Trip to Paris

One of my long term friends was in Europe on a business trip a few weeks ago.

I haven’t seen Terry or his wife Julie for a couple of years so it was a great opportunity to catch up since he was relatively close. I caught the high speed train up to Paris CDG airport but we were delayed slightly (highly unusual for the efficient French train service) so I missed Terry at the airport. No problem – I just caught a taxi into the city through the still pumping traffic on the ring road and met him at the hotel.

It was great to see Terry. Even under the weather as he was from a dodgy schnitzel he’d had the night before in Bavaria he was great company and you feel comfortable as you do with old friends.

We stayed at the hotel he and his boss were at and explored Paris over the next day and half. I’d been to the city several times so knew how to get around quickly to maximise our time there. We went to The Champs Elysee, went inside and on top of the Arc de Triomphe, walked over to the Eiffel Tower, then saw Napoleons’ tomb.

We had a hoot one evening going up to see the Moulin Rouge cabaret in Montmartre (which also coincidentally abuts the red light district). Terry and Graham and I were invited umpteen times to sample some earthly delights raining from dances to ‘art films’ to more ahem, 'advanced' relaxation techniques…We all politely declined – persuasive as they were. I had to give one hawker ‘A’ for effort in her sales pitch though. “C’mon in, one drink and if you don’t like the girls you can leave after ten minutes…”. No doubt many punters once surrounded by a bevy of delightful females in alluring costumes and with a brew in hand tend to stay….! “Awww, heck five minutes more…” Cute.

Anyhoo, we also saw the Notre Dame cathedral and the Louvre as well as The National Assembly and other stuff. The photo Graham – Terry’s boss, fishing for my camera case which fell out of my hand. We made a fine sight – three weird Aussies - one climbing the grill (me) trying to get a view of my case trapped on the ledge below, Terry taking photos laughing and Graham who’d managed to stick his head through (my nut being too big), doing a Rex Hunt and fly-fishing for me.

Gotta go fishing with this guy, if he's half as good with a rod and reel as he is with a camera strap and bent paper clip, we're in for a good day!

All too soon it was back to normal life and the workaday week and we took the train down to Dijon where they got off and I continued onto Lausanne before backtracking to Geneva and getting home around midnight. Terry and Graham are back in Oz now, Terry in Perth and Graham in Melbourne, but I've got a long overdue trip home coming up in three weeks so shall see Terry and Julie and the gang again at a BBQ.

Catch you soon guys.

Put a bottle of wine in the fridge to chill...