France part 1 - Paris

Once upon a time many years ago, I visited Paris for the weekend. I had no money at all and survived the weekend on a diet of baguettes. The treat that weekend was a dinner at McDonalds on the Champs Elyeses.

This time, the trip was with money, and it made all the difference.

The weekend held the promise of something special and delivered from the first minute. Stepped off the Eurostar and into the main station. Spotted a rather large French man struggling with his luggage, namely a large bag on wheels, two shopping bags he was carrying and an ice-cream, which was precariously placed on one hand. You know what happened next. He missed a step, the ice-cream fell off the cone and landed on the ground with a plop. He uttered a rather loud merde, everyone else got on with their lives with a little smile on their face.

Friday was the day to do all of the things I wanted to do last time, but couldn't afford to, namely Notre Dame and The Louvre. Both were fantastic. Got completely lost in the Louvre, which suited me just fine.

Saturday was a different day. I was staying with my twin cousin Nell, who had promised me the 'non-tourist' version of Paris. She was as good as her word, I was dragged around every homewares shop in Paris in search of a new sofa for her flat.

Sunday was back to normal. Big breakfast, big building with a panoramic view of paris, trip to Napolean's tomb (big coffin for a little man), snooze under the tower and a big dinner to finish. A lovely city.

One of the things I really enjoy doing on trips is to visit supermarkets or local stores and seeing what they have for sale. It was absolutely impossible not to be impressed by the wall of cheese and yogurt that hits you as you walk through even the smallest of local shop doors. The yogurt, I assume, is to assist with the digestion of the mainstay of French food, the baguette, which is taken very seriously. There must be a bakery or boulangerie within x distance of any point in Paris. There must be a pharmacy as well, which goes a long way to explaining why there is a pharmacy on every street corner. Not your average chemist with shampoo and shower gel, but a pharmacy which only sells drugs.

As for the boulangeries, if you order a baguette, by law, you must receive a baguette containing 3 ingredients only, flour, yeast and salt. That's it. None of your fancy, remaining fresh for longer than 3 hours bread, but the most simple of breads designed to always be fresh. What's more, the price is regulated, won't cost you more than a euro. And for those of you who are concerned about the rise of mass production, fear not. The ingredients in your baguette are not allowed to be mixed by machine, by law. All of this has been designed for your average corner baker to compete with the supermarket chains who commit the unspeakable sins of adding preservatives or mixing ingredients by hand. Still, a French baguette is a work of art and probably should be preserved.

To sign off, I'll leave you with a french lesson. Baguette in French means wand or stick. If you're in a Chinese restaurant and want some chopsticks, you would ask for les baguettes. Them Chinese must have some really big gaps in their teeth...