Oh la la

Well finally - I had a chance to get James back for leaving me in Sydney with a dicky gall bladder and three childrens, oh yes and that minor detail of a 24 hour flight - with three children - by my self!!

Trudi, having decided to take the trip of a lifetime - Switzerland, France, England, Ireland and India in two weeks - meet me in Paris for three days of fun and laughs. I also got a chance to catch up with an old girlfriend and Trudi's cousin flew in from Moroco on her way back to the UK.

Day 1 - we powerwalked through some of the classic Paris spots - the Pathenon, Notre Dame, the Louvre and another smaller musee with beautiful Monet's.

Day 2 - we did the musee d'Orsay and Monmatre. Trudi had her picture scetched before we walked down to see the Moulin Rouge (although the price tag prevented us from getting inside..). That evening, after being sent to the wrong place and driving madly up the Champs-e'Lyse in a Taxi with Trudi hanging out the window screaming - do you know where Maxim's restaurant is? in really bad French to anyone who was brave enough to stop and turn around, we eventually found our way to one of the best resaurants in Paris. After a beautiful meal and the best Birthday cake ever we piled back in a Taxi up the Champs-e'Lyse to see the Arc de Triomphe at night and then onward to the Eiffel Tower. It was lit up in Green and Gold with a oversized football between level 1 and 2, a massive NZ rugby football at its base and a scoreboard attached to the front giving us all the lastest scores from the World Rugby Cup. Even with the additions, the Eiffel Tower at night is a magical sight.

Day 3 - Whilst I had to head back to Weymouth, Trudi had time to climb up to the second level of the Eiffel Tower and check out the views before heading back to the UK.

Well worth the two operations and the flight of hell to the UK.......

Worshipping the great mother land

NOTE: if you are reading this as an e-mail you really need to go to the blog

Now I know people worship lots of different things and I also know that some people think Australia is a great place but I never thought I would come across this on my travels.
Within the Notre Dame, the Catholic church I mentioned before, the immense church was lit by streams of light filtering through the numerous stained glass windows, and hundreds of candles flickered as a sign of life and memory of others. There was the opportunity to light a candle in front of many different shrines, from magnificent paintings of Mary to large crosses ornately decorated. But as we turned the corner and came across this most awe inspiring and memorable shrine I knew that this was the one for us.

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Nous avons aimé Paris

Now after a quick glance of the ‘Travellers guide to Paris’ revealing 62 museums, Kathy and I decided that 60 will have to wait for next time. Number 1 on the list as you would expect – Musée de Lourve. Housed in the most impressive renaissance building it is amazing to be wondering amongst all those pictures I remember in year 10 art class. From the ‘lace maker’ to ‘venus de milo’ through to ‘mona something’ by Leonardo Dicaprio (I never knew he was a painter) it was all very exciting.

We also ventured through the Musée de l’Orangerie – not a museum in the honour of fruit – but more paintings and you guessed it – many were ‘big’. I never knew that Claude Monet’s water-Lilly series of paintings was bigger than the actual ponds he painted. Many other great works from Cézanne, Picasso, Matisse and a lovely picture by Renoir of a little girl just like the twins.

A quick peak in the Notre Dame, a great gothic church, and then to the Panthéon. I am not sure if I have mentioned it yet, but you don’t know what ‘big’ is until you have seen the size of this church. Completed in 1790 it is no wonder it took 36 years to build.

Our little taste of Paris was fantastic – only 60 more museums to visit…….

Tout est GRAND

So with a tear in the eye we sadly wave goodbye to our three lovely children and leave them in the capable hands of Jemma for the long trip home on the train to Weymouth. For us YAHOOOO. Child free and off to Pari!

1 train, another train, 1 bus, 1 plane, 1 train, ANOTHER train (remind me to catch the eurostar next time) and we arrive at our hotel at 1am and fell in to bed. Next morning Kathy takes over as tour guide as we throw ourselves into this amazing city.

The first thing that strikes you about Paris can be summed up in one word…. BIG. There are big statues, big buildings, big fountains, big roads, big churches and big baguettes. Kathy has come home with a sore neck as a result of spending much of her time looking up.

Any way – Day 1 was spent in the ‘Invalides’ part of Paris – you may know this better as where Eiffel tower is located. Now for a structure that was meant to be temporary this is BIG. The other thing that was ‘big’ was the queue for the lifts to the top. Not wanting to spend our entire three days lining up we decided to brave the 719 steps to the second level. No not the top but with the pollution and light winds, the idea of standing in a grey soup with poor visibility at the top was easy to miss. Worth every one of the 2.5 million rivets holding the tower together. We did venture back that night and it was even more impressive under lights.

So with the tour flag raised Kathy led us off to the next expedition of ‘big’. Now if you just happened to be Napoleon and you had lots of adoring fans it is no wonder they decided to place his crypt in the Church of Saint-Louis (1675-1706). The most impressive part of the church is the gold-plated dome (six kilograms of gold leaf were involved) which rises above Paris. Not to be outdone in the big stakes is the large red sarcophagus which covers the six coffins enclosing the body of Napoleon I. If only he left the tops of his 6 coffins open he would have looked up towards the top of the dome which is covered in some of the most amazing paintings by Charles de la Fosse.

From there a walk down past the grand palais to the ‘Avenue des Champs-Elysées. Did I mention how big the street was? The Champs-Elysées is bordered by cinemas, theaters, cafés, luxury shops and yes the odd hawkers selling everything from gaudy glow-in-the-dark Eiffel towers to betty-boo doll. What better place to sit and have dinner and do as the Parisians do and sit and watch the world go by. It is also a place to quickly empty your wallet as the bill for dinner arrived!!This impressive promenade stretches from the Place the la Concorde to the Place Charles de Gaulle, the site of the Arc de Triomphe. That bloke I mentioned before – Napoleon – now he must have had a real size issue based on the big arch he built for soldiers to walk under. While this was impressive what was more amazing was the traffic roaring and careening about seamlessly in all directions as 12 roads converged into the ‘biggest’ roundabout ever. This must be every Paris learner drivers nightmare.