Three months in three paragraphs
Let’s see if I can pull this off, starting … now.
For me, Paris will never be able to top Rome, but it’s still a beautiful city with a million things to do. Since I’ve been in ‘event mode’ for much of our three months here, I haven’t had the chance to do absolutely everything I wanted to, but I did get pretty close. My favourite areas of the city are on and around Ile de la Cite, where the ghastly gothic churches quickly bring you back to the medieval era. This kind of goulish, frightening architecture provides a nice contrast to the renaissance/baroque of Rome – Notre Dame is especially magnificent and I’ve yet to even experience one aspect of it, the epitome of gothic Paris – the rooftop gargoyles close-up – though I hope to do it soon. Notre Dame itself is my favourite building in the city and one of my favourite churches in Europe. In general, walking around many different parts of town is a pleasure, and there are still so many places I haven’t had a chance to explore.
I’ve found the Parisians to be reasonably friendly, reputation aside. They do say bonne journee (have a good day) when you get out of the elevator, so that’s something. The guys on the French desk of our RNS operation have been really nice, although a bit eccentric and weird in Willy’s case. Wendy has been able to hang out with an adopted Parisian, her best friend Jessica, and Jessica’s Parisian boyfriend Matt a fair bit, which is a good way to get away from work and work-mates every once in a while.
Meanwhile, the Rugby World Cup drags on with the end just now coming into sight. It’s such a long tournament (seven weeks, when we’re used to 16-day Olympic Games), and now that Australia has been knocked out, my personal interest is waning quite a bit. But everybody’s new second team, Argentina, will hopefully ignite the tournament again eliminating the Springboks tomorrow (unlikely, but it’s all I have left to hope for in this tournament, with three hated teams being in the final four).
Since my three paragraphs are up, that’s all for now … we’ll be travelling again in only nine days, so I’ll write another update then. Meanwhile, a hundred or so of my favourite Paris photos are here.
Tags: Europe, France, Paris, rugby, Travel
Nick