http://www.justforparis.com Just another WordPress weblog Sat, 05 Dec 2009 15:08:19 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I awoke late this morning and lounged around a bit. I think people come on a vacation and have a mad rush to get out and do everything possible in a two week period, and while I was definitely like that the first days I was here, I have settled ... http://www.justforparis.com/?p=105 After a short 40 minute delay in the Chunnel, I arrived back in Paris mid day and decided to take the metro to my hotel. I missed Paris already and was glad to be back. I'd Googled the address and found it on the metro map and set off. It ... http://www.justforparis.com/?p=103 I'm taking a short detour over to see the Queen for the weekend but we should be back to our regularly scheduled programming on Monday. Until then, you can follow my adventures being hunted by MI6 here. Until then, adieu! And MI6, if you're reading this...I promise I'm not really doing anything ... http://www.justforparis.com/?p=98 I awoke this morning with a kind of childlike glee at the idea of Christmas in Paris. I had no agenda, no planned excursion and no schedule to keep. I didn't have to hurry and rush to this house or that, or follow any custom whatsoever. I love Christmas and ... http://www.justforparis.com/?p=101 I slept through breakfast but awoke to random music in the streets from a 3 piece band who'd decided to roam and play. I can't recall the song now, and they really weren't very good but there's something to be said for waking to a brass band. lol It beats ... http://www.justforparis.com/?p=84 I woke early on the 23rd and managed to grab breakfast again.  I grabbed the metro out to Versailles, helping two lost Chinese students on the way. I never mentioned I was going to Versailles, too and ended up running into them often at the Chateau. It was no big ... http://www.justforparis.com/?p=82 I actually woke up in time to grab breakfast this time, in le First, the Boudoir Restaurant in the Westin. Again everyone was so very helpful and nice to me, and I think I've figured out what it is: politeness, and a sense of place. Essentially, manners go so very ... http://www.justforparis.com/?p=80 It's cold and overcast today, the first official day of winter though the icy season has already set in here. The plan for the day is the Louvre, that site of sites - home to art and antiquity, a work of art itself. It's close, only a short walk down ... http://www.justforparis.com/?p=78 As we flew over the Atlantic, relatively warm compared to the -61F outside the plane I thought about the impressions I've had of Paris and the sorts of stereotypes and generalizations I suppose I, like so many people must have of this place. I was momentarily distracted when I saw ... http://www.justforparis.com/?p=76 It's 6am the morning of my trip and though I've forsaken sleep I've slipped into a happy, calm excitement, for once less the child on Christmas morn than the adult, pleased with Santa's preparations. I have no doubt that child-like glee (which was present in spades only 24 hours ago ... http://www.justforparis.com/?p=72