Croissants and Cancan

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Day 19 Thursday 11 October

Croissants and Cancan

Meet 8:15

Breakfast was delicious this morning. The French know how to do it right! There were crème caramels and rice puddings. Mmmmmmm

This morning we met Beatrice for our city sightseeing. We drove through the traffic and revisited some sights. We lined up for the group entrance at the Eiffel. She is very beautiful to be near.
Unfortunately the day was not kind. It was limited visibility. The top floor was totally under cloud. We could still see quite a bit from the 2nd floor and it was nice to just be there. But rushed. I had to pry Rob off the back wall where he was firmly planted. I should have bought some items from the gift shop there, as I never saw them again on land.
Afterward we went to visit Napoleon’s tomb. It was interesting to see it but only took 5 minutes.
It was meaningful to see his son’s tomb as we had seen and learnt about him in Vienna.
For lunch, we were dropped off at the Champs Elyse to spend an hour. We argued a bit about where to go. Eventually we found a place in the rue off to the right. It was filled with locals. I had a lovely heated roll filled with camembert. Next stop was the Louvre. I’m really glad I decided to come. The Louvre was lovely, but not something I would have done on my own. We went quickly to the Mona Lisa. She is very lovely!
Lots of people and very small. You cold tell all the famous works as they were surrounded by people. The Madonna of the Rocs was interesting. So were all the pictures of napoleon. There was one painting of Mary breastfeeding Jesus. The Winged Victory was stunning. The form was beautiful.
The visit was quick and before we knew it we were whisked off to Notre dame. We were all on overload by now. It had been a huge morning. I saw the Rose windows inside the cathedral but then left to see the local shops. I’d had enough history. I bought myself a nice scarf for €5.
We made it back with only an hour to rest before some of us met for our last pre dinner drinks. I finally got my champagne cocktail. It was very pleasant. It was a bit sad having our final cheers together.
We drove to Montmartre and got stuck in a narrow alleyway. A car had parked itself there. After a lot of beeping and a local coming out to help, we passed by it with only a tissue width between us. Maurizio outdid himself!
We took our photos of the Moulin rouge and then had to hand our cameras over to be kept on the bus.
We walked across the road and were taken straight to our tables inside. We had good seats, but were crammed in. There was a cabaret band playing on stage when we arrived. The atmosphere in this place is electric. It’s hard to believe that you are actually sitting in the room.
We ate straight away. Entrée - potato and leek soup. It was nice but watery. Rob had steak and I had Sole. It was nice. Dessert was revolting. A horrible pink macaroon. We each had half a bottle of champagne. I drank most of everybodys.
The show was spectacular. It was so brilliant. I think I cried through 80% of it. It was so climactic after such a busy month of late nights, sickness and being overtired. Not to mention.. having the biggest day on our tour. Yeah okay.. all that champagne didn’t help.
I don’t think I got over the shock of all those naked boobies. The costumes were amazing and the whole thing just dazzling. At one point, a tank full of water came up from the floor with pythons in it. A girl jumped in and started “dancing” with the pythons. The men were all very happy. The acts inbetween were great. The ventriloquist was hilarious. He had people up on the stage and made up their voices. Very funny. He had a lovely dog he uses also.
The acrobats were amazing. This guy was so strong it was incredible. I found the whole thing so emotional. Especially the cancan.
I expected more leg kicking though.We were on such a high afterwards. We stayed up till nearly 2am having a drink with Stephen and Verna and Gary. It was an interesting chat. He gave us lots of insight to being a travel director. We handed over our generous tips to him and Maurizio.

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