We spent a wonderful three full days in Paris! Saturday we went for a walk to the Lourvre and then followed the Grand Boulevard all the way into the Champs Elysees. It was busy at the Arc de Triomphe with a queue a mile long so we decided to leave it for another day. We then walked down Haussman and came across the fantastic Galleries Lafayette, the most amazing mega-uber department store with floors and floors of incredible things. I walked and looked & Andrew sat and played with his gadgets :). It was the most amazing building with a beautiful arched roof with beautiful stained glass throughout. Quite an unexpected surprise for an up-market shopping mall. If there was a designer label not at Galleries Lafayette, then it wasn't worth looking for! Wow - quite incredible and a little overwhelming. This is the sort of place you could spend a whole day in - hmmm, maybe next time!
Then we walked on all the way to Saint Germain des Pres and bought food at a boulangerie & patisserie, fromagerie and a fruit shop (which French name escapes me at the moment). We were quite tired so went back and had dinner in our room - fresh baguette with a lovely variety of cheeses and yoghurt and fruit (including cherries).
Next day we hit the road with our two-day Metro rail pass and went to Montmarte and visited Sacre Cour - it was lovely to see Paris from such a high vantage point. At the Tour Eiffel we walked 680 stairs up to the second level which was beautiful. The weather was fantastic at this stage so we had a good view of all round Paris. We did the daggy laser engraving of our photo into a glass block as a memento of our Eiffel Tower experience - it was quite amazing watching the laser do the etching. We decided to go back to the Champs Elysees to wait and go up the Arc de Triomphe later in the day, when hopefully, there would be less people, but also to be there at night to watch the Eiffel Tower go through its laser show. In between all of that we did a Bateaux Boat cruise up and around the main parts of the Siene River near Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower, Louvre etc. We had dinner on the Champs at a cafe called George V which was very nice and then we made our way to the Arc while it was still daylight (about 7.30pm), and went up many more steps to get to the top. Andrew stood out in the light rain (Vera sensibly stood under a shelter) on the top deck of the Arc de Triomphe and waited and waited. Eventually the Tower lit up and then after a while started sparkling which was the most beautiful effect. Like Christmas lights twinkling on this huge Tower which looked like stars going on and off for a whole 15 minutes. It was so beautiful and well worth the wait. We then caught the Metro and walked through the rain back to our hotel (NB:it will always rain when you leave your brollie at home. It's called Mutrphy's Law and we know it well). Vera was on a caffeine & sugar low by the time we got back to our hotel, so Andrew made a late-night dash to find us some pastries and coffees, again in the rain. What a man!
Monday rained all day so it was a good choice to spend all day at the Louvre. We visited Mona (with 10 million other people, I'm sure) but the crowd was not bad in the other sections of the museum. We saw some beautiful paintings by the great Masters; Da Vnci, Raphael, Michelangelo to name a few, and some sculptures such as the Winged Victory, Venus de Milo, the Dying Slave, which were equally as captivating. I love that part of the Louvre and could visit it again and again and never tire of it. Our visit was made more interesting because of the Audio Logues that we hired which included interactive visuals supplied on a Nintendo DS 3D. These gave us recorded commentaries on many of the items at the Louvre and explained the architecture and other features of the historic building. The commentaries were very informative and gave additional background on the displays as well as being able to locate you anywhere in the Louvre via an inbuilt GPS. We would recommend hiring these as it makes your visit much more interesting and at only 5 Euros, they were well worth it. We were also both intrigued about the foundations of the ancient fort that the Louvre had been built on which you see on the lower level and the history of the Louvre itself was very interesting. When they were excavating the forecourt of the Louvre to make some improvements and undertake underground construction in 1984, they discovered old structures and deep constructions which had been forgotten about in recent history. The French have seamlessly incorporated the underground remains of the ancient fortress and moat as another display at the Louvre. What they have built underground is amazing - car parks, shops, research laboratories, lecture theatres & lots more. We were astounded at what facilities they incorporated on the lower level of the Louvre. I guess the French had no choice but to go down as there was no addiitional land to expand into. We in Australia just go outwards because we can! We spent most of the day at the Louvre and both agreed that you need at least two full days to fully appreciate what the Louvre has to offer. Next time, we will stay longer in Paris. We stopped off at Notre Dame in the early evening and were lucky enough to be there during a service. We heard lovely singing and the church organ in all its glory and it was lovely and made the Notre Dame come alive. It was great to see the Notre Dame again and I never cease to be amazed by all the stained glass windows in the church, no two of which are alike. The scale of the building and the windows was breathtaking. I lit a candle and said a silent prayer for my family's good health and wellbeing. Andrew and I finished off the day with dinner and a bottle of wine at the Cafe on the corner which was lovely and said a thank you to France for a truly wonderful 8 days. We did so much and covered so much ground! Thank you again Elizabeth & Chris Pye for hosting us at Hotel Cascarot at Le Chatelet in Burgundy. It was an amazing experience which we loved so much and we feel so lucky to have given this wonderful opportunity to share in your piece of paradise in France. You were the most wonderful and kind hosts and we are so grateful to you - thank you so much.