alone time.

So I finally decided to consolidate all of my *loans*...and by that I mean, stop making millions of these things and barely using any of them, and deleting them. And then I put them into one montly repayment, and I mean, using this account and only this one.

I'm not sure if this analogy linking 'thing' really works, but it does in my head, so I think that's ok.

So I got back from Paris last night. Bus journeys are always the worst. You spend 6 hours on a coach - 3 hours to dover, 3 hours from calais to paris. The second 3 hours are the worst because there is something seriously wrong with French 'countryside' and by that I mean, it's just completely empty and dull. There are no leafy green trees or hedges dividing the fields. You pretty much travel along a long road, slowly losing the will to live.

When you finally get to civilisation there are about 10 train stations and many looming grey buildings...I suppose it looks better when the sun is shining. The hotel actually was grey but in a painted way, not concrete, and the rooms were a nightmare of lime green. But i'm not complaining - for the price the whole holiday cost, I was very pleasantly suprised.

But my feet have never hurt so much in my life. One night, we went to what I think translates as the Latin Quarter (I could be wrong), and we got off the metro some 20 minutes away from the area, instead of at the stop that is right in the middle of it. What gives.

The eiffel tower is, in my opinion, a little bit overrated. If I wanted to see an electricity pilon, I would have gone to Didcot. It's impressive at night when it's all golden and sparkly, but not during the day. Hence why on Sunday, I went to the musee de la mode instead of l'armee and the eiffel tower. We also went to starbucks. Pro!

The Louvre, was a little disappointing also, to be honest. Yes, it is massive, yes, the pyramids are incredible, but it's definitely for arty types. If you spend a minute on every object and painting in the building you would be there for a fortnight, but I cant imagine how you could possibly look at the things there in that much detail - a minute is a long time when you're staring at Venus de Milo.

So, not for me, but I suppose for people that can 'read between the lines' of paintings it's awesome. I'd rather go to a library (could I read french).

Sainte Chapelle was incroyable, however. Over 1000 religious scenes, all in stained glass. So beautiful. Conciergerie was disappointing. Only interesting thing really was the recreation of Marie Antoinette's cell, and pictures of how Paris has transformed. But by this point I was a bit sick of walking around looking at pictures.

I'm moaning a lot, but the City is amazing. You could walk around it for hours and still not be bored or sick of it. It's sort of beyond words.

It's made me realise just how different every country is. Visiting New York over a year ago and comparing it to Paris and London, there really are no other places like these cities in the world.

But i'm also wondering; if Paris is the City of Light, and New York is the City that never Sleeps, what is London??