Paris is a place in which we can forget ourselves, reinvent, expunge the dead weight of our past...B

Hey guys!

So I've come full circle and I'm back in Paris after 4 weeks of travelling! I cannot tell you how fast it's gone! Only this time around I've got my girl Billie joining me out here and I cannot be more thankful!

I arrived in Paris yesterday around 3 o'clock and Billie wasn't due to get here until around five. So what do you do in that time, in one of the fashion capitals of the world...SHOP of course! Well window shopping in my case 'cause you know that bugger stole 500 euros off me a couple of weeks ago. Grrr! But it still made the time go by.

When Billie finally got here we dumped our bags and headed straight back out. We asked the guy on reception where the cheapest place to eat and drink was in Paris because it's so expensive out here. He said we were staying in, probably, the most expensive part of town (great) but if we walked ten minutes down the road we'd come to a street called 'Rue du Fbg St-Denis' (well that's what it's abbreviated to on the map I just dug out to find the name for you). If it helps it's off the main road just opposite the Gare de L'est should you ever feel the need to come to Paris. Now when I say this district was cheap, it was C-H-E-A-P! The bar that the receptionist recommended called 'Le Sully' was absolutely packed so we walked up a couple of shops until we came to 'Le Saint-Denis' it was noticeably quieter in there and it was raining cats and dogs outside so we ran in. 2.50 euros for a glass of white wine, those prices were alright indeed for me and Billie and can I just say we got mortal! We're in two minds if we loved this place or not, on the plus side a) the dirt cheap drinks and b) the bartender was our saving grace on more than one occasion and let me tell you why...The negative aspect of this place was the clientele. To the table to our right sat two elderly men, happily chatting away and as soon as we sat down their attention diverted to us. Now our French is pretty appalling so trying to decipher what they were saying was a bit of a mission, but first they asked if I was married. I lied and said I was engaged which they weren't having anything of. Then as soon as Billie went up to the bar to order us some more drinks the guy only bloody asked me to give him a BJ! I was mortified this old man, was at least seventy and his mate just laughed. This guy at the bar was watching us, I think he worked there, and told them to calm it down and leave us alone. After that we went to sit outside under the covers (it was still belting it down outside). Then to top it all off another old bloke came trotting along and started saying over and over 'Belle Forme' (think that's how you spell it), I can't exactly remember if we asked him to leave but we didn't have to because the bartender did that again for us - thank God. He came over and said to the guy in French that they don't want to talk to you anymore (well that's what Billie translated it to be) but by this time we were a little tipsy and decided food was the best option so we jumped out of our seats and found a pizza joint!

My Italian friends please don't hate me but I did not come across one pizza in Rome, Venice or Milan that was even nearly as good as the one's I had in Budapest or any other part of the world. The one we had last night was GREAT with tuna and capers (I've discovered that I like capers, they are yummy)

and for some reason it is a trend in Italy to put an egg bang smack in the middle of the pizza. WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT? (I'm not a lover of eggs if you hadn't noticed) But Billie was more than happy to eat that part. Did I mention that we may have ordered a bottle of wine to go with this meal even though it was supposed to be sobering us up? Well it did a great job of it...not. We finished the wine and the pizza then returned to the old man bar for a few more drinks although this time we sat up at the bar instead. The creepy 70 year old duo were still there. After a few more drinks I got to that point in the night where I couldn't read a poster. This has always been my judgement call as to whether I need to drag my arse home or not. Now was that time so I ordered us an Uber home.

This was the first time I've ordered an Uber outside of the UK. The lovely French man that picked us up couldn't speak a word of English but with combining mine and Billie's very poor French was enough to get some sentences out of him. I'd love to be able to tell you what he said but for the life of me I cannot remember a word. What I do remember is a lot of laughing throughout the whole journey. I really wish in our drunk state we got a picture with him because he was honestly one of the loveliest people I've met and it's just what me and Billie needed after a night of poorly behaved men!