Reflections on the City of Light

So now that I've been in Paris long enough to have settled in, I thought I'd have a ramble on the city itself since our day-to-day life isn't exciting enough to comment on. Paris is nice enough, I quite like it and definitely prefer it to Germany (possibly because of the language - I feel more comfortable here), but it hasn't really wowed me as much as I always imagined it would. The sights are pretty, millions are spent lighting them up at night so the city can live up to its name, but they tend to be surrounded by tourists and locals trying to make money off the tourists which ruins the atmosphere. Other than that, its got everything a bustling big city should have. Homeless people, smelly public transport, lots of concrete and high-rises. I get the odd moment every few weeks where I'm reminded I'm in Paris. There ARE the cute cafes and restaurants and famous museums and flowered balconettes. I just wish I'd been around to visit Paris 100 years ago, before the tour buses and souvenirs, when Montmartre really was a cool artist's village. I think it would have been how I imagined Paris back then. My imagination just ignored the obvious fact that as the capital of a western country it has become a big city.

Rant put aside, I am excited to see Dad and Oma who are arriving next week and staying at my hotel. Dad is taking us out to the Moulin Rouge for a show which I'm really looking forward to!

I have tomorrow and the next day off work so it will be nice to chill and maybe see a bit more. I never posted about Versailles which Tom and I visited a few weeks back. The queue was too long to bother going inside the palace, but the gardens were really beautiful and we spent a nice afternoon getting lost in them. (There were also ducks in the royal pond!)

Bisous
Amanda