Une nuit à Paris

There's officially a mini heatwave in Paris at the moment (hot weather becomes a heatwave when the temperature doesn't go below 20 degrees at night) and the advice is to stay indoors between 11am and 6pm and drink lots of water. So people tend to go out and do stuff in the evening, which is easy here because sunset is at 10.55pm. Last night we packed up a delicious picnic dinner (buffalo mozzarella, parma-style ham and fresh fig salad) and a bottle of rosé and headed down to the banks of the Seine next to Pont Sully. This spot is practically tourist free, as the popular tourist picnic spot is further down next to Notre Dame, so we were surrounded by French families and groups of friends doing exactly the same as us. Our dinner time has been getting later and later so it seemed completely normal to be eating a picnic dinner at 9.30 at night watching the sun set.
On certain nights they have dancing by the Seine, with sound systems playing salsa, rock and roll, and tango at different spots, so after dinner we stopped and watched the couples dancing tango. It's a wonderful concept - couples of all ages and dancing abilities can dance there - and it made us want to learn tango so we could join in!



Because the heat makes it almost impossible to go for walks during the day we made the most of the relative cool (around 22 degrees!) and walked along the Seine to Pont Neuf, which, despite the name ("New Bridge"), is the oldest bridge in Paris. The Tour Eiffel was covered in sparkling lights, the street lights were reflecting in the river, and the bridge was full of canoodling couples.



Yes it's clichéd and touristy but it is hard to resist the charms of Paris at night. It's still hard to believe that this is our home at the moment, yet at the same time it feels so normal to be here.
In other news, we were a bit premature in saying that the football celebration at the Bastille last week would probably be the last. France had the best comeback in the world cup by eliminating the favourites Brazil in the quarter final on Saturday night. What a match! The partying at the Bastille was even crazier this time, and there is now an optimism that France could actually win the world cup. The weirdest part of the celebration was when a van drove past with a guy sitting on the roof waving a leg of ham. Not sure what all that was about. If France do manage to win the cup it will be amazing to be here during the celebrations that will ensue. Watch this space!