Our week in Paris

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We’ve loved the Paris culture and style. Sitting in cafes for our morning coffee and croissant, in cafes for lunch (always crepes for Sophia), in cafes for our pre dinner drink, before moving to a restaurant for tea. Sitting out on the footpath at the cafes is great for people watching. I’ve discovered that the defining elements of the Parisian locals are; they’re skinny, they smoke, they have little dogs, and they are dressed casually but with so much style and class (and often a scarf). All very iconic elements of the French, but still so true.

Paris has a lovely feel, even though it is so busy. Pedestrians, roller bladders and cyclists far outnumber cars as a means of transport. So many streets are wide and tree lined, but even the narrow ones are leafy or bright and colourful with the window boxes of geraniums in the apartments above. It’s been nice walking around (the perfect weather has helped that too), and we’ve covered many many kilometres. We’ve also covered hundreds of steps, with walking down the Eiffel tower, up and down the arc de triumph, metro steps, and the five floors to our apartment. There is a tiny lift in the apartment which only holds 3 people but the girls always race ahead and take off in it first.

We have used the metro quite a bit as well – normally returning home from where we’ve ended up each day. The girls have been getting good at quickly working out the lines, changes and stops we need, as well as navigating the endless maze of tunnels to arrive at the correct platform. The number and state of homeless people has shocked the girls, and led to quite a bit of discussion.

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