paris (paree!)

Ah, Paree, city of love, of museums, of stairs...

Stairs are ubiquitous in a way that other countries can only dream of or fear. To take the metro -stairs. Apartments - stairs. Galleries, museums, and general walking around - stairs.

Take for example (and in order of the photos below): the Arc de Triomphe, 284 stairs. Up. Notre Dame, 386 stairs. Up. The Eiffel Tower, 600 stairs (not actually pictured below). Up. Plus other various museums etcetera like the Louvre pictured below. Then down.

But stairs did turn out to be the worst thing we came across in Paris (no Gypsies throwing babies, Gregg J and Sue E!).

We hit the Louvre early in the trip and were awed. The building itself is enormous, the art is breathtaking, the crowds are thick but friendly. People stand on cubes out the front to have their photo taken - they actually line up.

The Mona Lisa, the throbbing heart of the Louvre, is small and set behind a crowd barrier behind bullet-proof glass. In case you haven't seen it in real life, here's an expectation setter...

The Paris skyline is not what we were expecting - it is white. From the top of many a staircase we looked over the city it's all white. This is from atop the Pompidou Centre (modern art, some good but with much terrible video art).

Notre Dame Cathedral was far beyond our expectations. Being neither particularly religious, french, nor catholic, all we really did was giggle about hunchbacks and gargoles, until we walked in. So far Notre Dame is James' number 1.

The architecture of the building is phenomenal. I suppose it's appropriate being a house of Godthat it makes you feel increadiby small. Whether you are there for religion, art, or history, you cannot possibly be disappointed. James and I checked out the relics which apparently is the thing to do. According to what we could gather from our terrible French-reading skills we were looking at peices of the true cross and the crown of thorns, some tibia's from a saint and other unidentifiable body parts wrapped up and lying on red velvet in glass cases mounted in gold. Whether or not you believe the claims (...) it is impressive to think that the church has been carrying these tokens around for the last 500 years.

Anyway, enough of a rant. We also climbed the tower; more stairs, sadly no hunchbacks. Said "Hi" to the gargoyles and were on our way.

Then we went and climbed to the second storey of the Eiffel Tower. It was high... really high. More stairs!

After a few beers at our favourite watering hole (thanks Alys) we headed for Montmatre. Sacre Coeur for sunset was beautiful. The steps ooutside the church were packed with people watching the lights of the city go on. Buskers playing music and this guy climbing up and down a lampost balancing a soccerball... go figure... he was way more impressive than the bad Beatles covers happening nearby.

We deciede we had best lay our eyes on the Moulin Rouge and on the way stumbled upon the Frenchie equivalent of SUDS doing an outdoor production for 15 audience members.

But finally we made it. Wow, unimpressed. The windmill wasn't even big, or old, and some of it's lightbulbs were out. I'd expect more for 125eur a ticket.

We found the jazz. On our second to last evening in the Oberkampf area the musicians were plentiful and plenty skilled. Beer was as expensive as ever, but finally worth the price.

Our last day we shunned Versaille (lack of motivation) and instead visited a couple of galleries and Rodin's Garden. Yes, Rodin as in the thinker. In Australia we're generally not proud of our high achievers unless they're sporting or war heroes. But here, as we waited for the metro back home, we noticed a Rodin statue standing tall on the platform. That's the kind of attitude we need if we're ever going to properly reward and respect the arts.

We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering Père Lachaise cemetery. Here is the home to Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, Chopin, Delacroix and a host of other famous and not so famous bodies.

Streets of tiny houses of the dead stretch along cobbled streets with entire families buried below. It is beautiful and sad - so many are neglected, evidently with no-one left to care.

We pulled our best Frenchie poses for these two:

It has already been an amazing trip. Tomorrow we head for Germany.

ACHTUNG!

James and Beth.

P.S. Engaged! Yay!