Travel with us: Paris, je t'aime

It's been a while; thanks for hanging in there.

Last weekend it was my birthday and, as one does when you live in London, we decided to travel to Paris for the weekend. It's been a childhood dream to go to Paris. I've learned about it since I was about 8 and had visions of a little apartment with window boxes, croissants and coffee for breakfast, lunch at the Jardin des Tuileries, views from the top of the Notre Dame cathedral, and shopping in the Marais. It was every bit as beautiful as I had imagined.

We arrived on the Eurostar on Friday to a sunny, hot Paris and headed to lunch at a classic Parisian bistrot with a singing waiter and lots of Parisians sitting in the sun with a cigarette in one hand and their lunchtime glass of wine in the other. The food was delicious, and was a sign of good things to come. We spent the afternoon wandering the suburbs and eventually ended up at the Musee d'Orsay which has a huge collection of impressionists and post-impressioninsts in an old railway station - and is my new favourite museum. I could have spent all day there amongst the paintings by Corrot, Millet, Sisley, Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec and Monet. They were so evocative of life in the France in the late 19th century.

The other museum we visited was the Musee Rodin, a somewhat dilapidated but spectacular 18th century mansion where Rodin lived for a time, and created his beautiful sculptures. Rodin left the building to the French government to be a museum dedicated to his work upon his death. The gardens were contained several of Rodin's larger bronze works, including "The Thinker".

One morning, we decided to brave the queues and head up to the top of the Notre Dame for the views of central Paris. Somehow, I think this was a better option that the thousands upon thousands of tourists heading up the Tour Eiffel. Paris has such a beautiful skyline, and is particularly beautiful from the Notre Dame with the River Seine snaking though the city. Victor Hugo has done a wonderful job of immortalising Notre Dame with it's huge bourbon bell (called Emmanuel) and other-worldly gargoyles.

Paris is an intoxicating mix of old world charm and gritty, new elements. If anyone has seen Exit Through the Giftshop, the film about Banksey, you will recognise the space invaders below, which we found in Montmartre and the Marais. And although we didn't go into the Pomidou Centre, the outside of the building was enough to make us want to come back for a visit. Which is what we will have to do. Three days just wasn't enough to see everything. I have fallen in love with Paris.