More lovely French surprises

Things are ticking along nicely here in France, I've made friends with some cool au pairs via the medium of Facebook (no, really!) and I've even been playing out in Paris quite late. I live in the suburbs, which I now realise my least favourite place to be. I'd rather be in the middle of nowhere, or smack bang in the centre of the action, but in the suburbs you just get the worst of both worlds.

However, it isn't as bad here because Paris has amazing public transport that runs 24 hours, so I can catch a bus home from Montparnasse and use my Navigo card, and it doesn't cost me a penny. It drops me at my door too. However, the other night I was with a Texan girl who lives near La Defense (other side of Paris) and we'd been drinking (or rather, having drinks bought for us by some friendly Canadian tourists) near Notre Dame. After I put her safely in a taxi, I needed to get to Montparnasse.

So I hired a bike. Seriously. They have them on almost every street corner, you swipe your Navigo card and away you go. I cycled (sometimes on the wrong side of the road, always wobbly) to Montparnasse and it nearly killed me. My legs turned to jelly. When I got home, I checked out the distance, figuring it would be at least 6 miles. No. 2.5km. But I did take a pretty roundabout route.

Anyway, another nice surprise about being in the suburbs and using public transport was when I nipped into the Monoprix at Robinson RER whilst waiting for my bus. I've never seen it before, but it seems they have their own brand of yarn. I found this gorgeous Noro-a-like for only €2.90. I think I'll be making a pair of Dashing to keep my hands warm but my fingers free to knit in the coming months.