous
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