Paris Part Un

After spending so much time running after Samuel's ancient relatives, Pierre was getting restless, bored and jealous. A horrifying combination of emotions, so we bought train tickets tout suite to Paris where Pierre could finally feel at home. All of this was made possible by the gracious hosting and guiding of Carmen and Nico - a delightful Colombian couple I befriended two years ago who now live in Paris. Pictured below.

I had the exceptional good fortune to arrive on the exact first days of spring, so Paris was alive and bright, and full of smiling, friendly people. Nothing like what the many nay-sayers had been trying to prepare me for.

Above - the park our hosts took us to on day one. Parc des Buttes Chaumont is one of the most beautiful parks I have ever been to and - hilariously - it was conceived of by none other than Napoleon. I never thought of him as one of the world's greatest landscape gardeners.

View from the 'hill' in the park - can you tell what that building in the far distance is?

Below: wandering around beautiful alleys.

Nothing like exotic smack for refreshment!

Bunch of Parisian hipsters I accosted on the banks of the Seine. I asked them to pose with Pierre, and they stared at me in mocking disbelief for a full minute, but then totally did it and were (as you can see) very into it.

They look remarkably like cool kids in my silly little home town in south New Zealand. I mean this with endearment towards both groups, in case there is confusion.

Samuel and Pierre on the train, on the way to a surprise location.

Pierre's ancestral home ! He didn't get too emotional at the time, being a pretty cool-headed 'Parisian' and all, but he was not quite himself for the rest of the evening, preferring to sit quietly, look at old photo albums and think. It was quite touching.