Paris - Day 4
It's our last full day in Paris and we wake with the sounds of punk rock melodies in our head (could also be the pounding as a result of one too many late night Heinekens). Either way, we're taking it a bit slower this morning with breakfast downstairs in the hotel and then back in to bed to make a plan for the day and rehydrate.
We head off around midday and seeing as we've ticked off most of the big ticket items, we get the metro to check out a new suburb. It feels a bit more real life Paris, like where you might live and work if you're not a tourist. It still feels very Parisian in terms of the architecture and city setup. We wander around for a little while before sharing a Subway for lunch. It's slow going today. We've got a booking for a visit to the Lourve later this arvo, so we decide to make the slow walk back. It's starts to drizzle as we walk through cobble stone streets full of vendors, restaurants and cafes. It feels very authentic Paris and charming. We've done enough walking for now so hop on the metro.
We arrive at the Lourve and the lines are massive, as excepted. They seem to have a pretty good system in place so we hop into the line for our entry time of 4:30. The museum closes at 6pm and we're hoping this is enough time to see enough of the museum. Not surprisingly, it isn't. The museum is huge and it's packed and stiflingly hot. It unfortunately does take away from the enjoyment somewhat, but we'll do what we can. The Mona Lisa is rammed and they really need a better system for that one. Good to see though. There are many other epic paintings throughout the gallery and the sheer size of the place certainly means it's worth a visit. We see all we can before we're kicked out at closing time.
By this time we're really flagging. We know what will cure us, Mexican! We head to the chain Chipotle and feast. That should give us the last push we need.
We waddle off along the Seine. It's nice and quiet with lots of runners out. Must be getting into the Olympic spirit. We end up back at the Eiffel Tower and this time we decide to climb to the second platform of the Eiffel Tower.
Courts (unintentionally) decides to keep the security people on their toes by putting on the hood of her jacket and putting on her sunglasses before trying to go through the security gate. At first the guy is incredulous (like, who tries to go through security like this?), but luckily he's in a good mood and starts whistling the Pink Panther theme song and we have a good laugh. We try and imagine how that would have went at a big tourist attraction in America.
It is a lot of stairs and in our state it's… challenging. We make it and it's worth it for another view of this amazing city. We head back down the stairs and train it back to the hotel. Paris has well and truly exceeded our expectations and we go to bed feeling like we've well and truly experienced what this wonderful city has to offer.
