Summer has finally arrived in Europe, with a glorious warm weekend heralding the beginnings of summer dresses, thongs, and jugs of Pimms and lemonade.

Alan and I spent the weekend in Paris, soaking up the sun by enjoying walks through the city, historic sights and a picnic in a park on the Seine.  We walked so far in fact that both of us were struggling through the horrific pain that our completely inappropriate walking footwear was inflicting on our feet.

On Saturday, we walked up to the second floor of the Eiffel Tower before getting the elevator all the way to the top.  The views were just magnificent!  The last time I was here in 2001, I was a poor student and could only marvel at the tower from the bottom.  From the top though, we could full appreciate how grand the Museé de Louvre was, as well as the view of the Seine snaking its way through the city.  It was quite a workout climbing all those stairs, and we thoroughly deserved that ice cream when we got back down the bottom!

The next day, we spent almost the whole day at the Louvre, admiring famous works by da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, and the statues Aphrodite (or the Venus de Milo) and the Winged Victory of Samothrace.  I was thrilled to be able to view Géricault’s Raft of the Medusa again, which is my favourite painting in the world.

We walked up the Avenue de Champs Elysée to marvel at the Arc de Triomphe, before I met up with my friend Christian for a dinner date in Montmartre.

Paris is such a beautiful city, and I definitely think that this is a place I could live in.  I think that I would get morbidly obese on all the cheese and wine that abounds in this country, although apparently French women don’t get fat!