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Danya Bilinsky |
| Registered: | 13 July 2010 | | Last visit: | 13 July 2010 |
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| Paris Travel Guide: Paris without a plan. Wandering the streets of Paris.
| | Written by Danya Bilinsky on 13 Jul 2010 about a trip in May 2010.
Trip was for a family on holiday. Danya Bilinsky would definitely visit again.
| About Paris | | I am one of those people lucky enough to have visited Paris a number of times. I have seen the Arc de Triomphe, I have strolled down the Champs-Elysees and I have climbed the Eiffel Tower.
However, on this visit I’m 'pretending' not to be a tourist. Yes, I do still have a camera around my neck and, yes, I will always stand out from the stylish Parisians. Nonetheless, I have no list of things to do, I have no timetable, I have no plan. I am a wanderer.
We take a walk around the area where we are staying. After arriving from Australia only this morning I fight the jetlag that is weighing down my eye-lids.
Parked cars overtake the footpaths. Old men read newspapers, with a baguette in one hand and a glass of wine in the other. They fill the little cafés that line every street. The 10th arrondissement is home to many Algerians, so the baguettes and steak frites are interspersed with plates of steaming couscous and fragrant tagines.
Despite not having a list of must-sees we find ourselves at The Sacré-Cœur. It seems you can barely walk a block in this city without bumping into a breathtaking landmark.
Further along in the nearby Place du Tertre, persistent artists ask if we want our portrait drawn, several dozen times. Even in the freezing weather, the market stalls are manned. You can buy photographs of views over Paris, paintings of the French countryside or a near perfect sketch of Sharon Stone.
On our way back to the apartment we pass a grocery store, which is more romantically referred to as an ‘épicerie’ in French. We marvel at the gigantic asparagus and ruby red cherry tomatoes. The green beans are too good to refuse and the aroma of the strawberries means we are taking a kilogram of those as well.
The final ingredients for our home-cooked meal are collected at the supermarket where fine alcohol is available at budget prices. For only 30 euro you can grab a bottle of Moët, Veuve Clicquot or Taittinger. Entire aisles are dedicated to cheese and you can smell it when you enter the store.
In French style, our dinner is Soup d’Oignon Grantinee (French Onion Soup) paired with a fresh vegetable salad. Who knew cherry tomatoes could be so sweet? Or that asparagus could taste so much like…..asparagus?
As the day draws to a close, I am a happily exhausted wanderer. Not even a glass of French red wine is needed for me to fall asleep tonight. However, if there is one for offer….. |
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