For me Paris is a magical city. It’s a city for two people to enjoy. It’s a city for lovers.

Cheta and I took a couple of days out in Paris to explore and discover. We had both been to Paris before a number of times, but this was our first time together. It felt like an important step to take in our relationship, can we enjoy all that the city has to offer and enjoy each others company?

We drove down from Belgium and visited Waterloo and the Somme on the way. We parked in Beauvais and got the train into Gare du Nord. This is a big, raucous station that is made worse by construction and soup kitchens. We got a taxi to our hotel near Place de Clichy after suffering the cigarette smokers in the queue. Note: next time just get the Metro, it’s probably quicker.

Our hotel was a great little two star, Hotel Beausejour Montmatre, well worth a stay. Round the corner was life and cafes, in the hotel was a garden and silence, what a combination. We started round the corner at a cafe with a pastis, life as it should be led in Paris.

Next morning it’s the start of our 2 day walking/metro tour. It’s idiosyncratic but deep in the heart of the city. In brief this is what we did:

1. Sacre Coeur, Montmartre

This is a great place to start the tour. A fabulous view over most of Paris, particularly in the sunshine, and a feeling of how it used to be in Montmartre. I know it’s just a tourist trap now but you can use your imagination. The inside of the church is not really worth the time, it’s new and fairly uninteresting. But what a fabulous exterior.

2. Pantheon

I had hoped to see the wonderful effects of sunlight in the interior… but that turns out to be the Pantheon in Rome! A beautiful exterior in amongst the buildings of the Sorbonne but a dull building inside. It just shows you that you can’t make a secular mausoleum interesting, a church has more life about it!!

3. Jardin du Luxembourg

Walking distance from the Pantheon and a great resting place on a hot afternoon. The place is full of Parisiens lounging around on chairs, eating, drinking and smoking. They know how to enjoy the outdoors. On the way here we passed an Air France shop and witnessed scuffles in the queue as people tried to get in to book flights during this volcanoed, flightless weekend.

4. Tour Eiffel

An essential visit even just to experience the scale of it. We didn’t go up it, just marvelled at it. We dodged the Serbian beggars and the North African souvenir sellers and retired to gardens in the Champ de Mars as the sun fell in the sky. We were surrounded by people lying in the grass waiting. Then the lights came on closely followed by the sparkles. It was magic and from the noticeable reaction from the crowd, that was what they were there for too. An essential visit at sunset.

5. Institut du Monde Arabe

This is the most magical building in Paris, a modern marvel that shows what you can do successfully with modern architecture. It looks harmless from the outside but has an amazing view from its roof terrace of Notre Dame and the Ile de la Cite. Inside it is a meccano lovers dream. You walk amongst the structure and marvel at the wall of irises shielding the contents from the sun. It takes its heart from traditional arabic architecture and makes it exciting.

6. Left Bank

You walk along the Rive Gauche on your way to Notre Dame. There are the bookstalls or there is just the river bank to enjoy and relax on. Much of the enjoyment of the city is the ability to relax in it, take in your surroundings and just be. We stopped and ate on a boat in the river under the eyes of Notre Dame.

7. Notre Dame

Another must-see in Paris. In this case it is the inside that is stunning. Like us go inside and sit, for a long time. Absorb the energy of the building and the millions of people who have gone before you. Relax and soak it up. There is something magical about the inside of a great gothic cathedral. The fusion of architecture and light create a numinous atmosphere which cannot be matched. Sit and feel your place in the order of things and love it. Feel your aconnection with the Universe and everything in it. Love it.

8. Centre Pompidou

“And now for something completely different!” The way this building sticks its arse out at the world is, for me, an insult. Architecture should be intellectual like this, it should have some regard for its form. The building is ugly and impossible to love. The square is great, despite the building. Go and see the Museum of Modern Art in Barcelona. That too has a great square but with a modern building that has some class. I have not been inside Pompidou, maybe that works…

9. Moulin Rouge

We both love the theatre and a visit to the Moulin Rouge is essential. The place is really tacky and the show is, well what can I say… its tacky too. But here you can see the roots of ‘Prisiclla, Queen of the Desert’ and ‘Cirque du Soleil’. Drag Queens put more fun into it and CdS is just magnificant. Nevertheless MR has a charm and lots of bare tits, go and and see them, they are good!

10. Metro

The Paris Metro is great, on a par with the London Underground. There are bouncy trains on tires, old rickety trains and modern plush ones. You can go where you want, we kept going to Stalingrad, reminders of napoleon and failure, typically french.

Punctuating the trip were numerous visits to cafes for food, drink and atmosphere. They are critical to your enjoyment.

Cheta has also written on this trip see ‘All’s Quiet in Paris‘.

What strikes you immediately on entering are to dramatic stained glass windows around the Apse and in the Transepts. These are balanced by the clear glass windows along the Clerestory of the Nave. What you notice, primarily, in the interior is the dramatic splashes of colour hitting the piers and the floor. Only after a while do you realise these are seen in the context of a brightly lit interior. It is this balance which is so effective.

It is common to see dramatic stained glass windows in the context of a naturally dark interior, for example in Durham Cathedral. In Cholet the colour has an abundance of light as its background. Your eye is constantly drawn upwards in wonder at the splashes of colour decorating the interior. When I saw it, it was a semi-cloudy day, I can only wonder at the effect on a bright, clear sunny day. It was such a pleasure to view this church.