The weather in Paris was awful. Continuous drizzle and strong winds made me wish I'd packed more than just t-shirts. I'm ashamed to admit that I abandoned a walking tour part way through to avoid freezing to death - In the future I'll stick to mountaineering in shorts. Although some locals have assured me that the weather is unseasonal, my stewardess just announced, "the weather upon our arrival will be quite nice - 10 degrees with rain" so I'm not so sure.
Having already visited Paris a couple of times, I mostly skipped the tourist attractions although I did spend a day admiring Louis XIV's palace at Versailles. Seeing it in the late 1700s would’ve been enough to turn me into a revolutionary. The rest of my time was mostly spent I wandering the streets with all all 13 of my t-shirts layered under my windstopper.
Although so many things about Paris are beautifully charming, it was hard to stop thinking just how much better it would be without the 13 gazillion map wielding tourists. If I could eliminate just one group ‘loud Americans that use $2000 DSLRs to take flash photos of the Eiffel Tower’ would be first against the wall. I wish I could have visited Paris 40 years ago when Parisians still formed the majority.
There have been a few amusing incidents so far including:
Stumbling into my hostel at 9am after 30 hours in transit to find a bunch of under-age Americans priming themselves with breakfast-beers.
Being asked to take a photo of a young gay couple as they french kissed in a secluded corner of the Versailles Gardens.
Heading out for a few drinks with a mixed group of fellow hostel residents. We returned a few hours later, minus the female members of our group who had all been picked up and taken home by Frenchmen.
Il est bon d'être le roi.
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