Sarah in Paris
The last week or two have mostly been spent being comletely bemused by the attitude of the school towards exams, and wondering whether (a) anybody cares what grades I achieve or (b) the achieved grades are actually meaningful. Having said that, however, they are now all over, and the festive wind-down has finally begun.
Sarah braved the channel tunnel to spend last weekend in Paris, where we mostly soaked up the festive spirit amongst the bustle of the Rue de Rivoli. The Louvre was just as hectic with all its pre-Christmas madness, although we did manage to get close enough to the Mona Lisa to appreciate just how small it really is. We also spent a while regarding the remarkably un-controversial Virgin of the Rocks, and several subsequent hours expresing our dislike for a certain American author.
We also made a couple of brilliant restaurant discoveries, which I shall, of course, share with you:
- l’Espérance, in the Quartier de la Butte aux Cailles in the 13th. Here a simple but very tasty and relatively enormous 3-course meal will set you back just over 10 € - including wine!
- La Cascade on the Rue du Pot de Fer in the 5th. An entertaining meeter and greeter managed to fill the restaurant when all surrounding ones lay empty, and later bacame a waiter with a slightly camp run. A very nice place, and the 16 € 3-course menu was fabulous and offered a fairly extensive selection; of course wine was extra!
However, our restaurant-choosing skill does not, unfortunately, extend to Cafés. Perhaps some would view our choosing of the first one we found after walking away from the Eiffel tower as our first mistake. But it was a very nice place. Where two coffees and two slices of (lovely) chocolate cake cost a measly 22 €.
Despite the glorious sunshine witnessed this weekend, France has now decided to be dull, foggy and very cold for Christmas. So I’m going back to England for the rest of this particular festive season.
Joyeux Noël et Bonne Année to you all.
