2003 January 30
Le beau Paris
Am in Paris on a business trip -- one of the major perks of working for a European company.
So, last time I was here was when I was 19, and I was travelling with my father. I remember being underwhelmed.
This evening I just walked through St Germain and came to the foot bridge that crosses the Seine near the Louvre. The sun had just set, the lights were golden on the Pont Neuf, and the buildings of Île de la Cité were silhouetted against a cobalt sky. The enormous palace of the Louvre was on my left, and a row of magnificent mansions -- gorgeous, but too common to be worth noting in a tourist guidebook -- was on my right. It gobsmacked me -- put my brain on puree and blew it out both ears (and damn, it was a chilly night to have to be scooping cold brain back into my head).
I shan't claim Paris is overrated again.
