One thing I noticed while I was in Paris was the lack of the famous Parisian elegance. They are supposed to be the best dressed people in the world but I guess they were all on holiday! The people I saw were dressed just like you and me. I think the Parisians could learn a lot from the Milanese about how to dress. Even the police there are immaculate. Milan could be the only place in the world where the female officers wear high heels. Did you know their uniforms were designed by Armani? At least that´s what I was told. But back to Paris.

Gypsies are as prevalent in Paris as just about any other European city. Their modus operandi in France is simply to haunt the railway stations either asking people for money or they sit underneath the ticket machines holding up a cup until moved on by the police. At least we´re spared the singing a la Italy. Every train seems to have at least one gypsy complete with accordian moving up and down the carriages. In Kiev it was slightly different. They sent 4 and 5 year olds onto the trains. The kids were trained to drop to their knees, cross themselves, then repeat their spiel about being hungry, homeless etc before asking for money.

African women. These women are proud of their curves and they dress to show them off. They´re not slender women either. Their men really appreciate the fact these women have flesh on their bones.

Baby oil. Couldn´t find it at all anywhere. I use it to take off make-up but bought a fabulous French product instead. I thought about taking it to Italy with me next month but then remembered it´s a liquid and I can´t be bothered dealing with the security issues that would entail. Luckily Italy has baby oil. I wonder what the French put on their babies bums?

I can´t say I tried any French food but I did have McDonald´s. I firmly believe you should try this in whatever country you´re in because it tastes differently everywhere you go. I had some Chinese which was OK but nothing special.

The Metro. Hot, crowded, confusing but it was very cool to be able to open the door before the train stopped. That would NEVER happen in Germany.

It was great watching people cross the street whenever they felt like it and not just when the little man was green. Ah, free thinking, the Germans should try it, they might like it.

Every woman should shop in Paris at least once in her life. The city is extraordinary and I loved every second I spent there.
I did all the touristy things like visit the Louvre and take a sight seeing tour. The museum is an amazing experience. It took me a while to find the room with the Mona Lisa in it and there was a point when I was walking around muttering ´where is this stupid painting?´but it was worth a look. It´s bigger than I imagined but I don´t know what all the fuss is about as there are other da Vinci´s in other rooms which don´t have anything but a rope in front of them. I also saw the Venus di Milo, the apartments of Napoleon lll, drooled over some perfectly exquisite gold Egyptian necklaces which would look SO good on me and generally walked by feet down to the knees. There was one piece of furniture which took every woman´s breath away and that was a cut glass dressing table. Every woman who saw it, including me, immediately bent down to check her reflection in the mirror. God what a gorgeous thing that was. I envy the original owner.
Whilst there I visited the holy grail - the Christian Louboutin shop and came away with the sexiest pair of black pumps which will be kept for special occasions. What fun it was trying on just about every pair of shoes in the shop! I´ll definitely be going back there again. So many shoes, only one pair of feet to wear them!

I haven't forgotten about you, faithful readers. Am having a few days in beautiful Paris but French keyboards are quite different from others so will tell you about my adventures when I get back to Germany. Suffice to say though I LOVE PARIS!

I have discovered there's something which really pisses me off when I'm flying and that's people who INSIST on reclining their seats for the entire journey.

This first happened on the Perth-Dubai leg of my return flight. 10 hours of being squashed behind someone who was sleeping virtually the whole way. OK. Imagine my 'delight' when it happened again on the Dubai-Dusseldorf leg. The second he could do it, the person in front of me slammed his chair back. I was so angry that there was a slight air rage incident from yours truly. I thumped his chair as hard as I could causing him to stand up and say 'is there a problem?' 'Yes,' I snapped, 'this is just selfish and inconsiderate.' He asked if I could move to the empty seat next to me and I refused so he promptly sat down again. I then called him a name which I won't repeat here. And so we remained until the food came around and I loudly asked him to raise his seat so I could eat. The stewardess also asked him to do the same. What a jerk though. He was nasty to the cabin crew the entire way. He constantly buzzed and when a steward/ess didn't instantly appear, he would turn around to glare up the aisle while buzzing again and again. When they reached him, he complained about all sorts of things. He tried to get one stewardess into trouble by claiming he wasn't offered tea or coffee after a meal but I piped up and said that wasn't the case. He had in fact been offered coffee but chose to ignore the staff member.

Despite that, the flight was enjoyable because the Emirates staff make it so.

We drive on the left hand side of the road which is the correct side, as I´m always telling anyone who´ll listen but after 10 years of living in mostly right hand side drive countries, I found it confusing to keep to the left.

I was fortunate enough to be offered one of my family´s cars and my first day behind the wheel saw me going at about 2 miles per hour - on the freeway! I had to ask who gives way at a roundabout as I was about to yield to the left instead of the right! I´m proud to say I only drove one the right one time and that was in a carpark. A quick comment ´ýou think you´re in Germany, don´t you?´ got me back on the correct side.

Here in Germany, (I´m back now), I cycle when the weather´s fine but that´s not always convenient in Oz as we have such huge spaces. A much improved train line has made commuting so much easier and it seemed to me that most people opted to leave their cars at home and take the train. And why not? It´s quick, clean, comfortable and affordable. Only now after 3 weeks of exclaiming ´everything´s so expensive!´ do I appreciate what they´ve got.  

I chose the apathetic face today as they don´t have one which says jetlagged.