A stranger in Paree...

My dad and I used to send each other picture messages from time to time, of the "I am here" variety. Mine were usually when I went somewhere new - his tended to be more sitting in the sunshine outside a cafe by the river in Knaresborough, or a nice pub somewhere, gloating because he knew I was in the office, working. There have been so many picture message possibilities on this trip, but I've got nowhere to send them any more.

Paris was decidedly autumnal when I started off this morning walking up to l'Etoile to get a few pics of the Arc de Triomphe. I wandered slowly down the Champs Élysées, grabbed a bite of breakfast and kept walking to the Jardin des Tuileries. Stopped off at the Musée de l'Orangerie to see Monet's Water Lillies - I didn't realise that it was so extensive. What's on a postcard or a poster is just a little bit of it - there are two circular rooms and it goes all the way around both. My favourite was the last scene I saw, which looked like little ripples from raindrops. In the same place there are also rooms full of Renoir, Cezanne and Picasso, and a Gauguin or two!

Made my way across to the Louvre and went in through a side door. The place is massive, like a giant square - only with one side missing. Three wings, each with three or four floors, and a sous-terre. I only saw a small amount of what was there - English, Italian and French paintings (including the Mona Lisa - surrounded by crowds and behind two thick panes of glass) and sculptures, and Greek and Egyptian artifacts. I think it'd take days to see it all, and I was starving half way round the Egyptian display. Took a good 15 minutes to get out, and I went back to the Tuileries for lunch. Unfortunately, the paths are a fine, light coloured gravel and, when it's windy like it has been today, it's like a dust bowl. It's fine as long as you don't mind things a bit crunchy - even the coffee ;-)

Decided to give my weary legs a rest - after walking for around 5 miles - and I took a Bateaux Mouches boat trip down the Seine (though I keep wanting to call them Bâtons Mouchoirs, which is a whole other thing...). The sun had come out to play and it was a lovely hour just watching Paris sail by.

The day was still young after that - well, it was 5pm - so I decided to go up the Eiffel Tower, which was over the bridge and down a bit. My (lack of) sense of direction struck again though, and I lost it. A 324 metre high structure *sigh*. It was nearly 6pm by the time I found it again (having walked around a very large block back to where I started...) and, since I hadn't been organised and bought a ticket in advance, I queued for an hour. I chickened out of going right to the top (and didn't want to queue for another 45 minutes), so settled for midway up. Wow, what a view! Had a wander round the deck, took a few snaps, watched people posing like idiots then went down again. A bit like the cable car journey in Austria, I couldn't look!

And dinner on the last evening of my trip? Something special and mind-blowingly expensive? Nope, a ham and cheese crepe on the banks of the Seine :-)

I'm all packed up and ready for home now (in more ways than one), and the lovely Scoobs and the GM have very kindly offered to collect me from the airport and take me home. Still, that's not until tomorrow night, and there's still Notre Dame to see.

À demain x