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Published: August 6th 2007
Oh, I know it’s a big cliché, but it’s true! I really do love Paris. I love everything about it. And I know that not everyone feels the same way about France’s capital, but for me, walking around that magnificent city is like being in some sort of dream, some sort of parallel universe.
And I know I’m probably biased. Paris is the first city I ever fell in love with all those years ago when I first travelled overseas to live for a month with my Parisian host family. I don’t just see a beautiful city with amazing architecture when I’m there, I see memories. Memories of all the amazing people I met there, memories of crazy nights out on the town, memories of discovering museums and historical places, and most importantly, memories of the biggest feelings of independence I’ve ever had travelling alone for the first time in my life.
Unfortunately for my family, they didn’t fall in love with Paris in the same way I did. It’s pretty hard to love a city when it rains everyday! Yes, it was raining nearly everyday we were there. And coming from the Australian winter everyone was expecting to
see a warm, European summer and go back home all brown making everyone envious. Instead they saw rain everyday with temperatures not much different to the winter they left back home! Pretty frustrating stuff.
We did get a chance to see some really cool things, though. We saw a ballet at the Palais Garnier, the famous Opera theatre that The Phantom of the Opera was based on. We saw a cabaret show at the Moulin Rouge. (Incidentally, both the ballet and the Moulin Rouge had scenes with live horses, both which unfortunately resulted in horse poo on stage!) We had a couple of days of bus tours, a trip to Versailles (home of evil king Louis XIV and later, Marie Antoinette), and ended the trip with the amazing Bastille Day fireworks in front of the Eiffel Tower.
Actually, Bastille Day turned out to be a fantastic day! We thought we’d never end up finding a place to see the 11pm fireworks unless we found ourselves a seat about midday, something we weren’t prepared to do. But as it turned out, arriving around 8pm found us a perfect little place on the concrete, a perfect distance from the Eiffel
French Can Can
We weren't supposed to take photos inside but I snuck one in!Tower for the fireworks, and right near one of the screens showing the concert playing at the other end of the lawn. Considering that there ended up being 600,000 people there that night, and that our family of 10 managed to find ourselves a little picnic space, complete with rug to sit on, snacks and wine, we were pretty lucky!
It was a great way to finish the trip, and it was sad to say goodbye to 7 out of the 10 people. My big sister, Amanda, her partner and kids all finished their holiday and went home, while my mum and little sister, Nicole, came with me to Strasbourg for a week. And now mum and Nicole are gone and I have to admit, I did have a bit of a teary moment once I realised I was alone again. It was a very strange feeling to have a quiet, empty room after over 3 weeks of noise and kids and things to do everyday. That feeling dissipated the next day though when I realised I didn't have to get out of bed and I could just spend the day watching movies and relaxing after an amazing, yet
exhausting holiday!
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Susin
Susin Thoroughgood
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As this was one of the pages I lost in the travelblog crash, if you left a comment that's the reason it's no longer here. I promise I didn't delete it!!