Pathetic fallacy

Today Paris was a veritable sauna. It was so hot and sunny that I felt a few degrees short of holidaying in the equator. I've had such a whirlwind of a few days that the beautiful weather seemed to reflect my constant good mood perfectly, pathetic fallacy in its purest form!

Catching up with Gracie on Thursday night was so much fun, we got so caught up in conversation that we almost skipped dinner, which would have been a travesty to be fair. Luckily we made it to the supermarket just in time, and discovering chocolate, pralines and cream ice-cream was such a highlight. Gracie has been so good to me by helping me settle in, I'm not sure how I could ever fully repay her! I might just continuously ply her with Haagen Dazs until she can't take any more..

Yesterday started with a massive hike through Montmartre trying to find a supermarket, which made me so hot, tired and frustrated that I found myself completely lost and miserable in the backstreets of Paris. However, by some bizarre twist of fate, at the height of my irritation I heard a familiar voice shout "OH MY GOD KAT" from behind me. There was stood Laura Kettlewell, one of my closest friends from uni with whom I had lost all contact due to her lack of Facebook and my lack of a phone. After an emotional flurry of greetings it turned out she was late back to work after her break, so it really was fated that we'd both be in exactly the same place at the same time- such a small world!

I shortly made my way over to the Champs-Elysée to go to Ladurée, the world famous patisserie, in order to celebrate my arrival in Paris. I didn't realise how touristy it'd be and came out feeling a bit dirty to be honest! But that's probably just the snob in me starting to take hold... My choices of pistachio, raspberry (the best by far) and praline macarons were sublime, but the lemon and thyme one tasted like I had just consumed a clump of dirt off my shoe, having sanitised it with Cif beforehand of course. Just awful. (I'm starting to think I should start a 'review blog' of Parisien puddings...). Having never been to Paris before seeing the Arc de Triomphe was awesome, apparently you can climb it which I look forward to doing when it's a bit less hot (otherwise, cue sweaty breathless piglet mode).

Having managed a whole conversation in French with a lovely woman at BNP Paribas, I decided I was on a roll and bought myself French ELLE and headed to the gardens of the Louvre to read it. Again, having never been before I was mesmerised by the world famous architecture, but didn't go in (saving a whole day for that!). Sat in the gardens reading my magazine and eating my macarons, I decided I was being far too French so stuck some Smiths and Kate Bush on my iPod to lower the tone and remind me of my English roots.

Gracie put me in touch with a guy from Durham, Ed, who I met up with later in the evening and who took me to a lovely little square near the Sorbonne, where I met loads of new people and had a few chilled out drinks, chatted, and took in the atmosphere. I love how European drinking al fresco is done with such finesse, and yet in Britain drinking in the street reminds me of my (very uncultured or respectable) youth. We then moved onto an English-speaking pub where a drunken Essex lad bought me and Maya drinks (at extortionate prices, may I add) and a charming French girl told us how cute the English accent is when speaking French- quite reassuring when you're convinced you sound like an uneducated moron everytime you open your mouth. We then moved on to a lock-in at a bar near the Eiffel Tower and stayed there til the very early hours, meeting all sorts of new people, one of whom knew my ex-boyfriend which was horrific and hilarious at the same time. It was all very surreal but a great first night out, completely banishing my fear of being lonely in Paris!

K x