Weekend in Paris
Left London after work on the evening of Friday 16th December to Eurostar (train) it under the English Channel and across to Paris for the weekend. Paris itself is a beautiful city, and I was fortunate enough to be shown around by a sort-of local (my friend Georg has been living in Paris for over 5 years).
Traditional rustic French breakfast
City with a Museum on (almost) every corner
Considering my limited time in the city, I only visited three of them. Because of the queue to actually get in, I only made a quick stopover at the Louvre (huge museum housing the Mona Lisa and other great works of art) - will maybe go in on my next visit to Paris.
Centre Pompidou
Paris is an interesting contrast of highly regulated traditional/historical buildings and structures, with a handful of specially permitted modern structures. One of which is the Centre Pompidou (National Museum of Modern Art). Its exposed pipes (click on link to see a pic on the museum website) caused a scandal when it first opened in 1977.
View of Paris from near the top of the building:
Giant Lamp exhibit which I found quite amusing.
City of crazy drivers
If there was a competition for the craziest drivers in the world, I'm sure Parisians would be right up there. Traffic rules almost seem a bit optional, which isn't helped by the fact that some of the busiest intersections / roundabouts don't have any lanes marked out! Parisians also seem to follow a system of 'create your own' parking spots. Though, I have to admit that one of the most useful things about the weekend was, not only being driven around to places, but due to Georg's green (diplomatic) license plate (he works for the OECD), we could park absolutely anywhere with immunity from the traffic police and parking inspectors. This comes in very handy when you want to see lots of things in a short period of time. Reminded me of when I used to have staff parking at Uni, only a gazillion times cooler and more convenient.
Pic of the car parked on the pavement!
Other stuff I did (for which I don't have decent pics):
- Food shopping: bought foie gras from a dedicated foie gras shop, and chocolate truffles from a dedicated truffle shop.
- Crepes: yummmmmmmmmy yummmy crepes!
- Clubbing: went to a very cool club called Favre Le Chic - great vibe and music, youngish, trendy sort of crowd. I got the feeling though, since the club was supposed to be more on the laid back/casual side, that lots of effort was put into looking like they hadn't made an effort.
- Museum Jacquemart Andre - private mansion containing lots of Dutch, English and Italian masters. Worth visiting just to wander around the mansion itself!
And last but not least ... a Me and the Eiffel Tower
Traditional rustic French breakfast
City with a Museum on (almost) every corner
Considering my limited time in the city, I only visited three of them. Because of the queue to actually get in, I only made a quick stopover at the Louvre (huge museum housing the Mona Lisa and other great works of art) - will maybe go in on my next visit to Paris.
Centre Pompidou
Paris is an interesting contrast of highly regulated traditional/historical buildings and structures, with a handful of specially permitted modern structures. One of which is the Centre Pompidou (National Museum of Modern Art). Its exposed pipes (click on link to see a pic on the museum website) caused a scandal when it first opened in 1977.
View of Paris from near the top of the building:
Giant Lamp exhibit which I found quite amusing.
City of crazy drivers
If there was a competition for the craziest drivers in the world, I'm sure Parisians would be right up there. Traffic rules almost seem a bit optional, which isn't helped by the fact that some of the busiest intersections / roundabouts don't have any lanes marked out! Parisians also seem to follow a system of 'create your own' parking spots. Though, I have to admit that one of the most useful things about the weekend was, not only being driven around to places, but due to Georg's green (diplomatic) license plate (he works for the OECD), we could park absolutely anywhere with immunity from the traffic police and parking inspectors. This comes in very handy when you want to see lots of things in a short period of time. Reminded me of when I used to have staff parking at Uni, only a gazillion times cooler and more convenient.
Pic of the car parked on the pavement!
Other stuff I did (for which I don't have decent pics):
- Food shopping: bought foie gras from a dedicated foie gras shop, and chocolate truffles from a dedicated truffle shop.
- Crepes: yummmmmmmmmy yummmy crepes!
- Clubbing: went to a very cool club called Favre Le Chic - great vibe and music, youngish, trendy sort of crowd. I got the feeling though, since the club was supposed to be more on the laid back/casual side, that lots of effort was put into looking like they hadn't made an effort.
- Museum Jacquemart Andre - private mansion containing lots of Dutch, English and Italian masters. Worth visiting just to wander around the mansion itself!
And last but not least ... a Me and the Eiffel Tower
posted by linh at 01:21
2 Comments:
Hey Linhy! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! You looked like you had a great holiday... and love the lamp too hehehe so big but yet so cute.. hmmmm...
Love ya!
cattikins xox
Thanks dearie. Hope you had a great hol season too!
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