KEY POINTS:
Even the pigeons in Paris are in pairs," sighed my wife as we strolled from the Louvre through the Jardin des Tuileries on our way to the restaurant on the Champs Elysees and our celebration dinner.
And they were. Like the majestic swans on the ponds, the young lovers on the benches, the elderly couples walking arm in arm, every bird, everybody in Paris seemed to be in love.
What better place than this, our favourite city in the world, to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary, we told ourselves.
Everyone in this city of love and lovers - backpackers, office workers, Rollerbladers, tourists, youngsters, geriatrics, beret-wearing locals - seems to be hand in hand, arm in arm, gazing, adoring, kissing, hugging, or touching. All are alive with the vibrancy and the beauty and the delight that is Paris. There's something in the Parisian air all right; and this middle-aged Kiwi couple certainly felt it.
Some of that special something is the stately architecture and historic buildings; some the history itself; more may be the boulevards and shops, the River Seine, the restaurants, the surprises around every corner, the art, the sheer music of Paris. After all, this is the most visited city in the world in the most visited country in the world.
And it need not be an expensive city to visit, even with a celebratory dinner such as ours on the incomparable Avenue du Champs Elysees included. That meal, a wonderful main and dessert at Chez Clement, one of the large red-caparisoned restaurants there with indoor and outdoor dining, cost us just €43.80 ($80), excellent bottle of chardonnay included.
We were ready for it after a four-hour, 10km stroll from our Seine-side hotel to Notre Dame, through the Ile de la Cite and around the streets and alleys of the Hotel de Ville, then all the way up the Rue de Rivoli and through the Louvre and Tuileries, across the Place de la Concorde and up the Champs almost to the Arc de Triomphe ... all of which cost exactly nothing bar sweat, sore feet and a pair of happy hearts.
"The best things in Paris are free," my wife has always told those who question our love of this reputedly expensive city. You don't pay for the stunning views, the fascinating streetscapes, for people-watching, for the vistas of the busy Seine, the parks, the window shopping; and, with a little care and attention, you can pay relatively little for transport and food.
Our romantic highlights - at no extra cost - included:
Department store shopping when there's nothing you want but plenty your bride wants to see.
Agreeing to find a shop with a TV set showing the rugby when you don't give a toss about the game.
Sharing bread, chicken and cheap wine on a park bench in Montmartre, behind you both the Lovers' Wall with "I love you" written in 1000 different languages.
Simply being there.
Our best meals, apart from the anniversary special, were bought piecemeal and eaten al fresco. We'd get a fresh baguette (why can't any bakery in Dunedin, in New Zealand, bake French bread like the French do?), a pastry or two, half a rotisseried chicken, still hot, and a bottle of cheap wine, take ourselves to a park bench or a seat beside the Seine, spread out a hankie or two ... and, voila, un repas par excellence (which cost no more than $10-$12).
Sometimes, for the next meal, we'd buy another baguette and more wine, add cheese slices and honey brought from home; and that would be dinner, eaten in our hotel room, crumbs on the bed and all.
Plat du jour meals (daily specials) at neighbourhood restaurants come as cheaply as €8 ($14), bread included; and there's always McDonald's, if cheap burgers and fries fill your bill.
Accommodation is not quite as cheap, although basic one-star rooms can be found for €70 or €80 ($124-$140). For our anniversary visit, we went upmarket to a two-star hotel beside the Seine and overlooking the Louvre, the Hotel du Quai Voltaire (previous guests Oscar Wilde, Charles Baudelaire and Richard Wagner), located through the internet. It was the low month of August, so we got a special rate of €110 ($193).
The hotel was a romantic holiday in itself.
We would sit for hours at our open French windows, small balcony beyond, and watch a priceless parade of Paris before us.
Immediately below was the one-way, three-lane Quai du Voltaire, packed with traffic day and night.
On the far footpath were stalls of second-hand books and posters; behind them a low wall, then tall poplars and the khaki-coloured River Seine, equally bustling with barges and bateaux mouche (huge tourists boats) constantly passing up and down. Beyond that again was the magnificent architecture of the Louvre, stretching for 800m to left and right. "Our" bridge, the Pont du Carrousel, 30m away, took us right into the heart of the Louvre complex to just beside the famous glass pyramids.
It was sheer fascination. When we tired of sitting and watching, we'd lie in bed and watch.
The river boats, some with 1500 tourists and more and brightly floodlit, would cease about midnight but road and pedestrian traffic would only abate about 4am, and then just for a few hours.
The number of groups of Lycra-clad cyclists and lithe rollerbladers amazed us. Bands of 50 cyclists and more would dictate traffic movement, often late at night as they pedalled past, either on training or sightseeing trips; and the rollerbladers were a delight to watch, gliding at speed around mere pedestrians.
We marvelled at one grey-haired Parisian gent a few years older than me, dressed in a dark suit with briefcase in hand, racing down a crowded footpath, weaving so gracefully in and out. Faced with a sudden mass of people, he deftly squared his back foot as a brake, slowing almost to a halt, before executing a smart 90-degree turn and taking off again, the bobbing bald dome of his head disappearing into the distance. What panache!
Much more often, the rollerbladers, like the strollers, the pigeons and the swans, would be in pairs, hand in hand, often arms entwined, gliding gracefully along, swaying one way then the other in delightful harmony, immersed in themselves and the special magic that has always been Paris.
Five romantic things to do in Paris:
* Visit Montmartre, not just for the artists at work and the Sacre Coeur, but also to stroll the cobblestoned streets and buy your beloved an al fresco lunch from the street stalls and speciality shops.
* Take a tour of the Parisian sewers. Yes, seriously, Les Egouts, an infrastructural marvel don't smell (much), are dark-ish, mysterious and great for a cuddle.
* Attend a Mass at Notre Dame. Take time from staring upwards to stare inwards; and rejoice you've stayed together so long.
* Walk through the Jardin des Tuileries. These centre-city gardens, manicured and magnificent, offer handy benches and shrubs for privacy.
* Go to the cabaret (my friend). We'd recommend the Moulin Rouge; risque, yes, a little, but a once-in-a-lifetime experience for lovers.
* Robin Charteris and his wife paid their own way to Paris.
