All Together Now!

A sparkling, cloudless day in Paris was an invitation for tous le monde to be out and about enjoying the sunshine and the last official day of the summer holidays.

Groups were the preferred formation today. I encountered a group of reflective-vest clad school lolly-pop ladies and gents, anxiously taking instruction from one of the preponderance of police around the city. Here in France, it appears that instead of a giant day-glo lolly-pop, only a small ping-pong paddle - bearing the words STOP Ecole - is required to quell the after-school traffic (no wonder they looked so nervous!)

The carnival atmosphere prompted me to brave the crowds at Maison Berthillon the icecream parlour, which always has a queue outside that lines the entire Rue St.-Louis-en-l'Ile.

The exquisite chocolate (and I can also recommend the crunchy and delicious cornet patissier) seems like quite a pedestrian choice now, as I later discovered this website that has a feature on their famous flavours. Wow, hope it’s sunny again tomorrow so that I can go back and try the Praline, Lemon and Coriander! http://www.geobeats.com/videoclips/france/paris/berthillon-ice-cream

Finally, I came across a group bike-tour bargain hunting in the antique shops of the picturesque St Paul Village, where today I spied a fabulous looking restaurant set in a glasshouse, which has to go on my list of places to try!

On the subject of group tours, the Segway Tours (though I didn’t know that’s what they were called at the time, merci beaucoup MaryAnn) along the banks of the Seine seem very popular and actually looks like they could be a good laugh, too!

In fact, if it moves, it appears you can tour Paris on it! And the more the merrier.