Christmas in Gay Paris

Happy New Year everyone!
Just got back from 4 days in Paris where Andy and me spent a fantastic, romantic weekend in Paris.
Arrived on the 23rd - stayed at Hotel du Louvre - a stunning four star hotel right next to the famous museum, and close to L'Opera district .







Christmas Eve we took a bus tour around the city - checking out the most famous sights:

In the afternoon we spent an hour at Cimetiére du Pére Lachaise - an absoultely amazing cemetry. It may sound rather morbid, but it's full of famous people's tombs and graves - including Oscar Wilde, Jim Morrison, Edith Piaf, Isadora Duncan and loads of artists, poets and philosophers.

After an early dinner at a Belgian restaurant,

we headed to the Notre-Dame Cathedral, where we caught the end of a Xmas Eve service, went to a nearby bar, and then returned for Midnight Mass - watching from outside on a big screen.

Christmas morning, we opened our pressies and polished off a bottle of champagne, before an early lunch at the stunning 1930s Café du Grand, where my lobster starter cost more than our main dishes! But it was worth it.


Walked of the huge lunch by walking to the Eiffel Tower and spending the afternoon at the top.

On Boxing Day, we spent a couple of hours in the Louvre. Was a bit disappointed by the Mona Lisa - I think my favourite piece was the Venus de Milo (Aphrodite). We then caught the Metro to Sacré Coeur, wandered around Monmartre where I think I could happily have lived at the beginning of the 1900s as an artisan - maybe even worked at the Moulin Rouge!
We ended the holiday with yet another Belgian meal, bizarrely
- and a bit of a pub crawl, including Harry's New York bar, where the first Bloody Mary was invented - apparently!

Not blogged for a while

I've not been on all that many walks in the past couple of months - been far too busy with other stuff.
Firstly, in October it was Ge's Hen Night - where we went to a Chinese restaurant in Tunbridge Wells with a Chinese Elvis! He was fab, and it was a top night

Then, right at the beginning of December, 18 of us took over three absoutely stunning cottages in Wooton on the Isle of Wight
It was three days and nights of drinking much wine and playing loads of games. On the Saturday some people went bowling and ice skating
- but Andy and me decided to got for a 'coastal walk' and got lost - no where near the coast.
In the evening we all had an early Xmas dinner of take-away Indian and Chinese together, with crackers and everything!

Visted the Needles on the Sunday morning, but everything was shut.

For those that were able to stay on the Monday, we visited Shanklin
- messed about a bit on the beach and had a lovely lunch in the Old Village - but once again, pretty much everything was shut.