Paris

We are sitting in The Jardin du Luxemberg on a sunny Sunday afternoon, having a picnic with plenty of others around to provide for our interest and entertainment. Families. couples, exercise enthusiasts,tai chi group, touch footy, frisbee flickers; the hum of french in the background, all in all not too hard to take!!

We arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport, Paris, to the most overwhelming stench I have EVER smelt!!! So overwhelming in fact that when Tone thought he might go and saw a guy coming out dry retching, he thought better of it!! Oh great! all the stories I'd heard about Paris and toilets were true and I was going to have to hang on for FIVE DAYS :(

Thankfully things improved almost immediately and within a couple of minutes two very friendly (and English speaking ) Parisiennes gave us directions on how to reach our accommodation. One guy ( from Bangladesh) traveled in with us, and he gave us the low down on the Paris way,which we have managed to adapt to pretty easily- late mornings, late nights and plenty of good food!!

Our accommodation - organised through Qantas Waynie, is modest and charming and most importantly clean with a more than do-able loo!!! It's located really centrally to the middle of Paris...walking distance to most major venues, or at the most a quick trip on thre Metro. I'm afraid I have let the Aussie side down amidst the tres chic European men and women...our first morning at breakfast - a buffet style incorporating many delicious goodies, not too many of them healthy. I had decided on the most wholesome option available, a hard boiled egg, sitting with amongst the savoury choices of ham, salami & cheese. I picked one up and tried a leeetle test to measure, if indeed it was harboiled. Alas, not so!! and I ended up with raw egg down my hand and wrist..and some on my clothes. My surprised gasp disallowed a discreet withdrawl ....

Tony in front of our hotel

The Parisienne's have been very friendly and helpful; there is an absolute magic here, it is a very relaxed way of living. The traffic is a lot less than London albeit much crazier; the streets are wide and clean as are the footpaths ( it seem that Paris has dealt with the potential threat of terrorism differently to that of London. In Paris public rubbish bins are still available, using large clear plastic bags suspended from a basketball-type hoops. In London it is very hard to find a public bin anywhere), and we have managed to get ourselves around very easily, well sign posted and public transport is prompt.

The type architecture of the city area varies - always pleasing to the eye. It's amazing what can be accomplished in stone, abundant carvings of symmetrical patterns; men, women, flora and fauna ; everywhere we have walked has had statues either of marble or bronze, some adorned with gilt and bronze ...really opulent but elegant at the same time. To be honest, I started out taking heaps of photos as everything we saw was so striking and impressive , as time has gone on I started to ease up a bit, as there are only so many of buildings you can look at!!! However I'm not going to spare you guys anything, you can see the lot!

View from Place de la Concord

National Assembly

Night shot of fountain at Place de la Concord

Our first night in we just walked along the banks of the Seine, soaking up the atmosphere and the surroundings; we had to walk past the Place de Concorde (where Marie-Antoinette and Louis XVI were beheaded, among others!)with it's fountains and the gold tipped obelisk; past the gate to entrance to the Jardin de Tuileries which leads to the Louvre and across the Champs Elysses to the path which was adjacent to the river...so you can see why we were so mesmerized. Then to top it off ,over the river in all its splendor -the Eiffel Tower!!

We took the customary hop/on hop/off bus tour as we have found it's a pretty easy way of getting the feel of a place; Tony went to the third/top floor of the Eiffel Tower whereas I limited myself to the first floor as I am a great big chicken when it comes to heights - so much so that when I arrived I made my way straight to the cafe and wrote postcards. The tower has made a big impression on Tony - it's something he has always wanted to see and the fact that it's right there, easily accessible was a bit surreal. He made sure that at some point every day we at least saw a part of it!!!

Sideways !!




It seems they're all sideways!!

The highlight for me has been the Louvre ( surprisingly so, as I thought I would prefer to soak up the atmosphere and culture of the places we visited and leave the cultural intellectual tours to those less ignorant than myself!). Yet loved the exhibits we saw - Da Vinci, Reuben, the Dutch Masters,Micheangelo, Napoleons Apartments, housed in in what was originally a palace. We even saw the excavations of the original fortress partially intact underneath the existing museum .

View of the Louvre through the pyramid glass




At Tuileries Gardens with the Louvre in the background

The other place we visited which I really loved was Versailles...we had our only metro challenge to get there, but it was a cinch in the end. It was easy to see why Paris fell out of love with Marie- Antoinette...the palace is nothing less than a total extravagence . Pretty amazing for us to look at centuries later, but definately fuel for a revolution. The gardens were beautiful and we had a perfect sunny day to wander around checking them out. We brought a picnic and a blanket ( yes I travel with my own!!), so that we could lie in the sun, on the grass. A big mistake as it turns out. I kept hearing this annoying trilling every so often...it turns out that a man of short stature, dressed in black, sole reason for living was, to trill at anyone who had the smallest part of themselves on the grass!!! We, and many others, snuck off to a less public area to enjoy our moment in the sun. I seem to have misplaced the photos from this day as I took a great one of the Hall of Mirrors and it is no longer there...a bummer as it was the highlight of the inside. :(

Chapel Inside Versailles

Things we did

Bus Tour

Eiffel Tower

The Louvre

Notre Dame

Versailles

Luxemburg Gardens

Tuileries Gardens

Endless night walks

Aftern0on teas of French Pastries