Paris!

Just back from a week in Paris and all I can say is 'wow'! What a beautiful city - you know, I have to say it again - before I came to live in Vienna I thought I would never be happy with a visit to Rome, London or Paris because these cities are so big and so 'familiar'. But, again, as with Rome and London, I was wrong about Paris. Yes, it is a big city and it is very dirty in places - definitely more dog pooh on the streets of Paris than anywhere else I've been so far but the compensations are amazing - there is so much to see and do, the city is just gorgeous, it is easy to get around on the public transport and the food is great.

And the thing that surprised me the most was the friendliness and helpfulness of the Parisian people - people going out of their way to offer help, people smiling at us as we mangled their language (and we didn't have much of their language beyond 'hello', 'thankyou' and 'please') and people who were going out of their way to be pleasant to our kids - I thought Italy would be the place where the kids were appreciated but compared to our reception in Paris, that is not the case. I don't know where the myth of the snooty Frenchman who won't talk to you if you don't have perfect French comes from but we certainly didn't experience anything but consideration and helpfulness.

Here are a few of my favourite things from Paris:

St Chappelle Church - a jewel box constructed from stained glass - a glorious space.

The Lady and the Unicorn tapestries in the Mediaeval History Museum - I had read the Tracey Chevalier novel about these tapestries years ago and had wanted to see them ever since - and they are beautiful - I sat in front of them for ages.

The lovely Art Nouveau entrances to many of the Metro stations (although this one with the glass 'fan' over the sign is one of the rarer ones)

The art - this is one of Monet's massive waterlily paintings in the Orangery - there are 8 of them spread over two rooms.

Other things we loved about Paris - pain chocolate, flan, French onion soup :), the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Rodin Museum, the Louvre, the Musee d'Orsay and the area around Montmartre. We were a little disappointed by Napoleon's tomb (although seeing originals of love letters he wrote to Josephine was cool), the Pantheon and the Moulin Rouge.

So I think I am now learning not to write anything off as not likely to meet my expectations - it seems that all the reading and exposure to pictures and video of places does not necessarily breed contempt - which is a really great feeling to know I'm not jaded yet!