- The Eurostar is a fantastic way to go and rocking up to Waterloo is a cinch, especially if you're living on the Jubilee line already. As previously mentioned, we went First Class because I'm a lazy-arsed freak who didn't get off his butt in time to book cheap seats with reasonable travelling times attached to them. I'm not sure if it was worth it or not, but the food and wine and big seats were excellent. However, the gaudy plastic pink reading lamps did not lend the carriage an air of class or Orient Express-style mystery.
- Parisien(ne)s are mostly quite nice. Some are rude. I laughed at them when they were.
- The relief on the right-hand strut (what's the proper word for this?) of the Arc de Triomphe, as you're looking up from the Champs Elysées, is very cool.
- I had no snails. I had no frogs' legs. I had two pain au chocolat the whole time I was there. Galeries Lafayette do them very well.
- The Louvre was fantastic. There was far too much to see of course so we ended up skipping the Dutch/Flemish paintings on the second floor (screw you Vermeer). Certain parts were closed off too which was damn annoying (including one of the Egyptian wings which Michelle wanted to check out); if you can't manage to scrape up enough staff to run a gallery (albeit a large one) in a city of nine million people then you should really consider why you're operating one. The Mona Lisa was suitably enigmatic even as she was being flash-blinded to within an inch of her canvassed life, and the Venus de Milo was similarly inspiring. The two large courtyards containing large sculpture were excellent as well. I was also surprised how well the pyramid actually complemented the old palace buildings - well done Mr Pei.
- The weather was cold and crisp but very hazy: in such circumstances one is advised to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower at night and climb the towers of Notre Dame during the day. Both were merveilleux.
- We stayed quite close to the Place Vendôme which is riche riche riche. Mega-jewellery stores reigned supreme. We felt poor.
- Using the euro was relatively painless - it was comforting to be on the same foot as everyone else in the city on at least that one thing. People seemed to be most confused with the 1, 2 and 5 cent pieces which are all the same colour and vary little in terms of size. I ended up with a Belgian 2 euro coin at one point so the national coins are certainly beginning their move around Europe. The Pont Neuf was flying the flags of all the Euro-zone countries as well which was quite a nice touch.
- Fur is in, as are eyebrows plucked razor-thin and yappy little dogs which you can carry around in your shoulder bag. And I didn't step in any dog shit the whole time I was there ... amazing! I tell you, I'll be turning water into wine soon.
- All of the good-looking men in Paris wear uniforms (yes gendarmes, I'm looking in your direction). That's one fetish I hadn't considered before but could quite possibly develop. But probably not.
- Five years of high school French was useful for reading but I was a bit shy in speaking when push finally came to shove. I think I needed to be drunker.
- I had a bizarre déjà vu moment at the bottom of the steps leading up to the Sacre Cœur: you actually walk into where the closing sequence of Amélie was filmed, carousel and all. Cool.
- Waterloo Immigration, I kiss you! I wasn't asked any of the usual probing questions on my return to London which is amazing, especially since time is well and truly ticking on my visa.
- Writing all the ISO entity codes for the accents in this list has been annoying.
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