The weekend I was in Paris was the weekend gilets-jaunes protestors celebrated their first anniversary by causing havoc all over again. I stood in Place de la Concorde, looking at police cars and riot vans lining the square, armed police pacing around, sirens and blue lights rushing up and down both sides of the Seine … More Paris: Love & Violence

You know I love a boat ride and on this weekend, the Batobus did just the job. In Paris, the big name in tourist boats is Bateaux Mouches but they depart from Pont de l’Alma and that RER station was closed that particular weekend, to keep the gilets-jaunes from rioting in tourist areas. I rode … More Paris: taking the Batobus to the Eiffel Tower

How have I never been to Sainte-Chapelle? For various reasons (language student, living on the south coast etc), I’ve been to Paris quite a few times. In fact, to be brutally honest, I’ve been too many times. Many an August day I’ve spent there, breaking up a three day drive home from wherever we’d been … More Sainte-Chapelle has a rock-hard floor

In blog-time, it’s been months since I went to Paris. That’s because there’s been so much other stuff I needed to post first. In real life, I haven’t actually left London yet. I’m sitting on the Eurostar at St Pancras and there’s still seven minutes until we depart. I’ve never been a mad lover of … More The romance of the Eurostar