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Published: December 28th 2016
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We had a pretty good flight, as far as flights go. Everything went smoothly at the airport, the flight was on time and reasonably comfortable. A bit bumpy at times. We got out of Charles De Gaulle airport smoothly as well, and quickly found a French-Israeli named Haim who offered to take us to our hotel for a reasonable price. We were joined by another family from the flight and shared the cost, and Haim drove us all into town. All along the way he acted as tour guide as well as driver, telling us where to get the best deals on tickets and shopping, what's the best way to use the Metro, and some explanations on fancy buildings and great cheap places to eat.
Haim dropped us off at our hotel, the Chambiges Elysees, which is short walking distance from the Champs Elysees in one direction and the Seine in the other. The Chambiges Elysees is a small hotel with charming rooms. We're on the top floor (there are all of six floors) and we have, I guess you could call it a suite.
Anyway, we freshened up a bit, Gilat and I had showers, and we set
out to town. We walked to the Franklin Rosevelt circle on the Champs Elysees, and joined the throngs of holiday makers through the hundreds of stalls selling trinkets, clothing, street food & sweets, hot wine and cocoa and more. We managed to navigate through the crowd and got some eats along the way too. Crepe with sugar & cinnamon, a German hot dog, onion soup and parisien soup, salmon sandwiches.
OK, so we were hungry.
We got to the end of the Champs, where it meets Place de la Concorde, and switched over to Rue de Rivoli, along the Tuileries. Not that we saw much of the gardens in the dark. Eventually we got to Rue Des Pyramides, where we met with our tour. We had some time to spare, so we walked the short distance to the Louvre and had a look at the palace and the glass pyramid.
We boarded our bus and got quite a surprize when the tour operator handed us tickets for a Seine cruise! Apparently, when we bought the tour and chose the bus tour and first showing at the Moulin Rouge, they signed us up for the bus+cruise and the
second show. So we sat back and enjoyed a bus tour of the lights of Paris. We listened to the commentary on our earphones all about some of the famous sights of Paris, through Le Marais and the Latin Quarter, along the Champs Elysees, across the Seine to the Hotel Des Invalides and by the Eiffel tower, and finally to the dock on the Seine.
We boarded the boat and tiredly enjoyed the cruise and the commentary. We got off the boat at around 10 PM, and the bus took us to the Moulin Rouge. We had some time to spare, so we got something to eat nearby.
The show was an eye-opener! Ok, so we didn't really know what to expect, but it wasn't that! Dozens of dancers in outrageous outfits (expectable), but the female dancers wore nothing but thongs and feathers for most of the evening! The kids were shocked! And all dancing to mediocre, sticky-sweet song-contest style music, with a few circus pieces in between (a couple of roller-skaters on a tiny stage swinging each other around, a juggler, clowns...).
It was an... experience.
After a while of this we were all just
waiting for it to end. We'd been up since early in the morning for the flight and the show ended past 1 AM. Luckily, our reservation included a ride back to the hotel. We got to our hotel at around 2 AM. Gave the concierge a bit of a scare, I think.
Note to self - don't order an evening tour or show for the day of arrival!
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