Apart from London, Paris was the only other place I had been to before, that we visited on the tour, and like London that was over forty years ago. Was it the same? ..... No ......IT WAS BETTER. Now I had the chance to look at it with mature eyes and attitudes. I had Julie and Emma, my two favourite women to keep me company and share it all with, and I enjoyed using my language skills which although not that great, gave me more confidence in getting around and enjoying French people's company
Of course with the group and with E and J, we did all the touristy things: The Eiffel Tower, The Seine River Cruise by Night, and The Louvre which were thoroughly enjoyable.
The Louvre was a good place to see how I viewed Paris then, compared to as I do now. The last time I was there, The Louvre was a beautiful majestic building with a magnificent wide open court yard at the front. Now, some idiot has built a bloody great glass pyramid at the front which can only be described as being completely out of place and an eye-sore. I'm afraid I am on the side of the Parisians who detest it. The more I looked at it, the more I thought it looked like a green-house; a good place for growing plants and veggies!
However it does have some practical purpose. The daylight from the pyramid lets in lots of daylight to an underground shopping centre. This centre contains a boutique public toilet with boutique prices. I'm glad Julie has told you about it, because I will only laugh if I try.
Also in the Louvre I got to see the Mona Lisa again. The last time I saw it, a mentally ill man had recently attacked it with a knife. As a result, by the time I got to see it, it was a small, dark painting, that was just about impossible to see because a barrier had been places in front of it to keep the crowds well back, and glass had been put over it which basically reflected back the viewer's face. So I wasn't overly impressed.
This time the painting was easier to see. It's smallness and darkness still affected me. Then I was overwhelmed by with the aura of seeing one of the greatest paintings in the world. Now I'm not quite so gobsmacked. It is a wonderful painting to be sure, but now I have a certain sympathy with Marcel Duchamp's version of it, the painting which started the Dadaist movement. Duchamp's version just had a moustache, this version looks a lot loke Salvador Dali!
But Paris was and is beautiful. This time I got to visit the Palace Of Versailles with Emma and Julie. It's HUGE, about the same size as Indooroopilly, not the shopping centre - the suburb! However and wherever you look at it, it's magnificent!
The desserts in the Palace's restaurant were pretty impressive too!
This time around when I was just with Julie and Emma, I found the part of Paris where I would really like to live. It was called the Maurais which is French for Swamp. But don't let the name fool you. It is a wonderful blend of the old Paris and it's preserved architecture (see photo below of view from our hotel room) yuppie shops, and the preserved Jewish quarter where you can get Kosher pizza!? It also contains the beautifully preserved Place Louis The Thirtheen, a complete square around a park of eighteenth century houses which was used as a film location for the French version of the film Les Miserables.
But best of all beautiful cafés and restaurants that preserve the best traditions of Paris cafe and restaurant life. Not for these places, juke boxes, chips, mock international menus, and "new" cuisine where you get no food on the plate for a massive price. No for these places good traditional French food is served in an atmosphere of good conversation, wine, and a calm certainty that the French ways are the best ways.
Our favourite bar was a place called The Acrobatic Cow. Small, cramped, busy, but with wonderful food and atmosphere. It was the only place in the whole of Europe where I saw customers hang up their coats, or leave their handbags on a chair and walk away from them. Perhaps more importantly, it seemed to be "The Local." for the locals
Our favourite cafe was called La Royalle. A place where the staff and I became a bit emotional when after a long and liquid lunch, where I had asked for the two most traditional French dishes, I made a small speech in bad French where I said that after such a splendid meal, it was now time to say goodbye to France, and Goodbye to Paris (I then did the true patriot thing and walked up to the guillotine!)
Oh yes, I nearly forgot to tell you. I got to dance in a Paris cabaret show! Although it wasn't hard to share the stage with the dazzling, scantily dressed, French blonde whose pictures appear below, I do have to accept that I am now in the "pick four old guys and get them up on stage to make a fool of themselves" age group. But then again it's Paris and it did have its compensations!
John, you are too funny. I agree about the pyramid and the loveliness of a "Local" and SO impressed with your Paris Cabaret debut. Now that will look good on the CV :)
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