Our last Tango in Paris

Our pastries at Laduree
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Day 16 - Sunday 20 May 2007 ( 390 hours down 498 to go)

Woke up late to the sound of gentle falling rain, check Travel Insurance policy but rain in Paris is not covered, cheap policy. For breakfast Julie wishes to visit a special tearoom, Laduree, that was established in 1862 and reputadly serves the most indulgent morning tea in Paris. Sounds fantastic, only problem is that it is 3 kms from our hotel and we walk there in the rain, passing a hundred fantastic little bakeries with the most tempting treats. But the walk was well worth it and we had a wonderful breakfast in elegant surroundings. The bill arrived and it was 63 Euros, sacre blue, mon dieu Henri, this can not be right and then I notice that it was for another table number, nice try froggy. www.laduree.fr

Inside the historic Laduree
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Then on to visit the Louvre for a bit more culture, we especially enjoyed Napoleon’s Apartments and of course the most popular exhibit there, Mona Lisa, which had moved to a bigger hall this time and you can not get very close to it or photograph it any more. But it was still exciting to see Mudgie’s old girlfriend.

Had a quick lunch after the Louvre and by this time my feet are getting sore from walking on the hard marble floors so it is time to head home for a rest, Julie continues exploring the local area and for dinner we walk the five steps across the road to the local bistro and have a nice meal and a couple glasses of the local red.

Outside the Louvre
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Pedometer reading 10712 (very slack day but I am not a machine like Julie)

Day 17 - Monday 21 May 2007 ( 414 hours down 474 to go)

A new day, and a new Richard, the rain has stopped and the legs feel strong so off we go. Breakfast at a little café on Rue Cler where we stayed last time and then we decide on the activities for the day. As there is a heavy fog we ditch our plans to visit Sacre Coeur, the monument overlooking Paris, so we decide to walk up George IV Avenue up to Champs Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe. As we are crossing over a bridge we meet an Asian lady who just happened to find a gold ring on the ground. She is very excited with her find and asks us if we know if it is gold, looks like gold so it must be gold. She puts it on her finger but it is way too big, so she tries to put it on one of mine and says that I can keep it as it is my lucky day. Now as she appears that she needs the ring more than I do I insist that she keeps it for her children, but she doesn’t want it and insists that I keep it and maybe I can give her some money for her children, good try froggy.

Arc de Triomphe
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We drop into the Luis Vuiton store for a look and to discuss street franchise opportunities, but it looks like a Prada handbag shop on the footpath at Jetty Road will be a cheaper option. At the Arc de Triomphe we come across a small group of Americans wearing caps with “The Amazing Race Tour 2007” getting some instructions from a actor dressed like Napoleon, ah that could have been us we think.

Do the full walk along Champs Elysees and a bit of shopping for both of us followed by a very pleasant pizza lunch at a sidewalk café. Legs are still strong, fog is clearing, so we catch a taxi to a shopping district to visit Au Printemps and Galeries La Fayette department stores for a bit more retail therapy then another taxi up to Sacre Coeur which is better than walking the five hundred steps to the top. This is a great church that was built as a memorial to the 58,000 French soldiers that died during the Prussian – Franco war in 1870-71 (Prussia won) and it  provides a great panoramic view of the city.

Sacre Coeur
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We walk down the hill through all the tourist traps and catch a cab back to our Hotel where we freshen up and out to dinner at a bistro down the road for a nice Duck and Steak meal. We got speaking to an Aussie from Sydney at the next table and he advised that he was approached twice with the gold ring scam but he saw them slip the ring off their thumb as they bent down so he told them to get stuffed.

After dinner we walk down to the Eiffel Tower to take some more photos at night, marvel at the wonderful light show and wander back home.

Eiffel Tower at night
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Pedometer reading 20836 (a new record)

Day 18 - Tuesday 22 May 2007 ( 414 hours down 474 to go)

A big sleep in this morning as we have little activities planned and nothing opens or gets moving until 10.30am. Walk down the street to get Coffee, Juice and morning pastries for breakfast back in our room. We head off to the Bastile area and just walked around for several hours soaking up the fantastic cosmopolitan atmosphere of Paris and headed on back to the hotel to get ready for our big last night.

At 6.00pm we met up with the tour group and caught a bus to the Eiffel Tower to have Dinner at Altitude 95 the restaurant at the first level. We are allocated a table with two nice elderly American ladies from New Jersey and a couple of hillbillies from Brisbane. Meal was quite nice and wine drinkable and the view very nice. From there we catch a large river boat , capacity 1499 people, and cruise the Seine for an hour and get back at the Tower at 10.00pm just as the stobe light show starts . Back on a bus and off to Moulin Rouge for the 11.00pm session, there is a line of people 100 metres long waiting to get in with no shortcuts. After the crowd from the 8.30 show depart we start moving in and it is bedlam, nobody knows where they are supposed to be seating, froggy waiters yelling instructions that nobody can understand, everyone trying to get a table in front row with no hope. We grab a table in the elevated back row with the grannies from New Jersey and open our allocated bottle of Champagne, which is definitely not Bollinger. All around us waiters are yelling & arguing with customers, each other and anybody else they can find.

Then lights are out curtains up and the show starts full of colour , movement, dancers and music. After a few minutes we get our first flash of boob and from then it is full on. In between costume changes they have various fill acts, acrobats, mime artist, but the best was a juggler come drummer who stole the show. You know you are getting old when you enjoy a juggling drummer more than 30 semi naked beautiful girls. The show goes on and on and finishes at 1.30am when they have buses to take us back to our hotels. Of course ours is at the bottom of the list so we get an early morning tour of Paris and get to our hotel at 2.30am. Julie sets the alarm for 4.00am to get up and pack for our flight to New York.

Pedometer reading 10975