Bonjour London, Au Revoir Paris!!

Ahhhhh, Paris!! What an amazing city!!!

Bon, Han, Lizzie, Maree, Briar and I boarded the Eurostar at Waterloo Station for an effortless 2.5hr journey to Gare de Nord, Paris. Having no desire to win the 'most sites in a single weekend' tourism award, we spent much of the weekend ambling around the streets of Paris, soaking up the atmosphere.

Despite our relaxed attitude to siteseeing we still managed to stumble across many of the city's most famous attractions - namely Arch de Trioumph, Eiffel Tower, Moulin Rouge, Sacre Coer, Notre Dame, St Germain, The Seine and the 'pyramids' of the Louvre - over the course of the weekend.

The highlight (and the reason for our visit) was the All Blacks game at Stade de France.

It was amazing!! We rocked there squished like sardines on the Metro after warm-up drinks at O'Sullivans - a kiwi owned bar right next door to the Moulin Rouge. The Stadium itself was impressed - a capacity crowd of 90,000 in a stadium that truly lives up to the hype. Someone should have a word in the ear of the folks building the one on the Auckland waterfront! After the game we ran (no, sprinted!) to the Metro, where we (in full view of about 15 Gendarmes/Police) snuck through the barriers without paying - like the crazy kiwis we are!!

We got back to O'Sullivans (which was now packed and pumping) and got to skip the queue of about 30 by letting the bouncer hear our kiwi accent!! So good!! We partied til about 4am, and even when we left the bar was packed and there was a queue down the street trying to get in!

On Sunday we walked 5 million miles around Paris - which is just as well seeing as we visited 6 cafes! On our travels we saw the Notre Dame (very beautiful, but packed with tourists), and walked along a couple of km's of the Seine. We swung by the pyramids of the Louvre (I'll do the inside next time!) and stumbled upon a cool area with markets etc and not many tourists. Paris was such a blast - had so much fun with the girls - will be sure to get back soon!

The practice round...

We headed to the institution that is the Shepherd's Bush Walkabout (or the She Bu Walkie as it's commonly known) to watch the AB's hammer the English on Sunday afternoon.
The game, with the winning team well and truly decided well before the half time whistle, wasn't exactly edge of the seat stuff - but it's always good to see our boys in black take to the field. Can't wait to see them in Paris!!!