a trip to the beach

Bois Colombes is about 15 minutes by train from Paris, so it’s really not far at all. But it doesn’t take much to escape the ‘city feel’. I made the most of a few empty streets to go for a run around the suburb. The area was a lot bigger than I thought. We’d walked past a few shops and restaurants last night, but there were a lot more. During my run I found pretty much every shop you would need. Kamel said later that the only thing missing was entertainment. When he goes out, he usually goes straight from work (he works in Paris), rather than come home because there aren’t any places to go in Bois Colombes.

After my run I had some lunch, a French twist of my favourite, honey toast. Instead I made a honey baguette. And a peanut butter one for good measure. I caught the train into Paris and found one of the bus stops for the hop on/hop off bus so I could use my ticket yesterday. There was still one route I didn’t fit in yesterday. This time I decided to get off at the Louve. I walked around the Pyramids a bit and even contemplated going in because there wasn’t half the line there was yesterday, but I still wanted to see the left bank (the route I’d missed) and figured if I went inside the louve, I’d be there for a while. Back on the bus and off at Notre Dame to switch routes.

The left bank (which judging from Kamel’s reaction when I called it that is a name the French don’t use) is supposed to be the art haven of Paris. Many years ago it was a big area for art, writing, music etc. There is also a big university there.  Paris has A LOT of cafes and it was no exception in this part of town. And all the outdoor seats face the street so if two people sit together, they sit next to each other and face the same way. Makes for great people watching. I rode the bus right round and got off where I started. On the way there I’d spotted a good present for someone (I won’t give away what it was or for who) so went to get that - except they didn’t have it in the right size so I walked for a good hour or so until I found what I wanted. To the person I bought it for: you better like it, or at least pretend you do!

When the bus drove over the River Seine, I noticed sand on the banks and people stretched out on deck chairs like a beach. It looked like a bit of fun so I strolled along there for a bit and managed to score a chair for a bit, so I may have had a little nap. Kamel told me later that they do that for one month every year and becomes Paris’s beach. It wouldn’t have been set up when I was here last month. It seems like a strange thing to do but when the beach is 200/300km away, I guess you make do with what you’ve got.

After my little nap I made my way to La Chapell to meet Kamel. This area is up where I was yesterday at Sacre Coeur. We had Indian for tea, and both ate so much we thought we should walk a bit. We ended up at Sacre Coeur, but this time there were a lot less people. We sat for a bit on the steps looking over the city. A lot of people had taken up a few drinks and food to eat up there, and there were people walking around selling beer. We kept walking and ended up in the area near the Moulin Rouge. While this area used to house a lot of brothels etc, it’s not really designed for tourists. There are still plenty of peep shows and sex shops, even a sex museum. There are also plenty of pubs, it’s sort of the nightlife area. We went to an Irish pub and had a drink and although there is a club attached and we’d planned to go dancing, I was a bit tired so we left, making it home about 1am.