J’adore Paris!

Due to popular demand... (and a desire to see this blog complete) we are picking up where we left off. So no, we are not globetrotting again. This all happened many months ago in the distant past... cue time-travel machine...

[dooo doo do... dooo doo do... bzwwwwuuu........]

Over the past year and a bit we have heard Paris denounced in hostels worldwide - according to travellers of all ages, cultures and financial status it is too expensive, dirty, shabby, too touristic, the people are unconscionably rude and there are pickpockets and thieves everywhere.

Hence I was very surprised to find myself completely enchanted by the city of lights (in between the daily muggings and verbal abuse). There was beauty all around and so much to see, do, eat, drink and walk and, contrary to extremely popular belief, the people were kind. Plus who could dislike a city where for 7 euro you can obtain an extremely drinkable bottle of wine, a cheese which has only recently left the barnyard animal of your choice and a fresh from the oven baguette?

The only real negative I found was that public urination is legal there and you occasionally find yourself downwind of a popular spot. Sacre bleu!

Our newly acquired travel buddies were keen to see the famous Paris Catacombs... enqueue the longest queue we've encountered so far, a total of four hours before we could begin the long descent down...

Yes, huge piles of bones. Eerie but not quite as cool as the Sedlec Ossuary in Prague...

Snail report... not bad

Fearing the retribution of my art school lecturers, we decided to hit the Louvre and absorb some culture

Turns out it's quite a popular spot...

Especially this one painting, as close to a mosh pit as I found in gay Paris. After fleeing the madness we found so many cool works...

The ridiculously lavish Napoleon suites, complete with fornicating table-top deer

We couldn't resist the call of the gargoyles of Notre Dame... so we grabbed coffee and joined the queues again. This time it was worth the wait.