Service with a smile

So after we walked up the Champs D'Elysees, we stopped for a brief respite to get a drink (me some water and my husband a coffee). You see the difference in price? Its also more expensive to be served on the terrace than in the restaurant itself.

We also witnessed the ring scam, as performed by young minions who artfully displayed this scam every five feet, so it was kinda obvious. One kid even had his 'found ring' taken by a smart lady and then had to run after her to get it back.
We also headed over the Renault F1 store to get some pictures of the cars.

The Champs D'Elysees was not quite as opulent as I expected. There were major fashion designers but also various other lower brands. I guess I expected the streets to be paved with the finest silks.

If you go to Paris, you must go to the Moulin Rouge!

My husband from the start of our trip planning wanted to go see a show in Paris.

The two obvious choices were the best known ones, the Moulin Rouge and the Crazy Horse.

As we walked towards the Crazy Horse, we headed up through the Fashion District that had quite a number of very well dressed folks compared to our tired and sweaty selves.

We discussed whether we wanted to see a Moulin Rouge show or a Crazy Horse show. They cost about the same but honestly, I was more inclined to see the Moulin Rouge as the Crazy Horse is known more as a gentleman's show than mixed company.

So off we went to Montmarte and the Moulin Rouge.

When I was preparing for Paris, I wanted to buy a new camera. I ended up buying a FZ28. It has a special film mode where you can take shots like those taken by old pinhole cameras. When I finally got my camera, all I could think about was what the Moulin Rouge sign would look like the lense of a pin hole camera. Stupid I know, but you know small things amuse small minds.

The shot!

So while my husband reserved our Moulin Rouge tickets, I got my much anticipated shots. The reality wasn't as fun as I had imagined but I still had fun, despite being hot and tired.

Its a fairly simple looking place. Somehow I expected something more spectular given the lavish show that is put on when you watched the revue.

There is also a huge air vent just to the left and behind where this shot is taken. I'm assuming it is air forced up out of the Metro because there is a Metro stop in the same area. For whatever reason, people (read tourists) like to stand on the vent and recreate Marilyn Monroe's Seven Year Itch scene (the air blowing up her dress).

Why isn't there a picture of that? I was too busy eating my lunch (by this time it was nearly 2pm and we had had breakfast at 9am and walked a LONG way) and trying to make my feet stop hurting as we still had to head up the street (about a 20 minute walk) to Sacre Coeur.

5 miles again...

So Tuesday we got up refreshed and just about jet lag free. But we encountered a new problem, sore legs and feet.

How do you cure sore legs and feet? Walk another 5 miles!

We headed off to the Notre Dame Cathedral that was literally a 2 minute walk from our hotel door. We had opted not to invest in the Museum pass but we didn't intend to spend a lot of time in museums. Thankfully Notre Dame has a free door, which allows you to just tour the interior chapel of the church.

Again, I was met with such an austereness when I entered the church. It is just a) huge and b) stunning. When you stop to think that this place has been built over several hundreds of years, its amazing. How can you built such stone work and stain glass without more modern methods is just mind boggling. It is a testament to the passion of those who built these structures to their faith and their workmanship.

Not too many of my interior shots have turned out well enough to show, so I thought I'd give an idea of the detailed work on the exterior of the church. For more detailed inside shots, have a look at the Notre Dame website listed above.

From Notre Dame, we continued on the Louvre, we were discovered that we screwed up again, it was closed. We toured the vast grounds that make up the Louvre and continued down through the Jardins de Tuileries.

The main entrance into the Louvre's courtyard and entrance

The Louvre itself is a few city blocks long.



The corridor that leads to the Louvre courtyard

The famous pyramids. You actually enter through the base of the big pyramid and descend down into the museum via an escalator.

The collections are housed in each of the sides of the courtyard.

Tuesday was the hottest day we spent in Paris. It was about 28C (mid to high 80sF) and there isn't a whole of A/C in Paris. We stopped at several points along the way as we were quite hot and hadn't brought any water with us. Buying water in Paris is more expensive than buying beer.

We eventually stopped at a cafe to have a drink. S got an expresso and yours truly got a bottle of water. The expresso was 4€ and my water? 6€. Dare I say that Evian is Naive spelt backwards? A traveler's tip: order your drink from the bar, it is significantly cheaper than ordering it from a waiter on the terrace. An expresso at the bar is 1,5€ versus 4€ ordered on the terasse.

Back to our story. Despite the heat and miscommunication about when the Louvre was open, we continued on. From the Jardin, we headed towards the Place du Concorde. More fountains, more Egpytian motifs (the Obelisk) and more views of the Eiffel Tower.

At the end of this shot is the Obelisk. You can also see the Arc de Triomphe in the distance. Between the Obelisk and the Arc is the Champs des Elysees.

This stature marked the end of the Gardens and the starting of the Place du Concorde. My husband noted on many occasion just how amazing how you could see the Eiffel Tower, Sacre Couer or the Dome Church from various sights in Paris.

The Obelisk is quite tall...can you imagine how they ever got it back to Paris back in the early 18th century?

As we were taking pictures of the Place and the Obelisk, I zoomed into the fountain in the middle of the Concorde.

As I zoomed in to the fountain, a man stripped off his shirt and hopped into the fountain to cool himself. I couldn't help but get this on film. It was something that I would not have expected to see in a such a formal city.

You can see the man's personal items to the left of the shot. It was a sobering reminder that even in a city as beautiful and wealthy as Paris, there are those who don't share in its wealth.

What's a sure fire way to beat jet lag....

....walk 5 miles or more the day after you arrive at your destination.

We walked from the Tower, thru the Trocadero neighbourhood, down the Champs d'Elysees, back over by the Ecole Militaire, over the Musee Militaire, Les Invaildes, the Dome Church and then back over the Musee du Rodin.

We stopped in at a little cafe near the Rodin Museum to have some late afternoon refreshments (read: beer) and use the WC.

It being Monday, most museums in Paris are closed. This is something I knew but apparently forgot until we tried to visit the Rodin Museum. It would happen again on Tuesday when we tried to visit the Louvre, which is open Monday but closed on Tuesday.

We stumbled our way back to the hotel and refreshed ourselves, changed and sat down to have a baguette, some cured sausage, wine and cheese. We later headed out for dinner.

It was later that night or maybe it was Tuesday night that we stumbled across La Boulangerie du Papa, a bakery/cafe just down from our hotel. We had the most amazing flan and discovered that they had reasonably cheap coffee and pastries. It would become the place for our morning coffee and breakfast.

Eiffel Tower from the Ecole militaire

Ecole militaire

Dome Church (les Invalides)

Garden next to Military Museum/Dome Church

Trocadero and the Champs de Elysees

After we toured the Tower site, we headed across the bridge (one of many bridges that connect the two sides of Paris) to the Trocadero area.

We climbed the path that lead to the Musee de l'Homme (Museum of Man) and headed down rue Kleber.

We passed many shops and cafes along the way. We stopped along the way to admire the architecture, the many librairies (bookstores) and the sights.

We passed a bookstore which had several books on Babar and the Barbapappa's. Now, I remember both of these characters from when I was a kid but alas, my husband does not. Strange, he was the one who grew up with cable and I just had a lowly antenna.

Oh well, we continued down the steet, passing a Ferrai store (my dad's a F1 racing fan) but I didn't get any photos of that (I got some at the Renault store).

Finally we reached the Arc de Triomphe. Its huge and I NEVER want to have to navigate a car around that roundabout. There is no real traffic lights and it just looks like a holy mess.

But that being said, the Arc itself, is gorgeous. It features so much of what I find fascinating about Paris - how they can have spent so much time, money and effort to beautify their city?

Like many monuments and historical plaques in Paris, the Arc contains the names of those who served in mililary conquests. There are many plaques throughout Paris that acknowledge those who died in some fashion serving their country. At each of these plaques, there is a fresh bouquet of flowers that the city pays for.

Its quite the sight, seeing all the traffic zoom around this monument..there isn't too many traffic lights, scary!



A side view

The names of some of Napoleon's Generals

It looks smaller in the tour guide

The Eiffel Tower. It's the quintessential Parisian landmark. And boy is it big. You might in your mind that its going to be big...just not THAT big.

We got off the RER (Metro) at the Champs de Mar stop and headed towards the Tower. Basically, you just follow the hordes of tourists and buses.

In pictures, you don't see the individual details of the steel that makes up the Tower. You don't see the names emblazened onto the edges of the Tower. You don't see the scroll work that adorns the Tower. And you don't see the heavily armed military police who patrol the site on which the tour stands.

Its not fair to say that its more impressive in pictures but it is. When you are standing next to it, it seems like just another steel structure. And I'll be honest, it much prettier during the time before dusk when the steel takes on a warm taupe colour as opposed to the cold steel look in the harsh light of midday.

My husband bravely went up to the first level and got some beautiful shots from that vantage point while I wondered the park that surrounds the Tower. I was happy to stay on Terra Firma. I got sweaty palms just looking up at the Tower, let alone actually walking up inside it. I shutter at the thought.

The first glimpse of the Tower as you walk up the street from the Metro

The names of the key people involved in the creation of the Tower are inscribed around the edge of the Tower.

Trocadero and Le Musee de l'Homme (Museum of Man) from the first level of the Tower

Looking towards Sacre Coeur and Montmartre (northeast) from the first level.

The Seine from the first level

The Dome Church from the first level

The Ecole Militaire (Military School) and the park land directly in front of the Tower (from the first level)

A leg of the Tower, looking down from the first level

From the bottom looking, I'm getting vertigo already!

Straight up from the first level...not my cup of tea

Its getting there that's the adventure

So, Monday we decided to jump into Paris with both feet. The weather was gorgeous, albeit a little warm for Paris in September so we decided to do to the Eiffel tower.

We could have walked, which would have taken about 15-20 minutes but when in Paris, why not take the Metro?

The most favourite things I enjoyed doing when I visited my Nan in Toronto as a child was taking the subway (the Metro). It was so fascinating to ride along and count how many stops we had left.

Its a whole different ball game when you are the one who is having to a) buy the tickets in a language that isn't your mother tongue b) figure out the French Metro system and c) figure out which stop you had to get off at.

Here's the map we were trying to figure out...


My husband and I was at odds which train to take. I did my bit and purchased the tickets (a carnet which is about 10 tickets for about 11€). There's 2 if not 3 systems that all interact. There's a dark blue line, a light blue line, a green line, a pink line etc. etc. etc.

Yeah, it was an adventure but once you get it figured out, you are all good.