Wednesday, 23rd July                PARIS

Robyn writes: After such a late night last night, it was a real shock when the alarm went off at seven thirty this morning! Unfortunately, we'd had to set it as we really needed to be up and going to get the day underway. We finally (after about three or four missed tries) managed to have a quick chat to Cait on Skype, then got dressed and headed out to look for breakfast. We couldn't bring ourselves to go to McDonald's, even though they are the cheapest option around, so went back to yesterday's little cafe, which has French breakfast for 6 Euros. Unfortunately for our ideas of passing on the pastries and having the bread, they were out of bread....so we had to have the most delicious, freshly cooked and still warm chocolate pastries I've ever had. Sad! Maybe we can do healthy food again once we get to Ireland.... Anyway, we had our pastries, tea/coffe and orange juice, then bought some fruit and headed for the Metro a bit after 9.

Our aim for the day was the Louvre, which is famous for its LOONNGG queues, so we'd studied all of the advice on the internet and in our book and formulated a plan. Unfortunately the "get there before it open" thing hadn't worked, but we did get to the Metro station there at twenty past nine - not bad. We then took the exit for the shopping centre attached to it, where they have ticket booths. There was a big line which we immediatley jumped into, and it moved fairly quickly. All was going swimmingly and we were within metres of the entrance when an entire Asian tour group, encouraged by their leader, tried to push in! There was a lot of loud and agitated French from the security guards and the tour group just pushed in and looked smug. I turned around and the family who'd been immediately behind us were now about twenty back! However, the security people stood their ground and most of the group were evicted, though I'm suspicious one or two of them snuck through. Without wanting to sound xenophobic, the Asian tour groups are the worst here - they barge in (often shoving you as well) and some of their leaders are sooo rude!

That bit of excitement over, we went through security then lined up for our tickets, and within 25 minutes in total, we were in the Louvre! When I looked at the huge queues snaking their way across the courtyard in the sun later, I was very pleased we knew to come in via the shopping centre. We split up to go and find our "must see" items - I headed for the Mona Lisa, figuring that it would only get busier as the day went on. It is actually much bigger than I'd expected, and I'm sure it's a very nice painting, but there are so many people jostling around, trying to take "selfies" with it, that it's hard to see it (the bullet proof glass over it doesn't help, either). Anyway, I have seen it! There were other da Vinci paintings I preferred, I have to say.

I also saw the Winged Victory of Samothrace, the Venus de Milo and several of the famous paintings of Napoleon being wonderful. I wandered through the medieval layer of the building and checked out their Egyptian collection. The galleries are huge and there is so much there, I think you'd need a week to see even half of it! We met up for lunch; Lex had also seen the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo and several other galleries including the Greeks and Mesapotamians. We had a fairly indifferent lunch for 15 Euros each (hideously expensive) then headed off for another hour before coming home for a break to rest our poor weary feet. The Metro was absolutely packed for some of the trip - at one stage I was hanging onto Lex because I couldn't reach anywhere else! The great advantage of the Louvre is that it's open until late tonight, and unlike yesterday's museum, you are allowed out and back in on the same day. We arrived home to find a very nice electrician fixing our airconditioner, much to our relief - Paris has turned sunny and hot (30 degrees at 3pm!)

 Meeting the Mona Lisa

Actually I really liked this one by Leonardo better!

The Venus de Milo sans arms

 "Less is more" is certainly not a motto that the French kings ever embraced. But all of this extravagance got them into a lot of trouble later....

View from the second storey of the courtyard and the pyramid. Note also huge line of people who didn't know the best entrance to come in!

Me on the stairs inside the pyramid

 

A bit before 5, we headed back into the city to the Louvre once more - more packed trains. It's really hard to guess when they will be busy and when not - at 11 o'clock last night when we were coming home it was like sardines! We got straight back into the Louvre without even having to queue for security this time (5.30 is obviously a good time to come) and headed off for another round. I very much enjoyed the 14th to 17th century French artworks and the reconstructions of their beautiful rooms from the 1700s, right up to the Revolution. Lex didn't get to see all that much as he lost a lense from his sunglasses and headed out to find an optometrist (who very kindly put in a new screw for free) so that took quite a while. Then when he made it back inside, the gallery he was heading for had a fire alarm and they wouldn't let anyone in!

Anyway, we had another two hours and met up at 7.30 under the pyramid. We headed out into the Rue de Rivoli in search of a restaurant and found a nice little cafe nearby where they had Boef Bourginnone (that may not be spelt correctly!) We mystified the nice waiter when we asked if the potatoes it was served with could be changed for vegetables, so we had a huge pile of beans instead. The beef was lovely - absolutely melted in your mouth. This was of course served with the usual basket of bread (which he replaced when we finished the first one!) A lovely meal!

We then headed home at 9 and the Metro was really quiet. When we got back to our district we checked out the Orly Buses for tomorrow morning's trip to the airport, and Lex just had to have a beer (Cooper's Stout) at the nearby "Aussie Bar" we discovered! Lots of didgeridoos and a huge kangaroo... We've now come back to PACK and organise ourselves for travelling tomorrow. Yet another really big day!