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Published: October 7th 2008
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Paris - October 6
(Geoff) Sue has big plans for us today - lots of things to do starting with a visit to the Louvre. We head into town expecting lots of crowds and queues but are surprised to find that the queues are quite small. Might be a result of having the museums open free of charge on the first Sunday of the month.
We go through the security and show our Paris Museum passes and we are in. So its get hold of an information brochure, orient ourselves and immediately head for that most famous of all paintings - the Mona Lisa. On our way, we pass innumerable priceless pieces of art - its almost an assault upon the senses. We pass famous sculptures, such as the Winged Victory and of course, paintings by many masters of the renaissance. Sue is much taken by other works by Leonardo da Vinci and in fact is a little disappointed in the small Mona Lisa, alone on a relatively huge wall and thronged by the crowds. I was quite impressed but surprised that it was only about 300 by 400 - I expected a hugely dominating painting taking up lots
of space.
After doing our duty, we proceeded through other rooms and halls getting more and more gob smacked by the moment. We knew that it would be impossible to look through the whole museum so decided to see the Etruscan, Greek and Roman exhibitions. They didn't disappoint and once again we saw some of the red porphyry in exquisite works. Amazingly, whereas at the Vatican the pieces had been cordoned off, here they were just on the floor and if you were very brave and very quick, you could surreptitiously touch them! It was already 12:30 so time to depart and head to the Arch de Triumph.
We got on the Metro and sped our way to the Grande Arche, only to find we were in a business district with this huge modern arch shaped building with a stage in the middle. Incongruously, there was a quaint little merry-go-round nestled in amongst the huge glass facaded buildings! A quick baguette, recheck our maps and retrace our steps to the Arch we had intended in the first place. We found our way and when we exited the Metro we viewed the huge structure. Very impressive it was too
and even more so for me was the traffic chaos that surrounded it. There is this huge roundabout that has 8 or 9 exits and the traffic is quite chaotic. We found out last night that the roundabout is uninsurable - if you have an accident you go 50/50 with the other party in the costs (not sure if this is true but from the traffic, I can understand it), while everywhere else the insurance party will honour the policy.
From here, we headed back into the city and took a river cruise for an hour. Very pleasant too and nice to see the sights of inner city Paris from a different perspective. It gave me a good opportunity to take lots of happy snaps, including some of Notre Dame (if anyone is interested in a slide night at our house upon our return, we are up to 1200 photos and the number is still growing!)
Now its time to get back to the hotel, get our glad rags on, get back to the city and catch our tour for our long awaited dinner and show at the Moulin Rouge. All went smoothly and we arrive at 6:30
and as usual line up. There are only 12 in our tour and amazingly 10 of us were Aussies with only one couple from America - very unusual but good fun and nice to speak Aussie again instead of struggling with other languages. We chat on the bus and the tour guide advises that all big bags and cameras need to be checked in at the cloakroom. One of the couples lets us know that getting stuff out of the cloakrooms at the end of the night is a major hassle and takes a long time - we all agree to avoid it if at all possible and as the girls have small purses for the night we manage it.
We are finally ushered in and squashed into tables for 6 that should have been tables for 4, given menus and asked to order our 3 course meal. The choices are limited and I decide to bite the bullet - not have the vegetable soup or the pate but instead try the Escargot (snails!!!!). When they arrive, I gird my loins, skewer one on the delicate little fork I have been given and down the hatch! It tasted very much of the garlic butter sauce that it arrived in and was a bit rubbery - not really a hit but I can at least tick that one off my list of things to try. After dinner, there is a short time for chat and to enjoy the singers performing on stage and then at 9:30 the main show starts. All razzle dazzle , sequins and half dressed gorgeous women flinging themselves about the stage. There were lots of segments interspersed with individual comedy, juggling and a ventriloquist act with a big finale full of fanfare and dazzling costumes. One act that surprised was the girl who “danced” in a pool containing snakes - I'm glad it was her and not me!
We all thoroughly enjoyed the show and were amazed to see the line up on the street for the midnight show as we were leaving. It stretched for nearly 300 metres! Back to the bus and we were finally dropped at our hotel just before midnight. Time for bed!
From Paris, au revoir.
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