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Most read in 2013

I don’t usually pay a lot of attention to my blog stats, but since I noticed a few interesting questions that landed readers to the blog (and planning to write a post on that soon), I thought, why not make a list of ten most read blog posts of 2013? This should also fall nicely into the end-of-year-listicle phenomenon, so this is my minor contribution ;)

A number of general observations: the posts are mostly Paris-related, the number one post had been read more than the other nine combined (just to show how often it has also been searched for people needing such information), and these posts were mostly published in the first half of the year – I suppose those later in the year haven’t got the equal amount of exposure time thus not as widely read yet.

Amiens

10. Daytrip: Paris to Amiens

Since I had a little free time on my hand (and I needed to grab some points for my SNCF frequent traveller status) I went to Amiens for the day to see the famed cathedral and to suss out the city in general. With a journey time of just over an hour, it’s a very do-able day trip from Paris. I wished I had opted for a late return rather than one in the late afternoon, for I lacked time to check out the Hortillonnages.

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The anatomy of a French picnic

We have been blessed with a second sunny weekend in a row. While the temperature was a good 8-10°C lower this time round, when the sun hit upon us directly, we remained quite warm and happily stayed outdoors without a coat.

Picnic

Last weekend, for Anne’s birthday, a picnic was held at the Parc Montsouris at our regular spot. We numbered just over a dozen people, and everyone brought a little something to share. Everything was fairly casual, people came and went at convenient times, and I thought – hey, why don’t I share photos of what make a typical yet informal picnic between my friends and I?

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Day 97: Love locks

We are having a truly sunny spell at the moment. With temperature hitting low 20s°C for the next few days, it is unsurprising that everyone is out having (or currently planning) picnics, and across River Seine, Pont des Arts is quite the perfect spot. Even I was drawn to go over there quickly today, albeit only to take a few photos before heading to a friend’s for girls night in.

If you’re walking the bridge that has long been touted as lovers’ bridge, you’ll see padlocks all across the length of the bridge on both sides of the railings. The whole idea would be for couples to affirm the bond of their love to each other, represented by the lock, with the key thrown into the river, lost to seekers (and therefore those sought to break this hold).

However, the romantic that I am (not), I can’t help but wonder, what happen when love turns suffocating, as if an imprisonment, to which one party could not escape the other? And the symbolism of being under lock and key, does that stand for playing the role of somebody’s love slave? What do you think? Would you put a lock on Pont des Arts if given a chance to?


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