Paris and all that

Geneva to Paris

We left the Matterhorn/Zelmatt on Thursday about lunchtime; an incredible way to start the day; and then headed back to the bus and off to Geneva. (I forgot to mention that along the way to Zermatt we stopped off at Lake Maggiore, our last foray into Italy. Nice place, like everywhere else, would be nice to spend some more time there.). Anyway, back to Geneva. Arrived late afternoon, did the tour of the embassy districts, ILO, UN, etc, etc., and to the hotel for dinner. The hotel there was nice (Moevenpick) but it was quite some distance from the main town area. Might have been nice to take a stroll or bike ride around the lake, but too bad. Geneva, strangely enough, put me in the mind of Canberra. Of course Canberra is a lot younger, but the vibes are the same, I think.

We left Geneva for Paris early on Friday; only a 542km trip so we were all looking forward to that. Rain greeted us about 30 minutes out of Geneva, so the opportunity to view the French country side was missed. However, we were amazed at the amount of traffic on the other side of the highway, heading south: 1 August is the start of the French holidays and it seemed everyone in or around Paris who had a car was heading south. Never let up for 6 hours. Fortunately, our side of the road was clear and we cruised into Paris about 2pm or so. Bit like kids, we had a competition to see who could spot the Tour de Eiffel first. It wasn't me. Actually been reading Holy Blood and the Holy Grail (has that French vibe as well) and starting to get pretty engrossed with it. Another distraction from my narrative. Cool.

But, Paris. What a place! We did a quick Louvre tour (about 2 hours is all we had but the cameo visits to the Mona Lisa and Venus were cool); and then a quick tour around the streets of Paris before dinner at Chez Clements, on the Champs Elysses. Then off to the Seine for a boat tour up and down the river; and then back to see the Tour de Eiffel by night. Lit up blue at the moment in recognition of France holding the Presidency of the EU. Did the city by night tour, including, bizarely, being taken through THAT tunnel. Drove past Tiffanys, but couldn't wait around for breakfast.

Saturday was another huge day, taking in the Eiffel Tower and palace of Versaille. Both incredible; but I think I can really understand the people of France getting a little pissed off in 1789. The palace is a national treasure no doubt, but I was stunned at the sheer opulence of the place. Still, what would I know abouot the ways of the world and the institutions that make it up.

It started to rain again so didn't get to see as much of the palace gardens as I would have liked. Maybe another day.

I was really taken with how clean Paris is, particularly from the Tower view. This isn't what I had been led to believe, so I was contentedly amazed. I like Paris, probably more than Rome I think. We had a few hours spare so we did a little shopping; all the end of season sales are on and there seemed to me a lot of good bargains to be had. Unfortunately, we are already about 16kg over our baggage limit, but I was tempted ...

For our last night of this tour and of course Paris, we went to a show (no, not Moullin Rouge, but at a smaller venue down the road. It was fabulous, really fabulous. Lots of can canning and singing and dancing and acrobats and jugglers. My acculturation to the dark side of the arts is now almost complete. Lucky I have 2 weeks of playing cricket with the lads to fall back quickly into old habits.

Sadly, we are now on the bus on the way back to Calais. Should arrive there within the hour for the trip across the Channel.

Have to say that I am not feeling as attuned to the cricket as I know I should be and any condition I had as almost but not completely gone. Makes getting up at 5am for 12 months seems a waste!

Anyway, til day one of the cricket, ciao!