Day 32, Paris, France

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Day 32: Monday, December 28th, 2009
Paris, France.

Today we stay in "Paris proper" because tonight is Moulin Rouge! First up is Sainte Chapelle since I wasn't able to get in last time I was in Paris. We take a metro over to a stop near Sainte Chappelle, stand in line and eventually get in. It really is a unique little gem hidden behind court house walls. The windows are massive, and impressive. It's a small church, so it doesn't take long to look around and then we're ready to move on again.

We walk over to another "Tour Guide Dave" suggestion which is Rue Cler. Along the way, we walk by Les Invalides and the Van Gogh Museum (which is closed on Monday's- bad timing on our part.) We take a walk down Rue Cler and it is a very cute Parisian street. We head back to the hotel to crash for a while before heading off to dinner and the Moulin Rouge. We turn the TV on when we get back to the hotel, and the movie channel has just started "LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring". Sure it's in French, but sadly I've seen it enough times that I could follow along just fine.

We take the metro over to the Moulin Rouge and find a Japanese restaurant. It's the first time I've had Japanese food, and while I don't go for the nice raw fish, I am happy with the meat on a stick options they have. We head over to the Moulin Rouge about 45 minutes early in case there's a line, even for those of us with tickets. We get in, are forced to check our coats, and are seated in the next to last row. Neither of us drink but we each are allotted two free drinks with our tickets, so we both order Pepsi. The waiter brings us four Pepsi's so that we won't bother him again, charming.

I sneak a couple of illegal shots of the theater, and we watch the Wayne Newton and Crystal Gayle wanna-bes sing to the dinner crowd. They leave the stage, the lights go down, and the show starts! I really had no idea what to expect, I hadn't seen any pictures of the Moulin Rouge and my only knowledge is the movie. I was expecting a Las Vegas type show, and it was... if all the leads called in sick on the same night and their understudies stepped in. I'm sorry, there are those out there that love this show, but, as I said on Facebook, I felt like I had been kidnapped by the Carnival Cruise Lines for an hour and a half. The dancing was corny (and out of step), the songs were stuck in the 70's, and the individual acts were ridiculous. The acts consisted of a juggler who dropped his pins a couple of times (but would still stop every 15 seconds and take a bow and force us to applaud for him), a ventriloquist who was able to throw his voice, but not tell a joke, and many other acts that just didn't do it for me. Yes, it was cool when a clear sided pool emerged from the stage and it was filled with water boa constrictors. However, the girl that "dared" to get in the tank of non aggressive snakes was horrible. She would force one of these poor boa's to wrap around her then she'd do a little dive/spin and magically escape. In my mind, I could hear the snakes screaming for help and madly trying to swim in the other direction. I can still hear the lambs screaming, Clarice. Susan summed it up best as we fought to get our coats and leave right after the show, "I resent that experience."

We take a metro back to the hotel and leave a wake up call for 5am (shudder) as we're catching a shuttle to the airport at 5:50am. We finish packing, turn off the lights, and listen to the people in the room above us either fight off ninja burglars or move furniture (it wasn't rhythmic enough to be what sounds you sometimes have to tolerate from your hotel neighbors.)

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Photos

Paris being attacked by bird.
The two towers are Notre Dame Cathedral.

Weird ass bike.
Looks like the one Darth Maul rode (says the geek)

Comments

[Chris]

You threw green tomatoes at the Moulin Rouge?
Mon précieux!!

[Bethany]

Moulin Rouge
Yeah...I can take Moulin Rouge of my list...if I remember it is expensive also? Maybe just look at it from the outside. I am really enjoying your blog...I have a big dream of traveling one day...until then thanks for letting me tag along :) Happy Travels! Bethany

[Luna]

St. Chapelle at last!
Hey Amanda, I'm so happy that you were finally able to get into St. Chapelle! And from your photos, it seems like it really was a beautiful church, and decorated differently from the many others that we saw around Europe. So, I guess Dave called that one right, huh? So, the Moulin Rouge show- do you think you got the tier 2 or tier 3 talent, given that it was a weeknight? If I remember correctly, when our crew went, it was a Sunday night, so maybe they save the really good performers for weekends, when it's most busy, and that's why our gang enjoyed it so much? I've seen the show too, and remember it being good-not as memorable as what the others said...because quite frankly, I couldn't remember much from the show, and I've seen Cirque and other shows, and it just seemed okay. Amazing hotel location, by the way! Your friend done good, Lauralene! Luna