I've been to Paris quite a few times now, once with my family on those early holidays, once to visit my friend Kat, twice with Al, and once to visit my friend Frances.

The last few times I remember clearest - even though each time, I seem to have gone to similar places; for shopping, Boulevard Haussmann, to nip into Galeries Lafayette or Printemps, and any of the other department stores; also, Forum des Halles at Châtelet is packed full of shops and takes hours to walk around. I remember Kat left me there while she went off to work, but on discovering that she couldn't make it, she had to give up looking for me and went to the cinema to pass the hours until our scheduled rendezvous (I'm allowed to use gratuitous French here!). The last time I was in Paris I had tonsillitis though, and walking around Forum des Halles almost finished me off; kind of made shopping less enjoyable (shock horror!).

Sights to see - always Sacré Coeur. The view from up there is great, and the building itself is magnificent - hard to believe it's not that old. The Eiffel Tower; well, you can only do it so many times, and I think I've done it enough now! Great views of the city on a clear day, and it looks fantastic when it's lit up at night too. That's where I got my Eiffel Tower mug with "Made in England" written on the bottom!

The little bars around Le Marais, the buildings around Notre Dame and the islands. Notre Dame is such a gorgeous building, especially now it's getting cleaned! My favourite view is still the back though! I never seem to get around to going to the Conciergerie - a beautiful gothic palace built by Philip the Fair. Must do that.

The Louvre; Al and I went there twice. Each time we left a very short time to look around - on the first occasion, we literally had time to run to see the Mona Lisa, then run to see the Venus de Milo, then run to get our plane! On the second occasion, we had a bit more time to wander, but still not enough. The palace itself is beautiful and warrants a good look around (inside and out) even if you're not looking at the art.

I have to say, I love Paris at Christmas - it's cold, crisp, clear, and classy - much nicer than London at Christmas; the decorations seem less tacky somehow; even the little streetside cafés have heaters to keep the punters in (although that last one I went in gave me headache). There's just something really nice about wandering around wrapped up through a cold night in Paris - or even better, skating in front of the floodlit Hôtel de Ville; even falling on your arse doesn't seem so bad if you can laugh at French people going arse over tit too.

See all the pictures from my visit to see Frances.