Au revoir Paris

Today we leave Paris, perhaps for ever. I could say that I was quite smitten with Paris, but smitten is such an inadequate term – I loved it. I was infatuated with it, everything about this city was so French. And I think it is fair to say that, in our five days here, there weren’t too many places we didn’t explore. I think that at some stage we travelled on every Metro line through almost every station, from Place de Clichy to Stalingrad, from La Chapelle to Barbes Rochechouart (now I’m just showing off).

Notre Dame from St. Louis Bridge at dusk

Yesterday we waited ninety minutes in line to visit the Catacombes, the labyrinth of underground tunnels buried deep into ancient limestone deep beneath the Paris streets. These tunnels were used in the 18^th century to house the remains of Parisienes, some six million sets of human remains are here, all neatly stacked. Although most of the tourists seemed to have no problems here, I was quite uncomfortable with the idea of invading what should be a sacred and respected place. Many were speaking loudly, some laughed, others shone their phone flashlights on the bones so as to gain a better look at the calcified bones. For me, I felt that none of us should have been there.

Paris Catacombs - out of respect, we downloaded this picture.

Yesterday afternoon, tired after five days of constantly on the go, we managed to find a lovely little park, high up overlooking the city. Only problem was, most of Parisiennes also knew about it. Not that this was an issue, there was plenty of beauty to go around for all of us. The weather for our five days has been absolutely beautiful, and I can’t blame all of Paris for turning out to enjoy it.

Last night we walked Montmartre, the district where we were staying, to eat dinner at a genuine French restaurant. It was a very quaint place, just at the base of Sacre Coeur, the famous cathedral perched high on a hill overlooking all of Paris. I had onion soup (how very French), while Alison enjoyed Tarte Chaud – just writing this makes me feel as if I’ve lived here all my life. For plat (main dish), we both ordered Beef Bourguignon (it was delicious), and finished with Tarte Maison and Crème Brulee. Unfortunately for us, the ambiance was somewhat destroyed by a German-cum-Italian-cum-Spanish guy, who insisted on laughing at the top of his lungs while eating his cheese fondue. I’ve discovered that’s the problem with Europe, it’s full of Europeans!

Indeed, after over five weeks of European touring under our belt, we feel somewhat qualified to make a few socio-cultural observations on the various nationalities. The German and French are rude and incredibly arrogant, with the Germans being quite aggressive also. The French version of help is, ‘there it is, help yourself’. Of course, this is a generalisation – we met some lovely French people – but on the whole, I would defend my observations. The Italians are self-centred and very loud; they think the world was built for them and that everybody finds them both amusing and incredibly attractive (neither of which is true). Almost paradoxically Americans, although loud, brash and with their familiar annoying accents, are usually genuine people, friendly and keen to ask questions of you. To be honest, I really miss the good humour and friendliness of Australians. I think travelling abroad helps you to better appreciate the good qualities of those you live with on a day-to-day basis.