Paris in summer - Part 1

So why visit Paris in the summer? All the locals have left, its hot, its stuffy and the streets smell faintly of urine. All this may be true but its also amazing and filled with sensational buildings, unbelievable food, cheese, wine, frenchies, dirty trains and all kinds of madness.

First of all, we had to get there, thank you Mr. Easyjet for the two aborted landings at Charles De Gaulle. Meanwhile half the plane was shitting themselves because we were about 50 metres off the ground when the pilot decided to pull out. Still, it didn't matter despite the fact that we ended up at the wrong airport!

Anyway, where to begin, with a wander through the streets and into some of the crazy shops. First impressions were that there was just something to do or see on nearly every street, cafes brushed shoulders with historic monuments that leaned slowly against drunken french bums playing accordians.

Of course where else could we go but the Musee D'Orsay! Some might suggest that the louvre might have been a better option, but no the queues put us off and the fact that the collection of impressionist work was infinitely superior at D'Orsay. It also proved a good opportunity to walk around subtly mocking the accents of some of New Zealand tourists who were visiting the gallery. We also found the clothes amusing of the old guys wearing stockings quite entertaining but most of all we found the pictures exciting.

Next stop, some garden outside for a little snooze. Those of us who are nearing middle age decided that a little sleep on the tiny little chairs in the park was the perfect thing to do after a day of galleries. Fortunately for some of us the galleries were not over, unfortunately for me the galleries that were left were the galleries lafeyette. It was just shops and it was sale time so you could barely move. Oooh, boy was I gipped, like seriously shops in Paris, who would've thunk it. Still the building was pretty cool and a lot more interesting than Woden plaza on a Saturday morning when the place is filled with booners.

Last stop for the evening was off to the crazy world of some bizarre restaurant where we were the only customers escaping from the heat to drink Kir and eat paella. Well, that was meant to be the last stop but we realised that Moulin Rouge was just around the corner so we had to go catch a few shows. We were too tired for the shows, but the red light district was just kicking off - party time.