Gay Paree

Oh how handy it is living here in NL ;-) I spent last weekend (Friday to Sunday) with about 60 of my colleagues in beautiful Paris. The company I work for, SNP Travel, is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, and as part of the celebrations we were treated to a fabulous long weekend in a fabulous city!

We all had a great weekend, although at times it was a bit like being on a school trip ;-) We all boarded the bus and left the office at about 12.30 Friday afternoon, and after a pitstop along the way (champagne and tapas included) we arrived in Paris at about 7.30pm. Just enough time to check into our hotel, freshen up and catch the metro to the Montmarte area for a romantic dinner for 60. Taking the metro was pretty funny as a block of 60 people, but we all managed to keep together and no one got lost.

Saturday morning was spent cycling through the backstreets of the 13th and 14th arrondissements, past the famous artist colony known as Cite Fleurie (the former home to Rodin, Modigliani, Gauguin, and Lacroix amongst others); alongside a mosque with a beautiful green & tranquil internal courtyard garden and tea house; stopping for coffee along the way in one of the many charming little cafes in the Montparnasse area; past an ancient Roman theatre; and back along the undulating cobblestoned streets to our starting point. A slightly different but definately great way to see such a big, sprawling city like Paris.

Although Saturday night was Nuit Blanch (literally White Night, the annual all night free arts festival in Paris) we didn't get to see much of it! We spent Saturday night at Barrio Latino in the Bastille area. The Barrio Latino is (apparently!) a famous salsa club/cocktail bar/restaurant and is owned by the same guy who runs the Buddha Bar and Barlotti (apparently also famous!). It extends over 4 magnificant levels, linked by an enormous spiral staircase, in what used to be an old furniture warehouse. The building is classified as an historical monument, with the facade and metal structure the work of Gustave Eiffel of the tower bearing the same name!

The rest of the weekend was spent freely wandering the streets and we managed to tick off a few of the big landmarks from our list - including the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomph, Champs Elysees, Notre Dame, Napoleon's tomb, the Louvre & its glass pyramid, Place de la Concorde, and the Grand Palais. And then 2.00pm Sunday it was back on the bus for the journey back to Nijmegen. Thanks SNP for a fab weekend!

Alli xxx