Chapter 4 - Day 33 - Paris

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CENTRAL CITY
Our first stop today was the Louvre Museum, because of the size of our group we needed two guides and there was a bit of a hassle getting that sorted. A few people got impatient waiting around and a couple decided to go there own way. For us it wasn’t a problem and being shown around by an experienced guide was worth the wait.

The Louvre is massive, to see everything would take forever. We visited a few of the galleries and obviously having a guide was a big help. The highlight of our visit were seeing the Mona Lisa, everyone had said how small the painting is and as a result we were expecting something tiny. So when we finally saw the painting it was bigger than we thought it would be – its all about perception. The Venus de Milo was also very impressive.

Then it was off to the Eiffel Tower to go up to the 2nd level observation deck. It might only be second level but it was plenty high enough for me! The views over Paris were brilliant and it gave us a good idea of just how big the city is –it seemed to go on forever. Unfortunately only one lift was working, so it took longer to get up that we would have liked. After having a good look around we decided to walk down the steps rather than wait the 45 minutes to get on the lift. It took around 20 minutes so we made some time there.

We stayed in Paris central and had a wander around. Unlike most European cities Paris has huge wide boulevards which connect with parks, monuments and palaces – it’s a really awesome place to explore. The wide open areas gave a nice feeling of space and meant it was pretty relaxing strolling around the central area. We walked past the American Embassy where there was a lot of activity – police everywhere and eventually settled at a street side bar for a quiet drink. We had been told by many people the Parisians were rally rude (especially to English speaking people) but we didn’t find this at all. Everyone we spoke to was really helpful.

To get back to the Hotel we decided to brave it and take the Metro (Tube). The layout was similar to the Underground and because we knew the number of our line it was pretty easy to find – tickets were around 1.4 Euros so very cheap. We hopped on and passed through 4 stations before arriving at ours. We had planned to pick up some souvenirs when we got off the train but there were no souvenir shops in the area which was disappointing.

MOULIN ROUGE
Our last night together as a group we went to the famous Moulin Rouge cabaret. The show was spectacular; the seating arrangements were anything but! We were crammed in like sardines and for some of the people who were seated facing away from the stage (we were seated at tables of six) it was almost impossible to get a good view of the show. Lucky we had a bit more space around our table so chairs could be manoeuvred for everyone to have a reasonable view. Its worth noting if you are going that the setting arrangements are pretty awful.

The show itself was excellent, flamboyant costumes, song and dance. The variety acts were a definite highlight. There was a juggler, ventriloquist, strong man and gymnast girl team – they were amazing! Despite the obvious discomfort of the seating arrangements it was a fantastic night and a brilliant way to finish our European Heritage Tour (the next day we had the trip back to London but 8 of our number were staying on in Paris).

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Photos

Arc de Triomphe
In front of one of the biggest monuments in Paris.

The Louvre
Jeanette having some fun with the famous pyramid outside the Louvre

Paris
The view over Paris from Level 2 of the Eiffel Tower is amazing

Moulin Rouge
The famous cabaret was the perfect finale to our European Heritage Tour