I wonder if I can get reception here?

We’re at the top of the tallest mobile phone mast in all of France, also known as the Eiffel Tower. The guy in the queue for the lift is serious. It’s a good snapshot of the tourist sights of Paris though – people of all countries and IQs.

It seems to me that it’s a little less chaotic than London, which nowadays seems permanently thronged with tourists, making a simple task like walking down any shopping thoroughfare almost unbearable.

Cath and I, together with Cath’s mum and dad, flew BA from Bristol for a long weekend away. The flight took 50 minutes; the bus from Charles de Gaulle to the centre of Paris took longer. The flight was interesting, described as a “sporting wind”. In other words, blowing a gale.

Spent the entire weekend doing all the usual tourist stuff – the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, the Arc de Triomphe (not exactly sure which war they’re celebrating – must be an old monument!), the Champs Elysees, the Sacre Coeur, Montmartre and a Bataeux-Mouche on the Seine.

The hotel Best Western Derby had views of the Eiffel Tower, provided that you open the window and hang out of it in a perilous fashion. Well worth it though for the on-the-hour light displays on the Tower, sparkly stylee!

The food and wine were excellent, and the service friendly - not at all what the stereotypes suggest. Translating the menus was interesting, but we usually wound up with something good. Wild boar casserole with pasta was the highlight.

The highlight of the weekend was getting a taste of how Parisians and their children enjoy the Christmas festivities. The annual Christmas window display at the department store Galeries Lafayette is a Paris tradition, and did not disappoint. The muupet style Pigs in Space display seemed the most populr. Eating roasted chestnuts whilst enjoying the mobile displays really did feel like the start of Christmas.

Festive Notes

The Christmas decorations at the Welsh Assembly Government offices in Cathays Park are so minimal as to be apologetic. There’s a single Christmas tree, wedged in the corner of the reception area, and nothing else.

In being on one hand afraid of upsetting wither the politically correct multi-faith view of the world some loonies have, yet on the other not wanting to get the Daily Mail ranting “Wales cancels Christmas”, they have ended up with a half-arsed compromise.

At least the staff know what to do: festive bunting and Christmas trees decorate most of the offices and cubes across the building.

Travel Notes

Overheard a guy buying his ticket from the conductor on the morning train: “A return to Cardiff please.” “Where from?” “Where I got on.”

I fear for the world.

Coffeenerdness

The French café au lait coffee is wonderfully strong, so I guess their espressos must be like a shot of pure adrenaline.

Link of the Week

My local watering hole, The Bunch of Grapes, is one of three pubs owned by Otley Brewing. The other two are The Otley Arms in Treforest (“O Block” of my university days) and The Rickards Arms Hotel, also in Treforest.

Most amazingly though in this day and age of globalisation is that they run their own brewery in Pontypridd. There’s a good list of beers to be had, and its well worth making the trip to Ponty to sample a few of them.

Viz Notes

Without a shadow of doubt the highlight of each edition of Viz is the Letterbocks section. Here’s a letter from last month’s edition: “Posh Spice recently revealed in an exclusive interview that she ‘wishes that she could be anonymous’. Don’t we all? PS. The irony of saying such a thing during the course of an exclusive interview was clearly lost on her.”

And from the Top Tips section: “Elderly drivers. Pressing the pedal on your right will make your car go a little faster. Forget all that nonsense about suffocating at speeds above 15mph, it was all a myth.”

Rugby Notes

Ebbw Vale played out their second draw of the season at Neath on Saturday. Both draws have been against Neath, and both have been 23-23. What a bizarre coincidence.

Scorers: Tries for wings Andrew Bevan and Simon Hunt and fly half Sam Mills, one conversion and two penalties for Mills also. He missed another five kicks though in a game which we were 14 points up in with 20 minutes to go and should have been further ahead.

Maesteg at home this coming Saturday in what should be a mudbath unless it stops raining soon.

Ice Hockey Notes

Went to see the Cardiff Devils last Wednesday at their new arena. There was a very good crowd, with lots of drums to keep the noise level up. Cardiff duly produced the goods and dispatched the Manchester Phoenix 7-4. Great entertainment. I suspect that the stream of home games over the festive period may help Cardiff up the table.

Fantasy Football Notes

Another good win to end the regular season last weekend, this time 111-39. Finished the league as champion, but that’s only part of the season. Now it’s the last four in the playoffs. Hopefully LT, Antonio Gates and Donald Driver can have another good week.