Got a great deal on Eurostar and a lovely AirBnB apartment so we went on a long weekend to Paris. After thinking that Paris would be a place to take photos constantly – it really wasn’t. In fact with all the tourists taking pictures of everything in existence it made me even more selective.

Not sure what the fascination is with documenting every part of your life but it seems to be getting worse for many people. My favourite part was seeing a guy almost running around the Louvre trying to take pictures of every painting – maybe he was assembling his own collection?

Photos or lack thereof aside it is an amazing place. The great thing about Paris is that because it escaped pretty much unscathed from the war it is still beautiful.

The architecture is stunning – in numerous places you can see 3 or 4 incredible buildings at the end of each street. One thing that is certain – Napoleon wasn’t a spendthrift. Opulence surrounds everything he built and that provides amazing backdrops to many of the central areas of Paris.

I thought the Louvre wouldn’t be that great but it was a highlight. The largest museum in the world and my god is it large. We stuck to paintings alone and didn’t scratch the surface of the collection – we were too busy getting lost… it really is huge.

The food

The quality of ingredients and the refreshing proliferation of independant shops was so different to the domination of Tesco and Sainsburys convenience stores at home

The local bakers had a permanent queue so we knew they were a place to try. The bread was so tasty – not doughy like we are used to in the UK.

We also tried some macaroons from Ladurée which were lovely – a grand interior and location of the shop helped the experience.

Being able to get fresh bread, pastries and macaroons from so many shops knowing they were made on the premises was pretty novel. This meant we ate in the apartment a few times – think indoor cheese picnic.

L’Ange was our first French evening meal and it was a great one. A very small and intimate place for a meal – the ingredients were very fresh and well cooked. Lamb fondant and duck were our mains and the simplicity was the reason it was so tasty

We also tried Babalou which is right next to Sacré-Cœur. The owners are Italian Parisians and made a cracking pizza – first time I have had one without a tomato sauce base but it wasn’t as distressing as I had thought.

Gig in a park

We don’t generally seem to be lucky with finding bands to see whilst on holiday but we managed to see Poliça at a great venue called Le Trabendo . The band were excellent and the venue was so far ahead of anything of its size in the UK. We went back to park at night another day as I loved the look of the cranes and building site near the venue.

Would love to go back and one day go full high roller in a hotel in the Madeline district. Definitely recommend going with a partner as it is a magical place – just make sure to pack some comfortable shoes as you will walk a long long way.

After years of lusting over Mast Brothers chocolate I finally bought some from Paul A Young in London.

With a nice pot of coffee it was fantastic.

They also do some great individual chocolates there including Sea Salted Caramel, Banoffee Pie and PB&J.

Naughty but very very nice.

Dressed for the occassion

Another weekend and another walk – this time near Arundel. The description made it sound like a lovely long stroll…

…in the summer it probably is.

As it had rained recently the ground and paths were swampy but we had gone to far to give up.

Having spent the first few miles trying to not fall over we just got on with it…repeatedly.

We had everyday clothes on which made things a little more precarious – we looked like muddy urchins or you might say we embraced the path of the urban rambler.

The credo

Surely getting outdoors doesn’t have to mean you are getting old? Can’t you have fun and go for a walk without needing a flask of tea? Maybe it was the endorphins flowing from the numerous cuts and stings we suffered but we plotted to write some better accounts of the walks for others to read and some walking boots to make the next ramble a bit more feasible.

Being an urban rambler is good. Getting muddy, stung, cut and bruised is actually pretty fun. Crazy to think that I used to waste so much time playing games instead of getting out and doing things like this.

Looking forward to summer to get more hours to roam around.

This would be pretty nice to have for the summer too – it was so well looked after.