Paris after one week

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Salut!

So Paris goes well. Its more than I could say for my French really but considering Ive been doing it a week, things havent gone too badly.

Met up with Monsieur Ludovic last Thursday evening which was nice. First post Camino Pilgrim Ive met. It was nice to chat about the whole experience and we both agreed we missed it greatly. I think I will definately return at somepoint soonish. It was really good to see that the whole experience and emotions from the Camino remain strong and dare I say get stronger? Certainly for me and I believe also with mon ami monsieur Ludovic.

On Friday I met up with Sandrine from Morocco. Sandrine was very nice to me and allowed me to speak my limited French for the first half of the evening. I think she also dumbed down her own French. This would have been painful for any red blooded French person but for someone who has a masters in French literature it must have been especially bad. Still I had a great time. Paris has a beach in the summer, minus the sand, where parisians frollic away the days eating icecream, drinking booze and insulting the boatloads of tourists who pass nearby along the Seine. Under their breath of course. At first glance Paris plage seems tacky, cheap and oversold. Only when you are there do you realise it is actually very tacky, very oversold and very cheap )its free). I really, really liked it, such a good idea to have a summer area for city dwellers to hook up enjoy live music and generally get outside. Afterwards we went to the Biblioteque Francois Mitterand which Sandrine told me was one of the best places to head out in town as it has many bars and restaurants but no tourists. I think the steriotype view that Parisians dont like tourists could be true. Luckily I consider myself a student and thus Parisians are required, much to their horror, to speak with me in French. Unfortunately they cannot be bothered. But I think I improve regardless.

On Saturday I met up with Ed and Sadie from Calgary. Last time we met up was in Nepal the time before a matter of hours before I left Canada and now in Paris. Its fun meeting friends from such a long way back even if Ed still insists on supporting Aston Villa. Will he never learn? Ended the evening having the most expensive beer in the universe and me falling out with the waitor. I inflicted my French on him as a revenge.

SO thats pretty much it for Paris at the moment. Dont really want to be so deep and meaningful with my views of Paris and the Parisians, I highly doubt the rest of the country is similar to them. Suffice to say, looking back on the first week, things have been really good. Am rather iching to see some of the rest of the country but then I guess it wouldnt be me without the perenial ichy feet. Aujord'hui Paris, Demain le Monde.

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Photos

Seine Sunset
Nice to chill out on the bridge next to the Louvre in the evenings. Many a time I would bring my dinner and a beer down to the bridge and watch the sunset.

Paris Island
Notre Dam in the background. The people who live on these little islands in the middle of the Seine say they are visiting the continent when they cross the bridge into Paris. Those posh gits.