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Published: April 6th 2010
Day 10 - Paris
We woke up bright and early (about 5 am) on day ten - we are still a bit confused with the time difference, so we made ourselves sleep until about 7 and then got up and got ready.
We had breakfast at the motel, it is decent (juice, tea, coffee, toast, croissants, cereal) but nothing special. It will be interesting to see some of the things we get served for breakfast. Nothing can be weirder than the breakfast in Lumut, Mayalsia, where we had a hot buffet breakfast, most of which consisted of rice, curries and mixed veggies.
Then we went back upstairs to get organised for the day and our first priority was locating Manford. We had a theory that he was probably in one of Danny's pockets, as this is usually where he lives, and we were right - we found him in Danny's boardshorts. What a relief! He was very pleased to see us (and has apparently been kept company by Ella's teddy bear who has been telling her at home about the adventures they have been having together).
So we caught a train into the city centre and headed
towards the Louvre. It was a beautiful walk from the metro station as it was a crisp morning and everything felt nice and fresh. We arrived at the Louvre at about 9.30 to a bit of a crowd, but nothing too horrific. By 10 we were inside with our tickets and had decided to check out the Egyptian wing (Sully) first. We took lots of photos, but unfortunately a lot of them are very blurry as you aren't allowed to use a flash in the museum.
The Louvre was absolutely amazing. There were parts where I was walking around with my mouth wide open in awe at the enormity and detail in the paintings, the carvings, even the doors, walls and ceilings. Some of my favourite paintings were the ones on the ceilings. I have photos of a few of my favourites posted. There was one of Jesus with the crown of thorns on his head that I thought was quite moving.
Neither of us are really into art, but we still really appreciated a lot of the artwork. We ended up spending about 4 hours in there, and absolutely loved it.
Of course, we lined up to see
the Mona Lisa. Mainly just so we could say we had seen it.
We liked the painting that featured on the Coldplay CD cover for Viva la Vida much more though (Delacroix - Liberty Leading the People). And not just because it was on a Coldplay album. It was really cool seeing it in real life.
We were completely exhausted by the time we left there, but we still had a lot to do, so we caught the metro again (we are getting quite good at using it!) to a station right next to the Arc de Triomphe. We walked around it for a while (once we figured out that you have to actually go through an underground tunnel to get to it - we were standing there trying to figure out how all those people had crossed such a busy road and why we couldn't see anyone else crossing the road) and then we climbed up the stairs (very tiring!) to get to the top.
I was very excited to see that there was a gift shop on the top floor (not the outside bit, there is a cool room inside with statues and information) and that I
got to buy souvenirs!
We then climbed up the final group of stairs and got to the very top of the Arc de Triomphe. It had amazing views, we walked around every side of it admiring and taking photos. It was pretty cool to see just how big Paris is.
After this our legs were just about killing us so we caught the metro back to the hostel to have a bit of a rest before going out again at night.
We left the hostel again at about 7.30 to get some dinner and head into the city. It was then that we realised just how seedy of an area we are staying in. Part of the reason our hostel is well-priced is that it happens to be in the middle of the red light district. We didn't know this when we booked it, but it hasn't proved to be any kind of major problem as it is still fairly quiet and very safe. When we went out to find dinner though, we were very shocked at just how overt the whole thing is. During the day we had seen the stores and bars but they had been closed
on Sunday so they weren't as noticeable. At night on a Monday they really were much more obvious and we found the first normal pub we could to rush into and eat dinner.
We then caught a train away from the red light district into the city, and headed to the Eiffel Tower. As we got closer we saw the hourly light show where thousands of lights flash on and off over the entire tower. It looked pretty cool. The whole thing was lit up already, so the light show as well was very bright and must have used a lot of lights!!
We had to line up for ages, and had very annoying people behind us. They kept treading on us, blowing their cigarette smoke onto us, and generally being annoying. The little guy kept asking stupid questions ("Can I see any other countries from the top?" "No, just Paris." "So I can't see Spain?" "No, you can only see Paris." "I won't be able to see the UK?" "Um, no, just Paris.") but after about an hour we were heading up the lifts to see the view.
It was well worth the wait. I got a bit
scared being up so high, but once we were up there it was fine as it was barricaded off very well. We stayed up until after it had closed so we could see the 11pm light show from on the viewing platform. Very cool.
By the time we caught the two trains to get back to our hostel it was after 12 and we were too tired to even notice we were in the red light district, and no one hassled us on the way home.
It was a great day, and Manford was happy we took him back to the Eiffel Tower since he had missed it yesterday.
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Paris
Really enjoyed reading about your journey through the Louvre. The pictures remind me a lot of the Vatican in Rome as you will realise when you go to Rome. Brilliant pictures of Paris at night too from the tower. PS. teddy has arrived safely at home, but may return soon