A brief sojourn in Paris

I did spend all of Saturday and Sunday eating French bread and drinking red wine and it was as good as I imagined. I also discovered a liking for espresso after our trip to Paris on Monday. We caught the very convenient train from Maisse to Paris – it took about 1 hour 20 mins and brought us right into the centre. After dropping our stuff off in a borrowed student room in Cité Universitaire – we headed for the Louvre. The Louvre was so much bigger than I remember and absolutely crammed full of people. Anyone lucky enough to be under 26 gets in for free otherwise it costs a cool €9.50 for entrance to the main exhibitions. I saw the usual things one has to see and a few more besides. It feels like you need a lifetime to look at everything.
Paris prices make the entrance to the Louvre look reasonable. A typical cappuccino costs around €6, hence my sudden liking for espresso at a cheaper €2.
After all the culture I’d crammed down my throat, we munched an expensive croque-monsieur at the Hotel du Louvre which was calm and peaceful after the hustle of the streets.
After a walk through the Tuileries we found some Velib bikes and after registering we cycled round for an hour or so. They are cheap to use and in good condition. The first 30 minutes are free so if you know where you are going it’s a great way to get around Paris. We didn’t really know where we were going and it took us an hour to find our way to Notre Dame. Check out the system and the prices on wikipedia. Compared to a single ticket on the metro priced at €1.60 it seems like the best and cleanest way to get around Paris.
After only 24 hours in Paris K went off to Umeå to present a paper on captive designers and I came back to see Half Man Half Biscuit play at The Junction in Cambridge.