We had departed London on Monday afternoon taking the Eurostar Eurostar to Paris (tip: Take a train between London and Paris. It takes a little less than 3 hours and the best thing is that you go from the centre of London to the centre of Paris. Forget the airports which are at least 40 minutes and an expensive cab ride into the cities.)
We met Herlina after work on the tree-lined Champs Elysee. Her apartment was a short train ride away in the 4th arrondissement, right around the corner from the Pomidou Centre. Herlina's apartment was right at the top, on the 7th floor of an apartment block, with no lifts. No wonder French women don't get fat. She had given us early warning of the climb and after a few days of sore calves, we got used to popping up and down the stairs.
Herlina's been living, studying and working in Paris for the past 1.5 years. She has made quite a home for herself in her white, lofty apartment.
As the week went by, Mum, Aunty Kew and I really fell in love with living high up there, in the centre of Paris. As Herlina does every morning, we'd stick our heads out the window to enjoy the Parisian rooftops and also check the weather.
Our week in Paris was marked by a lot of sight-seeing. We visited the grand Norte Dame, the enormous Lourve, the placid Palais Royale, the breadthtaking Musee D'Orsay, the elegant Eiffel Tower, the sparkling white Sacre Coeur, the posh Galleries LaFayette and the gardens of the Hotel de Ville. To top it off, we hopped a boat crusie, the Bateaux Vedettes du Pont-Neuf down the Seine to see all the sights at once along the bank.
The Eiffel Tower
Inside the Lourve
The Sacre Coeur
Hotel de Ville (Town Hall)
