Good grief, I’m not very good at writing journal entries these days, am I? Lucky it wasn’t one of my resolutions this year (he says, quietly crossing it off the list…).
Christmas, as usual, was wonderfully relaxing, but dishearteningly short [1]. The annual visit to my parents was accompanied by the traditional promise that I’ll go and see them more frequently [2], and I ate more than is good for my health – in short, a traditional Christmas.
Since returning, I have also popped into Paris to celebrate a significant birthday of Julie’s [3]. We arrived on the Eurostar without significant incident, aside from having my bags searched on account of carrying a vicious pair of pliers [4], and disembarked to find the hotel and trundle around the city for a time. There we made a slightly unpleasant discovery – our favourite eatery [5], Le Vieux Bistro, was closed! I dearly hope that this was a temporary or seasonal interruption, because it was a lovely little place, but irrespective our cunning plans for dinner were thrown into disarray.
Luckily, we found another gorgeous little place near the Louvre called Le Petit Marchon. It was a cozy little place, the food was great and the service was friendly, too. Definitely somewhere to remember.
The rest of the weekend was largely spent visiting places that I’ve seen before in Paris, but it’s a lovely city and the company was good, so it was great fun nonetheless. I did manage to see inside Notre Dame this time, which is well worth a visit for the vaulted ceiling alone. We also visited Sainte-Chapelle, whose towering stained glass windows are awe-inspiring – plan to see it in bright sunlight if possible!
I did elect to omit a visit to the Eiffel Tower, however, along with Geoff and Jenny. On our alternative wanderings, we managed to find a place calling itself the Musee de Vin, tucked away on a tiny little side street. This was an entertaining little exhibition of wine-making through the ages. It was an interesting little place, but I must admit I’m torn between listing the highlight as the glass of wine at the end, and the extremely friendly lass who brought it to us. I’ll consider it further when I’ve had chance to properly assess the two bottles of the wine I brought back with me…
In any case, a great time was had by all, I think – photos to follow in a few days, for anybody who was there. I’m actually beginning to feel like I know Paris quite well now – that feeling will no doubt last up until the first time I try to navigate there without a map.
Since then the year’s gone more or less as years tend to go, save for some sad news at work – our workforce is now somewhat lighter than it was a few weeks ago, and I don’t mean that they’ve introduced a company diet. I can see the reasoning behind it, but it doesn’t make it any less unpleasant for everyone.
Speaking of diets, that is one resolution I’ve managed to avoid crossing off my list just yet – I’m on a mission to, uh, well, weigh a little closer to a faintly sensible amount. The mission has hit a few hiccoughs so far (the trip to paris being one of them, and a forthcoming skiing holiday being another), but I’ve managed to drop about half a stone so far [6]. Still, the true test is whether I’ll have gone back to pouring chocolate down my throat in a few months once the requirement of fitting into my ski trousers has vanished for another year.
And, well, that’s my life since my last blog entry, probably minus all kinds of interesting and important points, but heaven forbid that something interesting or important goes into a blog – I’m sure that would be illegal or something.
| [1] | For the pedantic among us, Christmas was more or less as short as it always is – I speak, of course, of the holiday in which it was embedded. |
| [2] | Which, to be fair, I intend to do – but equally I have in previous years also. |
| [3] | As everyone knows it’s impolite to discuss a lady’s age in public, so let’s suffice to say that she was entirely content with a recent guess that it might be her 21st. |
| [4] | To be fair they did contain a penknife, but that revelation makes the whole thing much less shocking, so I’ve relegated it to this footnote so nobody without the patience of a saint will ever read it. |
| [5] | As much as you can call it our favourite, being as we’ve only been there once… |
| [6] | For those used to more internationally accepted systems of units, that’s about 278 shekels or an eighth of a firkin. |