Springtime in Paris.

After an admittedly long and stressful week working, the weekend could not have been more perfect. Saturday started (late, but let's not go there) before I made my way to Bercy in the 12th to check out the cinema museum and the current exhibition featuring Tim Burton. After walking in a bit of a circle to get there (literally. We passed the first street we came across twice) we made it to the museum. Well rather we could see the museum, we could also see the 2km line coming out of it. And that was the line for people who had pre-ordered their tickets! The line we would have to join could be seen stretched across Parc Bercy far into the distance. Hmm, plan B?

Admitting that we couldn't wait in a queue that long in that heat when we could go on a weekday and pretty much miss a queue altogether meant we ditched that idea and sort of headed nowhere, enjoying the hot Parisian spring temperatures (and the tourists... Not.) So off we went and ended up walking to Jardin de Luxembourg, somewhere I've embarrassingly only been to once since I've been in Paris and that was in September!

It was a bit of a walk to get there, especially for Paris' supposed 10km city limit (meaning its only 10km across Paris within the Periphique, which seems a little hard to believe, but you never argue with people who work with numbers as their 9 to 5.

So off we headed to Luxembourg and managed to walk alongside the Seine in the process. SUCH a nice way to spend a hot Paris day. I looked enviously at one homeless mans shelter that was quite the set up (it had an aluminium roof!) that was based right on the Seine. He could definitely propose his 'view of the Eiffel tower and the Notre Dame' on the auction advertisement. We managed to walk through some quaint parks on the way, filled with children playing (with BB guns no less, that definitely sparked an impromptu sprint) and even a couple of parks that appeared private, had immaculate gardens and which we still don't know if we should have been in. I still can't get over Paris and its private gardens and untouchable grass...

When we reached Luxembourg we quickly realised we weren't the only clever clogs who thought it would be the perfect place to spend a Saturday afternoon, in fact, turned out the majority of Paris had caught onto this plan of brilliance and I can safely say I've never shared such a small patch of grass with so many people (and yes this grass was actually 'reserved' for using. But still came complete with guards and general stressed looking French.)

It was such a nice way to spend a hot afternoon and felt like a real summer day, complete with glace aux framboises.

Sunday was spent much the same, but at Champs de Mars, the beautiful grass area around the Eiffel tower, this time with wannabe Michael Jacksons for personal entertainment and a picnic I baguette, cheese, ham and orangina.

Can't ask for a much better weekend.