We decided to invite ourselves (obviously with offers of gifts) to Paris for a long weekend to stay with HU. We had to get up at an ungodly hour to get the 9h30 train, and coupled with an ill-advised purchase of a bottle of Schwepps agrum I spent half the journey feeling sick. When we arrived we spent about 30 minutes trying to find the left luggage area so we didn't have to drag our bags roung with us all day and then headed out along the Seine, taking in the tourist traps: Notre Dame, the Louvre, the Champs Elysée and the Arc de Triomphe. At 19h we retrieved our luggage and met HU, as he works in the building next to the station and went back to his appartment and met his collocs, GI and FL.

Friday we wandered into the centre and had lunch at a restaurant near Notre Dame and then strolled round the Place des Vosges and the Marais. We stumbled upon a warren of restaurants and food stalls behind a shabby looking archway that was packed with French people and smelt amazing. We then made what turned out to be a mammoth walk to Pere Lachaise, where a surprising amount of famous people are buried. The atmosphere was slightly ruined by an annoying American/ Frenchman standing outside selling maps for 'toy or real money'. As we'd decided to cook dinner for HU and his flatmates we picked up some food for my famous poulet basquaise and a dessert, which we forgot at the till. After dinner we all went out for a 'soirée soft' to a pub called Le Mazet and then Le Bar until 6am. Not quite what we had in mind and so our plans for visiting Versailles the next day didn't materialise.

Saturday we all went up Tour Montparnasse as HU rightly said, if you go up the Eiffel Tower you can't see it; so we had a much better view. We then had a walk over to the Eiffel Tower and had an apéro in a bar near it. While walking to a restaurant for dinner we went up to Invalides, which I'm reliably informed is still used for the military. At dinner I tried my first ever foie gras (pate de campagne anyday) and then we went home for another rousing appéro before heading out to Le Globo for the night. At 30 euros to get in (with drink) I'm pretty glad I chose Montpellier for the year.

Sunday LA, HU, GI and I went to leave our luggage at the station before walking up to the Bastille and then Place Vendome, where we saw the remenants of the Tour de France and a LOT of English people with flags. It was then that we realised we only had 30 minutes to get back to the station and the metro stop closest to us was out of service. Cue mad rushing with about 1000 other fans to the next metro stop. Then of course my ticket didn't work so I had to ask a man to squeeze in with him using his ticket. Finally on the metro we worked out we'd have 10 minutes to run to the other side of the station (it's massive), get our luggage, run half way back to get on the train. The boys held our bags while we ran to get the luggage while they checked the platform and then came after us. We then swapped and they ran with our suitcases while we struggled behind them, but luckily we made it with 2 minutes to spare. We then had to walk the length of the train to our seats, where we collapsed for 3 and a half hours.