Where it all began

I first arrived in Paris as a callow youth some 18 years ago. I'd just come out of college eager to see a bit of the world unfortunately I didn't have the funds to reach those exotic places far away like Thailand or Australia that my friends were heading to but in any case Paris was a place I'd always dreamed of visiting.

These were the days before the Eurostar connected Britain to the continent so it was a rather arduous journey getting there. First I took a train to Newhaven then a ferry to Dieppe and finally a train to gare St Lazare. The trip took about 12 hours.

I had about £500 and imagined that if I was careful I could live for 3 months on that. I was wrong. Paris was expensive. I had a great time Paris, it lived up to the dream and I met a lot of interesting people but I was back in London 6 weeks later heavily in debt.

In April 2003 I came back to Paris and fortunately this trip has been more successful. The significance of the photo above is that it's the only place where I used to eat that is still there. All those fancy Parisian restaurants are great - if you can afford to eat there but I was broke. After paying the rent for the smelly apartment I was staying in I was left with almost nothing. I remember this pizzeria well. For your information it's in St Michel the take away pizzas used to cost 10F and were actually pretty good.

Whenever, I pass this place it takes me back.........