Our Man in Paris

La Tour Eiffel

Well, this was the one you were all waiting for... having supper on the Parc du Champ de Mars under the illuminated Eiffel Tower. Oh, so Parisian!
Tonight's mission started out as an attempt to watch the sunset from the Eiffel Tower; however, we didn't quite make it in time, and decided that it was a bit pricey anyway. Instead, we decided to chill out on the "Field of Mars", the former military parade ground beneath. After watching the lights go on at exactly 7.12pm, the official time of sunset in Paris, we decided to do something about our hunger, and wandered east onto the avenue Rapp towards a supermarket. As we were returning to the Champ de Mars, the Tower was illuminated by hundreds of bright, flashing white lights, giving it the over-all appearance of Christmas Tree on a tarts' night out. What were they thinking? Apparently, La Tour Eiffel sees fit to celebrate the hour in such a way - for ten minutes!

Before long, we had found a quiet spot to set up camp and tuck in to our supper of bread, cheese and wine. Quiet, that is, until our neighbours decided to share their rather dubious taste in music with the rest of Paris. Just as we had become accustomed to the gentle refrains of R&B (or was it D&B?), the next enduring disturbance of the evening transpired to be men of diverse origins wandering round the field trying to sell the most ghastly flashing miniature Eiffel Towers. They say Paris is a city of romance; well in this place that is, according to all the guide books, more Parisian than Paris itself, those wandering salesmen certainly managed to kill whatever romance there might have been with their foul tat.

As if the evening was not surreal enough, Dieter then gets out his camping stove and starts to make us all cup-a-soup. And most welcome it was, too, as it was getting rather chilly by this point. An absolutely superb evening all round.

Pics courtesy of Fab.

posted by Rorkey @ 11:05 PM