Politics, Art, Rugby is…

Paris, Paris, Paris! Don’t believe all the rumours about the Parisians, they are friendly and polite and nice and lots were happy to parle anglai with us. And don’t believe all that merde about the French Diet either; I think the reason French girls aren’t fat is because if they were they wouldn’t fit into their tiny apartments!

The buzz in Paris for the rugby was great. Everyone was talking about it, and it was good to see that most were recent converts to the game since no-one seemed to know many rules. They even stayed happy after failing to eat rosbif in the semi. We went and saw the NZ rugby ball advertising the next world cup and it was really good and made me a bit homesick… not sure about the truth of the dude telling the world that ‘the weather’s beautiful’ though! I’ve formed a pretty rosy view of NZ in my mind through telling countless strangers about our little slice of paradise but haven’t corrupted it enough yet to believe that! Was a good show though and will hopefully encourage a few more fans to come visit us in 2011.

Paris being in France, we got involved in some politics. There was a protest concert called touche pas à mon ADN (don’t touch my DNA), in protest against a proposed new law to take the DNA of new immigrants which we attended and clapped and stamped at the appropriate occasions without understanding much of what was being said. Was fun though, and a cause I absolutely agree with. Then a few days later all the train drivers went on strike (for a different cause, their own) and we once again got to experience ‘the real France’ as everything more or less shut down.

And Paris being Paris, we saw a whole lot of art. The modern art at the Pompidou Centre was interesting, sometimes great, often debatably art, always baffling, and good fun. All the normal old-school stuff at the Louvre was quite overwhelming, especially in its volume. In about five hours we only really visited two floors of one wing, and ran through a bit more to see the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo. You could spend days in there and not see it all.

Allez les blanc?

there it is

hi ho, hi ho

at Versaille

And that is just some of the classic attractions. In nine busy days in the city we only touched on the famous sights. But the best way to pass the day was people-watching. Paris is full of public squares and people promenading; there is life everywhere, in great diversity. I think you could stay for a week or two and move around different arrondissements, simply watching the world go by.

The other highlight was catching up with a bunch of (mostly French) friends from Oz. It is a small world.