City Hype - Brits in Paris

Before the roads were crazy

The journey into Paris was somewhat eye opening if not terrifying. There doesn't appear to be any sort of road etiquette other than to drive where you like at whatever speed you like changing lanes whenever you like with absolutely no warning! Although all the French seem fully aware of this well kept little secret so it's just visitors and tourists who don't appear to know what they're doing. We found the campsite (Campings Indigo) easily and were greeted by multi-lingual reception staff which saved the embarrassing, odd and quite frankly nonsense French/jibberish sentences we'd been putting together previously. The campsite had a restaurant, bar and shop with all the usual facilities and 2 hours free wifi a day which was a bonus. Just outside the campsite was a large field which had a running track and a horse track around the outside, we took Oscar over for a walk after settling in and caught our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower. The field was full with people, some playing cricket, some playing football, some walking their dogs and a man flying some sort of drone type aircraft around his head. When we headed back to the campsite we passed a beaten up old transit van with purple velvet curtains, the front seats were piled high with junk. As we walked past the side door on the van flew open, and a lady who looked a lot like the crazy cat lady from the Simpsons (only a little larger) hung out of the door in some saucy underwear and a robe then started summoning us in French, I don't think she was inviting us in for crackers and wine. After seeing the tower neither of us could wait to get into the city the next day so we headed back to the camper, had pesto and mozzarella ravioli for dinner and settled down for the night. 

The following morning we woke to rain so decided to take our time pottering around and planning our route into the city until it had stopped. We left the campsite around 11 and walked through lots of green leafy lanes until we hit the chaotic, horn honking hustle and bustle of Paris City Centre around an hour later. First we spotted the grand apartment buildings, each apartment had beautiful window boxes packed tight with bright flowers to decorate the huge french windows and iron balcony edges. Then we spotted the upmarket stores you don't normally see on your local high street such as Joe Malone and Mac, then an array of cafés, bars and brasseries lining the streets with people eating, drinking and chatting, the flavours and smells spilling onto the street were incredible and Oscars nose was working overtime. He's never really been anywhere that busy with so many people so he was in his element. He wore a red neckerchief to look smart. One girl pointed to him and said to her friend 'ah look at the little French Beagle' and a French lady shouted 'J'adore Beagle', a few people took pictures of him too. He loved all the attention.

Oscar in his smart red neckerchief 

We started our sightseeing mission at the American University of Paris, we followed the River Seine down towards the Eiffel Tower where we took pictures from every single angle possible before taking retreat on a bench to watch the hordes of people milling about chatting excitedly in various languages. The Americans and the Chinese seemed among the most excited to be there!! 

At the Eiffel Tower (Obviously) 

From there we walked back along the Seine taking frequent shelter from the short lived heavy downpours to the Grand Palace, Place De La Concorde and The Louvre before crossing the 'Lovelock Bridge' the Pont des Arts where we added to the hundreds of thousands of locks with a message that read 'Kayleigh & Jac Eurotrip 2014'. 

Pont des Arts - Lovelock Bridge 

Kayleigh & Jac #Eurotrip2014 

Lining the river from start to finish were canal boats, some used as restaurants and some used as houses, there were artists selling their different interpretations of skylines, backdrops and landmarks, stalls selling souvenirs, postcards, fridge magnets and collectors editions of Vogue, Elle and Marie Claire. Then there were the inner city street magicians and their network of helpers seen mixing with the crowds making a fortune from unsuspecting tourists, whom we would definitely have been included if we hadn't watched so many episodes of the The Real Husstle! 

By this time we'd been walking for about 6 hours so when we came across a little rabbit run of thin, winding cobbled streets we decided to stop for a Nutella Crepe and a drink. 

The busy backstreets 

We stopped and sat outside a bar people watching. Six rounds, a plate of nachos and complimentary olives and feta later we decided to leave to see the Notre Dame before making our way back. 

Taking a break from sightseeing 

Watching the world go by 

This obviously took much longer and required an emergency Subway stop for an Italian BMT after a few Coronas before it dawned on us that we'd drifted another couple of hours from our campsite throughout the day. We were unable to get a taxi or the Metro because of the dog and the bus routes were far too complex for us by then so we decided our only option was to pay a man called Pierre to ride us back on his tricycle. He told us he could only take us as far as the 'Gates of Paris' and we would have to walk the rest of the way. We chatted to him non stop on the way back and in the end he must have felt sorry for us so decided to take us all the way back. What should've been a 40 minute journey turned into an hour and a half of map checking and turning around and at one point we were forced to lift his tricycle over a barrier. 

Such a log day, but the best so far, so much to see and do. There's something about Paris and we'll definitely go back one day (hopefully en route back to the UK in a few months).