The Backpasher: J'adore Paris en l'hiver

06.12.2001 14 °C

Since I last wrote I spent a day in The Hague, and spent a few delightful days in rainy Bruges. Bruges is lauded as one of the best preserved medieval cities in Europe, and deserves all the superlatives that are laid upon it. It is a sheer delight - the passage ways, canals, Gothic spires...the grandeur of the Grote Markt juxtaposed by its many solemn alley-ways. And the cafes...even if they are a little smoky, well there's little more enjoyable than ducking inside a cosy cafe on a drizzly winter's day to sip hot dark chocolate!!

The main town square, Grote Markt had an ice skating rink set up in it and with the wafting aromas of the Glühwein, waffles and smoke of the Christmas markets blended together, made for a wonderful place to spend the evening - even in the drizzly cold.

From Bruges, I continued on to Paris. I had visited 4 years ago, but it was such a whirlwind visit that it was but a blur. Last time, we had met some Aussies at the Gare du Nord and spent our time travelling around with them - but it was a manic 3 days - enjoyable but a little too hectic to really appreciate the city properly.

After the short journey from Bruges, and checking into my grungy hostel in the Latin Quarter, I headed to the Louvre for the afternoon. Visit the Louvre is as exhilirating as it is exasperating. It has more than 30 000 pieces in its collection spanning from BC times to the 19th century. I decided to focus on the sculpture wing, before heading out for an evening walk along the Seine.

The following day I went to the Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris - It has an interesting range of Cubist, Fauvist, Dadaist etc. works in a wonderful exhibition space - and it's free. The views over the Champ de Mars are glorious from there too! I also walked along the Champs Elysees, visited the resting place of Napoleon at Hotel Des Invalides, ducked into Le Saint Eustache Eglise and strolled through the Tuilleries. I had dinner that night with an American guy from the hostel - we went specifically in search of l'escargots, which, I have to say, were not nearly as bad as one might expect. They were heavily soaked in salty garlic and had the texture of ludicrously over-microwaved mushrooms! I am delighted to say that I was able to eat the whole side-plate without shooting any snails out of their shells and across the floor.

I picked up a friend from the airport yesterday - Sam - he was flying in at about 5.30am so the early morning start was a bit of a killer. After a quick kip, we headed to the Arc de Triomphe. I neglected to tell Sam about the subterranean passage to the Arc de Triomphe...mostly for the amusement of getting to run across the road to it...it's a little like running the gauntlet, but it's pretty fun :) It's one thing to look at the insanity of the cars from atop the Arc, but it's rivetting to be amidst it all. From there we visited the Opera Garnier, had a quick look in Galeries Lafayette department store, and wandered through the passages, i.e. the 19th century arcades that run across several streets on the Right Bank. With their exquisite interiors, antique shops and chic cafes, they are a good place to amble on a rainy day. In the late evening we hit the Musee d'Orsay, before heading back to a lovely Greek restaurant in the Latin Quarter, with an overly attendant waiter.

We visited the Pantheon this morning and are just shortly heading to Notre Dame and then to Monmartre to check out the Sacre Couer and Salvador Dali museum and have a general amble about. Tonight we are going to have dinner with some people from the hostel and head to the Champs Elysees for late night shopping. It is a nice sunny day - I don't even have a coat on!! Fingers crossed it stays this lovely for good tower views.

I am in Paris for a few more days and then I head to Switzerland to visit my cousin, Kraig. I haven't seen him for years, so it'll be great to catch up.

A bien tot

Belinda