It was hot, the temperatures soared whist we were there and the little room in our airbnb flat was quite stifling. I don’t think any buildings in gay Paree are designed to cope with heat waves.
We travelled around using the Metro (underground rail) and a hop-on-hop-off city sights bus. The Metro is fast and efficient, the doors staying open for only a few seconds before the train accelerates madly away at high speed. You have to hang on! But the incredible number of stairs leading down into the stations (not an escalator to be seen anywhere) was a real challenge for Georgie’s crook knee.
The open top of the hop-on-hop-off bus was a great way to get to view the incredible architecture of the city, and there certainly was no shortage of that. When the ancient Parisians built those tall mansions and amazing palaces they sure had a love for beautiful sculpture and elaborate wrought iron work. There truly are some rather fabulous structures throughout the central city section.
Finally getting see so many of those legendary art works by the old masters ‘in the flesh’, so to speak, was a bit of a thrill, and the art museums themselves are really impressive. We waited to visit the Louvre until well after 7 pm so that the crowds of people weren’t quite so dense, so we actually managed to get to stand close with an unimpeded view of the Mona Lisa.
The gastronomic pleasure of finally tasting good escargot in a quaint restaurant in a tiny alley was a delight for Rod. Absolutely yummy stuff! Georgie wrinkled up her nose at it a bit, like she does at oysters. After that we wandered into a dark and atmospheric jazz club basement to have a drink and listen to the great live music.
Paris has a lot of motor bikes buzzing around and parked along the streets, and they are not the little putt-putts you see throughout Africa and Asia, nor are they the silly lumpin’ great harleys you see so commonly in Australia, people tend to ride nice sporty bikes and there are lots of those three wheelers that can lean into corners. Rod enjoyed ogling many a parked bike as we wandered around the streets.
Paris also seems to have a superfluity of pretty young ladies. That city seems to be a magnet for an inordinate number of attractive girls. Coupled with the amazing architecture and the cool bikes it sure made for pleasurable viewing.
I love Paris and am quite envious of your current exploits. You capture the essence of the city with great prose. Enjoy
Jealous, jealous, jealous!!!
Judging by that first photo the early Parisiennes must have been about 20 metres tall and weren’t too accomplished at door-making. 🙂
On a less absurdist note, I seem to recall that each time they have a heatwave in Paris large numbers of people die, so yes, I think you’re right that the place is not designed for heatwaves.
All those buildings! Go back to Scotland or Africa. Much nicer.
What? I’m an uncultured Philistine? No, Sir. I’m an uncultured Australian. 🙂
This leg of the adventure (the eighth leg) is doing cities via eurail. No bushwalks or cheetas on this section! I’m not normally real big on cities, dirty, diseased and dangerous places that they are, but there can be some good art that comes out of all that depravity nevertheless. Visiting the Louvre was a blast! Good art is good for the soul. We will get back to doing clean country side in a few weeks.
Truly amazing architecture. Am so envious of your visiting the Louvre! Not so sure about the escargots, tho.