Lille - Paris - Colmar

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Back to Paris and it felt comfortable right from the opening salvo, though there were some apparent changes:
- Paris had become even more expensive in the last six months, if that is at all possible.
- The trees had leaves.
- The skies were greyer.
- The tourist masses far more noticeable. September is a lot more popular than March in France.
We also managed to hitch up with the MacKay’s, Julie, Greg, Bryce, plus their cousin Chris, a young (compared to us) Seppo from Boston. If all Americans were like him, the good ol USA wouldn’t be in half the trouble it is in today.
Paris is the most visited city in the world but the actual stats shocked me. 72 million, 3 and a half times our population, call in every year. With that many tourists pounding the streets, queues are inevitable, particularly at your major sights. We’d heard horror stories of 4 hour lines at the Louvre for example.
The worst of these queues we imagined would have been last Sunday. This Sunday happened to be the 1st of the month when ALL public museums open their doors for FREE!! Tight Arse Sunday had our name written all over it. Still, the thought of standing in line for 4 hours plus for a peak at Mona didn’t grab me so we plumped for l’Orangerie, a former greenhouse now a slick, manageable (i.e. not overwhelming) collection of impressionist art. Wandering amongst a healthy smattering of Gaugin, Renoir, Picasso, Monet etc. you start thinking in terms of billions, or part there of, when you attempt to insure this place.
While l’Orangerie was a treat, just a few minutes down le Jardin de Tuileries is the Head Honcho of art galleries. The Louvre is, from a lateral mode of opinion, the most actively AVOIDED museum in the world. Partly due to its overwhelming dimensions, partly due to its popularity, the Louvre can make for a less than soothing art house experience. I was happy to walk by on Tight Arse Sunday and snicker at all the losers standing in the 712 klm line. That was the plan until -
On arrival, cough splutter! Take it all back Yeatesy. The queue was, not kidding, about 30 meters short and moving along at Echo pace in 1st gear. The average line at Cronulla Post Office is infinitely worse. We jumped on and VOILA! 3 minutes and into the bowels of the Louvre.
While the volume of works is daunting, it is impossible not be impressed with not only the art offerings, but the structure itself. Without a single work of art inside, the Louvre would still be a building worthy of icon status.
Did we see La Joconde (how did we get Mona Lisa from that)? Sure did. I was happy to peruse from a distance but Penny used her Sydney peak hour train commuter experience to elbow her way to the front of the pack for a ringside view. Venus de Milo also attracts more than its fair share of attention but in reality is just a poor imitation of Homer’s Gummy de Milo.
Tuesday morning and we bid “tootaloo” to Paris, again, and hit it to Colmar, again. Why Colmar a second time? Answer: Firstly it’s still damn pretty. You could film a real life fairy tale here and not use any CGI. Secondly, it’s roughly half way to Lyon (our next stop) in a heavily detoured kind of way. Thirdly, you can day trip easily to Basel which allowed us to tick the Switzerland box without having to totally bankrupt ourselves by staying in the land of clocks and chocolates.
A few brief observations on Basel (and thus ALL of Switzerland from my perspective):
- neat, tidy and precise, almost to a fault. A loose piece of paper is a rare species.
- polite, friendly people. Cars actually stop for pedestrians, a rarity in Europe.
- magnificent bread. Whoever said, “Man cannot survive on bread alone”, hasn’t been to France or Basel.
- it’s one place I didn’t imagine we’d have a hard time finding a BANK! Switzerland is a nation where I thought ill gotten money would be overflowing into the streets from zillions of corruptible banks. Then again, if the Swiss hadn’t been so recalcitrant (where is Paul Keeting these days, by the way) and joined the EU, they too would have the euro and we wouldn’t have had to find an ATM to scavenge a few Swiss francs in order to go to the toilet!!!!! DAMN THOSE PAY TOILETS AGAIN! In the end we located a freebie in the tourist office.
Back in Colmar that night and we met up with the Wilson’s, Nick and Jeanette. It’s really something else meeting friends the other side of the world. It’s even more than that when it’s in a village like Eguisheim, 10klms out of Colmar where Nick and Jeanette were bunked down.
Take the best of Colmar, compress it and you’ve Eguisheim, the prettiest town this side of the Tropic of Cancer. I’ll have to try and invent a word to supersede all previous superlatives.
Nick brought me over a Wallabies t-shirt to match the scarf. So Lyon, I’m buffed up and ready for rugby.
Thus the next phase of this phase will begin in Lyon where we will watch the Wallabies take on the might of the land of the rising sun.
Before I leave, 2 polite requests to the French:
- if attempting to build World Cup fever and installing flags of competing nations in the windows of chocolateries. DON’T FORGET THE AUSSIE FLAG NEXT TIME! They had the other 19.
- Mr Broadcaster, DON’T EVER CALL US SPRINGBOCKS AGAIN! It’s WALLABY, and NEVER forget it.
Au Revoir and let the games begin.

YEATESY.

A very sad day. We arrived back in Paris, yes I was looking forward to it but it also meant handing back Pepe to Peugeot. Pepe has been my one and only consistent asset (besides Gaz) since we arrived in Europe in March. Well we said our good byes and even the Peugeot guy was surprised when he tapped into pepe’s odometer reading 24,000 klms, yes that’s right in 24 weeks.
We completed our sight seeing of La Defence for some reason it seemed more impressive in March. A few days to visit Paris again was great given we had seen so much in March but there was still more we wanted to see including the Catacombs - now they are amazing. I don’t know what I was expecting, but seeing tunnels kilometres long of skeletons packed 4 feet high was eerie. They claim there were 8 million (deceased) people re-housed here, and I believe it. The other highlight of the day was we visited the museums and of course the Louvre but all in the company of the McKay’s. To add to this fantastic day the McKay’s made us a home cooked dinner that night at their apartment. Yes Greg, I was impressed you are not a bad cook at all. Paris did seem way more expensive than in March, but maybe we have spent too much time in Eastern Europe that we had forgotten the prices. However I don’t remember paying 4 Euro for a coffee before. Yes $7 aussie dollars seems a lot for a coffee. Maybe I am out of touch.
From Paris we start the next leg of the journey and head for Colmar. A charming gingerbread town where we spent a night before we meet up with the Wilson’s. Yeah, I am really looking forward to seeing some more familiar faces and this means World Cup Rugby is just around the corner. Colmar was even prettier than what I recalled in March. All the trees were green and all along the canal the flowers and gardens were in full bloom. The weather was still a little cold, so I am hoping it warms up as we head south. We caught up with the Wilson’s for dinner in this beautiful village called Eguiseim. It is not on the tourist trails and maybe that’s a good thing because too many people would spoil this place. We also had a delicious meal that evening, doesn’t food taste so much better with good company. Well two nights in Colmar and our journey continues to Lyon and our first game of Rugby.
Penny

More images at:

www.colvinyeates.zenfolio.com

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Photos

Paris
Coochy coochy coo.

Lille
Orange joint through the window

Paris
The bigger the harder they fall. Yeatesy with a grass cutting ankle burning tackle on a rampaging Irish flanker.

Paris
The Senate gardens.

Paris
The Catacombs - ooh, scary.

Paris.
Frustrated person contemplating the supposed queues at the Louvre

Paris
The Monet gallery at L'Orangerie.

Colmar
France's version of Hansel and Gretl Ville.

Basel
Market stall

Eguisheim
Fairy tale town which is the cutest this side of the black stump.