Hot August Nights in Paris ………….

 We were young, single and adrift in the City of Lights.

I say young, but I was 32, and I was with my sister for a long weekend.

And it was hot.  Nothing quite prepares you for how hot cities like Paris can be, and while holidays on the Greek islands and Calabria can be hotter, it’s the tall buildings and busy streets which seem to trap the heat.

Of course, those Parisian who can leave for their holidays, so we rubbed shoulders with other tourist, who like us wanted to catch the sights, and absorb the culture.

It being August meant that some of the places of interest were crowded and in the case of the steps up to Sacre Coeur reeked of urine and discarded scraps of food.

Still, that is what holidays are about.

And at night we took to the streets which seemed busier and more chaotic than during the day, and if anything, just as hot.

I could at this point list the sights we visited, and those we didn’t, but one person’s holiday stories are someone else’s yawn, so I won’t.

Instead, I will just fill the post with pictures of hot nights following the crowds and dodging the traffic.

And given that it was now nearly 44 years ago it is sort of history, which is of course what the blog is all about.

Location; Paris

Pictures; hot August nights in Paris, 1981, from the collection of Andrew Simpson