New years eve 11.59pm under the Eiffel tower, all of a sudden the hundreds of flashing lights on her body begin to sparkle and the crowd erupt, champagne bottle corks fly, and kisses all round. Happy new year from Paris.
Our week in Paris with Lockie Grace and his girlfriend Anna started as any other. Flight from London and working out the metro route to our accommodation in Vincennes about a 20 minute train r
ide from the main Paris sights. Vincennes gave us a fabulous base; the Paris neighbourhood gave us everything we needed with a great market opened in the main street a couple of days a week. This was the starting point of our latest eating extravaganza. Our limited French ran out in Vincennes because no one spoke English, but the locals were great, a lot of pointing and apologising. Upon Bryce asking what a particular pastry had inside it one girl working in a fresh bread stall didn’t no the English word so ran around the other stalls asking in vane what it was. He bought it anyway. Caitlin’s French in ordering pastries and bread is now down pat. Minimum requirements in Paris, 2 fruit topped pastries a day, cheese, fresh baguettes and a couple of bottles of wine per day. 
Once in the city itself nutella crapes (Caitlin’s choice) were a must. The meals we ate at restaurants were the highlight though. Bofingers (one of the oldest restaurants in Paris) near the Bastille and Terminus Nord (near gard de nord train station with an angry waiter) featured the best of everything, but Bryce’s clear favourite was foie gras (the over sized liver of a force feed geese), a bit cruel but awesome. Anna’s ability to speak fluent French was a great asset, and she performed the role of restaurant host brilliantly.
We did manage to do the sights of the city between eating, walking to burn off the food. Up the Eiffel Tower (lunch in the first floor restaurant) and Arch De Triumph (the better view in our opinion), walked down Champs Elysee to the Place de la Concorde (where the guillotine was after the French revolution), down through the Tulleries garden to the Louve, then down to Notre Dame and the Parthenon and finally a train over to Sacre Cure where artists paint in a nice tourist crowded square (near Moulin rouge red light area). Went to see the Thinker at the Rodin Museum and one night did a boat cruise up and down the seine. The Catacombs (piled up bones of dead people under the city) was closed so a good excuse to go back to the city.
About half way through the week we went out to Moet & Chandon in Epernay and toured some of the 28 kilometres of cellars they have. At the end of the tour we did some champagne tasting and rose was the pick of the bunch, walked out a bit tipsy. Although the day was a bit wet the country side was a nice change from the city.
The whole trip was fantastic and clearly Bryce’s favourite city on our travels so far. Once arriving back in London we got caught up in a football hooligan riot with the police at Hammersmith tube station and since being back in London have really noticed the bad side of life here. People only really care about themselves and lately there seems to be a real negative atmosphere about the place, maybe because we have had to go back to work and the weather is no good, holiday hangover perhaps. But only three weeks till we go to another Arsenal game at the Emirates stadium and a month till we go to Turkey so plenty to look forward to. With hopefully only six months of work for the year, plenty more places to see and things to do, and of course eat at!
Happy New Year to all,
Cheers Bryce and Caitlin.
Our week in Paris with Lockie Grace and his girlfriend Anna started as any other. Flight from London and working out the metro route to our accommodation in Vincennes about a 20 minute train r
ide from the main Paris sights. Vincennes gave us a fabulous base; the Paris neighbourhood gave us everything we needed with a great market opened in the main street a couple of days a week. This was the starting point of our latest eating extravaganza. Our limited French ran out in Vincennes because no one spoke English, but the locals were great, a lot of pointing and apologising. Upon Bryce asking what a particular pastry had inside it one girl working in a fresh bread stall didn’t no the English word so ran around the other stalls asking in vane what it was. He bought it anyway. Caitlin’s French in ordering pastries and bread is now down pat. Minimum requirements in Paris, 2 fruit topped pastries a day, cheese, fresh baguettes and a couple of bottles of wine per day. 
Once in the city itself nutella crapes (Caitlin’s choice) were a must. The meals we ate at restaurants were the highlight though. Bofingers (one of the oldest restaurants in Paris) near the Bastille and Terminus Nord (near gard de nord train station with an angry waiter) featured the best of everything, but Bryce’s clear favourite was foie gras (the over sized liver of a force feed geese), a bit cruel but awesome. Anna’s ability to speak fluent French was a great asset, and she performed the role of restaurant host brilliantly.
We did manage to do the sights of the city between eating, walking to burn off the food. Up the Eiffel Tower (lunch in the first floor restaurant) and Arch De Triumph (the better view in our opinion), walked down Champs Elysee to the Place de la Concorde (where the guillotine was after the French revolution), down through the Tulleries garden to the Louve, then down to Notre Dame and the Parthenon and finally a train over to Sacre Cure where artists paint in a nice tourist crowded square (near Moulin rouge red light area). Went to see the Thinker at the Rodin Museum and one night did a boat cruise up and down the seine. The Catacombs (piled up bones of dead people under the city) was closed so a good excuse to go back to the city.
About half way through the week we went out to Moet & Chandon in Epernay and toured some of the 28 kilometres of cellars they have. At the end of the tour we did some champagne tasting and rose was the pick of the bunch, walked out a bit tipsy. Although the day was a bit wet the country side was a nice change from the city.
The whole trip was fantastic and clearly Bryce’s favourite city on our travels so far. Once arriving back in London we got caught up in a football hooligan riot with the police at Hammersmith tube station and since being back in London have really noticed the bad side of life here. People only really care about themselves and lately there seems to be a real negative atmosphere about the place, maybe because we have had to go back to work and the weather is no good, holiday hangover perhaps. But only three weeks till we go to another Arsenal game at the Emirates stadium and a month till we go to Turkey so plenty to look forward to. With hopefully only six months of work for the year, plenty more places to see and things to do, and of course eat at!
Happy New Year to all,
Cheers Bryce and Caitlin.
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