Just a quick note: we will be off the air for a while- no internet in Pernes Les Fontaines (Provence) save for free wi fi at a local pub! Having a ball with the Macers!!

Paris, Day 2

Paris, city of contrasts! A lovely day today; warm, humid with a refreshing downpour in the afternoon. This piece from the Arc de Triomphe sums it up beautifully- grand ideas, exquisite detail, yet still with a cheeky oohh-la-la touch!
This was TV in the 1600's: Jesus and the doubting Thomas. Look at the other disciples in the windows- like naughty schoolboys peeking into the girls' changing rooms. This is from a series in the Notre Dame Cathedral. Quasimodo was nowhere to be seen. The various churches, cathedrals and so on are just overwhelming- there is simply too much detail on every possible level. I found myself walking past masterworks from hundreds of years ago, any one of which would stop me in my tracks anywhere else, with barely a glance. Even the frames are works of art!
Me and her at the Arc de Triomphe. Sorry about the chin(s)! Apparently Napoleon won some Grand Final way back- they are still celebrating! We were accosted shortly before taking this pic by a Kosovan refugee (or so he claimed!) He 'found' a gold ring at our feet and tried to say it was ours- even slipped it onto Rhonda's finger- and would have started the scam then to turn a 2 dollar ring into a 50 dollar collect. I put it into his top pocket, he kissed both our hands and as I tried to pull away I accidently smacked him in the nose, honestly, officer!
He went off muttering foul oaths about my father and his relationship to my mother, only to 'drop' the ring again at another unsuspecting couples' feet. It's a living, I guess. Another woman, maybe his mother, simply lay prostrate in the middle of the footpath, with a begging cup in her outstretched hand. "Contrasts!" I was heard to mutter. Sarkozy wants to kick all the Roma (gypsies) out of France. There is a fight on. Didn't Adolf have a similar plan? Something needs to be done, though. They work really hard at fleecing 2 euros from American backpackers and middle-aged Australian couples- why couldn't they work at a real job and make 20 times that much?

Notice the hands on the clock of the Musee D'Orsay. They are stuck on 12 minutes to 9. Somebody call Dan Brown quick!

And finally, a musical number. Cost me 2 euro, but we were both satisfied with the result.

Paris, Day 1

Day 1: Gay Paris, here we are!

The rigors of the 24 hour travel-fest are long forgotten. Suffice to say that the sooner somebody invents a faster way to get around the planet the better!

Rhonda just laps it up. Look at her excited expression, and this is still at Tullamarine...She had just made a rather canny purchase, though- another bargain for the trip!

Paris is an amazing city, full of the most stylish women, usually with a dog at heel, or in their arms. Seriously, I kid you not, there was a woman on the plane from Hong Kong to Paris with a small black dog in a bag at her feet for the whole 12 and a half hours- I presume she had drugged it, as there was not a sound until we were not far from Paris and the chlomicalm started to wear off!
This is a picture of the only hound in Paris worthy of the name- reminded us a bit of Jazz the wonderdog, Mace!
Our room at Le Hotel des Grandes Ecoles is wonderful- right in the heart of the Latin Quarter with cafes, patisseries, pubs, gelati bars, you name it, we've got it! This is a view out of the window onto a lovely little courtyard- so much of the old city is about what is hidden from the street, behind huge wooden gates big enough to drive a truck through. Amazing how a Revolution and a couple of wars changes your outlook on life.
The streets are a delight- twisting and turning everywhere without any apparent purpose. Puts my near-infallible navigating skills to the test! This is a typical streetscape near our hotel.
And finally, was that Woody Allen I saw in the Luxembourg Gardens?

5 sleeps to go...

One week to go.... Rhonda getting very jumpy, me less so. Our housesitter is raring to go, dams and tanks are full, it's 27˚ in Paris: Bring it on!!

This was our practice holiday at Lorne, very much like the Riviera!