Day 6: Wednesday 02 April 2014

In keeping with the cultural experiences of the trip I went back to the Louvre today, and guess what it was open, I could tell by the queue of people across the forecourt waiting to get in!

The Louvre is huge, it took me an hour to find any paintings.  I wandered past Roman statues, ancient tapestries, bronze thingies, Greek urns (hey, what's a Greek urn?.......about 30 drachma a day.  That joke was funnier before the Greeks tried to bankrupt the Euro).

Eventually I found a huge hall and many side rooms filled with part of their European collection, absolutely stunning and obviously priceless.  I followed the crowd and found the Mona Lisa (ML).  People really are funny.  Everybody pushes their way to get close to ML, they take a photo with their mobile phone and rush off to cross something else off their list. 

Inside La Louvre

So after about 4 hours their I decided that a fellow can only absorb so much culture in one day and lunch and a reinvigorating drink was calling me.

I had lunch in the gardens near the Louvre and decided that as it was such a lovely day a walk along the Champes Elysees to the Arc De Triumph would be the go.  However before I got very far I was approached by a young gypsy girl (with a mouth full of gold teeth) collecting money for the poor little deaf kiddies.....another bloody scam!!  This happened 3 times in about a kilometer.  I don't know why the French put up with it or allow it!

Ici repose un soldat Francais mort pour la patrie 1914 - 1918

Anyway a pleasant (but long) walk along the Champes Elysees concluded by a visit to the Arc de Triumph and caught the train back to my hotel to change for drinks and dinner.

Street scene Boulevard St Germaine Paris

The Odeon Theatre is at the end of the street my hotel is in and tonight they had converted the big courtyard area out the front into a temporary café, so I had my dinner there absorbing the Parisian life as evening fell.

Off to Amiens tomorrow.

(I will have to add some photos later, I appear to have neglected to download them from my camera & phone and I am rushing off to catch happy hour, cheers.)