Bien arivée!

Arrived in France safe and sound despite having dislocated our shoulders with tugging along three ridiculously heavy suitcases; it was OK until we actually arrived and had five flights of stairs to climb.  I thought FH was going to murder me.  He might have done, I think, except for the fact that a) it would have rendered all the carrying pointless, and b) it was our anniversary.

Just some of the lovely stairs to my appartment

Despite the near-death and heavily-burdened nature of our anniversary, we did manage to have some nice treats too.  We had lunch of tasty lamb and couscous at home before striking out on our great adventure, which took us via the longest champagne bar in the world (it was on the way, being in St. Pancras and all).

Don't mind if I do...

It had the best feature in the world, which should be fitted as standard in all houses (above) and it made us very happy - a snackette calmed FH's worried nerves (and by nerves, I mean belly) - and we were ready for stage two of the journey.

I am aware that I look a bit sloshed, but I'd only had one!

Stage two was less than ideal, so we'll skip over that to the apartment.  It's small, but lovely and unlike the last time I was in France, I'm not sleeping in the living-room!  My own bedroom (despite it being a single) is a complete luxury.

Taken from 10 metres from my building...

 Also luxury is living this close to la tour eiffel.  Wow.  I've never lived in an area before where people do a double take when you tell them your address.  It's pretty cool, and I'm definitely getting ideas above my station.  FH told me that he'd never been up the Eiffel Tower before, so on Wednesday we clomped up all 700-odd stairs to the second platform and took the lift to the top.  It's still impressive, even having done it before, and this time I took the time to read all the signs about the construction and the landmarks visible.  It was very edukashunal.

Also on Wednesday, we went to the Café Constant, a little bistro-type place owned by a Michelin-starred chef.  We were meant to go on Tuesday evening when we arrived, but we were to late (by about two minutes) and got anniversary frozen pizza instead - romantic!  The café had been recommended by my new flatmate, and she certainly has good taste (both in resto and in flat buddies) because it was delicious.  There were interesting things on the menu too; a bit more out there than your typical bistro fayre.

So FH has now returned to the Big Smoke without me, and I am left in Paris to begin adventuring on my own.