Day 52 – 53: Paris

Arrived in Paris, met my couchsurfing host Thierry. Went to an Italian restaurant with his friends and him, and found out a little about Paris.

One thing I found out about Paris is that its unbelievably expensive. More so than London and Tokyo in my impression. Not sure about New York anymore, too long ago. Lucky I’m not going to Switzerland or Norway on this trip, man. FYI, Oslo is the most expensive city in the world.

We had a drink on the first night in an English pub and it costs 4.50 euros for a pint and this was supposed to be after student discount too. Well, still cheaper than alcohol in Singapore, but feels overpriced to me especially after being in the Iberian Peninsula for 1 month, where drinks are very cheap. Unfortunately, I can’t remember how much it cost in the UK.

On my first morning in Paris, I realised I was in the most beautiful major city in the world (the word major is very important, because I think Porto’s still the most beautiful small city). I strolled along Promenade Plantee from Thierry’s House to Bastille and had a very enjoyable Parisian time. Promenade Plantee is an old disused elevated railway line that has been converted, like a similar project in Manhattan, into a linear park running along Avenue Daumesnil. It was beautiful. The park was very well landscaped, and trees and plants were flowering. It was very spring-like but the park was rather quiet because it was off the tourist track, and it was in the middle of the day. I loved it, and together with the Velib bike system, the well-maintained leafy streets and tons of rubbish bins around, thought that Paris was probably one of the most well-planned cities around.