Week Off

So I actually got back into blogging then suddenly took a week off. Crazy times, guys and gals! There was a reason behind this though - for the last week I've been around the country for work.

This wasn't quite as exciting as it sounds, although I always do enjoy visiting branches and going slightly further afield than London. It did involve nine places and eleven presentations over the course of the five days. My total work week could be broken down into its constituent parts; I spent approximately 18 hours presenting, 3 hours setting up and taking apart the equipment for presentations, a similar amount of time walking between branches and train stations, 16 hours travelling on trains, of which around 8 of these hours were spent sleeping on trains.

This does mean that last week, I was effectively paid for one day which I spent all of sleeping on trains.

Perhaps It's A Good Thing

I'm wondering if it's a good thing when I either forget to blog or simply don't have anything to talk about. I typically used my blog as a place to vent about things that weren't going well, grumble about things I disliked or disagreed with. Instead of late I've found little to say.

Maybe this shouldn't be looked on as a negative. It could simply be that I'm happier and have fewer things that need to be ranted about.

Exciting Evening

So while I attempt to restart the blogging habit, I am faced with the proverbial blank page and little to comment on.

This evening so far I have been working, excitingly so, on my paperwork. This has involved a battle with a Debenhams credit card in trying to pay off the laughable £1 balance (the origin of this was that the card got us a 5% discount, the rest was paid in vouchers). I've also tried to make progress on the council tax payments and gotten somewhere, and tidied my email. It's not been the stuff of great stories.

Tomorrow is work and my appraisal; we will see what comes of this.

Absence Not Unnoticed

So the other day while we were relaxing in our comfortable abode, Chrissi made the point that I sucked at blogging. As painful as this was, it was also undoubtedly truthful, considering that my performance of late has been pretty poor.

This does obviously skip over the slightly bemusing fact that my wife - who now actually has the bonus of hearing about my day while I remember what happened during it - is resorting to my blog to hear tales that I am apparantly holding back. In an effort to reinspire the one reader I have remaining, I will resume my blogging activities.

Today's effort was mainly recovering the four posts I had typed out but never posted while I was in Paris. After fighting with my phone for a while to try and get it to transfer the text from the notes to the browser so that I could post them, it eventually gave up and I decided typing them out would be quicker. You can read more of the story of our trip to France below this post.

Paris 4

Today marks our final day in Paris - our train leaves back to London late this afternoon. We are making a lazier start to the day and will be having a little wander around Montmatre as the sole aim. We will also likely pay a visit to the Sacre Coeur while there.

Yesterday was also a later start - we left just after 10 and wandered down to the Place du Trocadero and across to the Eiffel Tower. The views from here were unsurprisingly fantastic - you could see quite a way! The structure itself is immense. Following a stroll through the CHamps de Mars to l'Ecole Militarie, we caught the RER out to Versailles.

Versailles is a place I have never been before. The palace is huge, and the gardens even more so. The original grounds covered a greater area than modern metropolitan Paris. The rooms were ornate and sumptuously decorated - the long Hall of Mirrors was particularly fine.

The evening - after the return trip to Paris - featured a boat trip along the Seine. This gave us an opportunity to see all of the sites lit up, although as you were at water level some were harder to see than others. It was definately the superior option to see it by night however.

Paris 3

Auj'hordui je suis en Paris aussi! Yes, my feeble smattering of French has been dusted off and I have been communicating with the locals in their own language - to an extent!

Yesterday we went to the Ile de la Cite - the central island in the Seine at the heart of the city. Prior to arriving there we took a detour to the Pompidou Centre, and also went past the magnificent Hotel de Ville.

Once on the island itself we visited Notre Dame, and as well as seeing the magnificent interior also climbed the towers - yielding a superb view over the city. We also visisted Sainte-Chapelle, constructed in the thirteenth century as a reliquary for the French kings, and saw (on the outside at least) the Palais de Justice.

This filled the majority of the day - in the evening we visited the Musee d'Orsay, a former train station that now houses a magnificent art collection including works by Monet, Gaugain, Cezanne, van Gogh and Rodin. After eating we managed to catch a Metro back to the Arce de Triumphe just in time for last entry, and the views over the city and night from here were truly spectacular. We did have time after this for un glace at a fancy cafe on the CHamps-Elysee - tres Parisian!

Paris 2

So today I'm in Paris. That sentence is thoroughly underwhelming - it makes it sound as if there is nothing either unusual or exciting about this. Perhaps a better start would have been 'Today I'm in Paris (trailing exclamation marks)'.

Yesterday we saw several sights but the main highlights were Place de la Concorde, l'Orangerie, Jardins du Tuileries and the Louvre museum. Today the goal is to head to the Arce to Triumphe to start with and then on to the Ile de France to walk around there!

Paris 1

Considering I am not at work, today oddly saw an earlier start than usual. I was up at 5:45 and we left the house at 6:35 to head into Surbiton. We then caught the train into London and the tube across to St Pancras for the eurostar.

Yes, this does mean that we are heading to Paris for a few days! More updates on this will be forthcoming over the next few days.