Paris in the Springtime

With a bank holiday at our disposal, what better way to spend 3 days than popping across to Paris... again!?!? Our friends Bron and Andy had rented an appartement in the XIIeme complete with spare sofa-bed, so no further excuse was really needed to Eurostar it to Frog-land.

As we've been to Paris before (understatement...) we didn't really have too many "touristy" things left to do (with the exception of Versailles, but more on that later) - so we could instead concentrate on enjoying the true Parisian lifestyle - eating, drinking, shopping, walking, and of course the favourite pastime, people-watching.

To kick off our first day, we hired some bikes and hit the road. They have introduced a public bicycle-hire system in Paris which lets you pick up a bike from any of hundreds of racks around town and drop it off wherever you like. Très cool. So we moseyed over towards the Jardin de Luxembourg, via the Notre Dame cathedral, stopping only occasionally to discreetly check our map. We didn't look like tourists at all - don't worry!



















Here we are in the Luxembourg Gardens, on one of the few "permitted" lawns - there are many others, but sitting there will result in a shouting-at by a uniformed Lawn Enforcement Officer.

Next day we trained it out through the countryside to Versailles, which was heaving with people - can't imagine what it must be like in "high" season - but was very impressive. The gardens were magnificent, filled with extravagant fountains, towering statues and evocative of a bygone age. God I'm crapping on - I'm just trying to justify the sepia-toned picture...



Inside the Hall of Mirrors was like Bron and Andy's apartment, and only slightly larger ;-)


On the way back from Versailles, we realised we were going to go right past the station for the Eiffel Tower. Of course, we didn't need to see it up close again, but as Andy had never checked it out, we had to go and keep him company. And take another 30 photos...


Big thanks to Bron and Andy for hosting us, and being excellent long-lazy-lunch companions!