Paris

Paris is the one city that i was visiting that i know fairly well. Given its so easy to get to and the regular rugby opportunities (RWC 2007 - how did we get to the final with such a poor team?!?* and Six Nation thrashings) i have been there quite a bit. As such these couple of days have been more about:

- seeing some familiar sites (Lourve, Jardin du Luxembourg - my favourite park in Paris);
- just walking around taking in the Parisien way of life;
- and seeing some new sites - i had not been for example to the Jardin des Plantes which is part of the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle.

Pictures here.

*That tournament cost me a packet. I had been lucky enough to get to the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia. Given England's form going into that event, i was confident enough just to book the quarter finals onwards - with some confidence that i would see England in more than one match (ok half time against the Welsh in the quarter final was a bit touch and go but we got through didn't we!) Going into the 2007 event, i had managed to book a "Follow England" package which got me tickets basicaly for as long as England played in the event. But to be honest i thought they would struggle and only booked travel and hotel options for the pool games. As things progressed i ended up trying to book trains/hotel at the last minute (the day after each time England won to get through to the next stage ) which was a bit expensive. It ended up costing me more than my three week trip to Australia in 2003. And we ended up losing the final in 2007!