Chapter 3 -Paris

On Tuesday, after boring things like washing, we headed off to the Eiffel Tower. After getting some photos, we sat in the park and enjoyed the sunshine.

On Wednesday we went first to Musee L ' Orangerie, followed by Musee Orsay and then the Louvre. A day for me to enjoy a feast of Impressionist paintings! I knew that Les Nympheas (The Waterlillies) was huge and covered four walls, but it was still impressive to see the reality. Spent some time photographing my favourite parts. Looking forward to doing some things with them at home.
We were told by Monday's guide, Paul, that the best of the Orsay was on the fifth floor. He was correct! A feast of impressionist paintings were there, many of which I had seen pictures of in books before. It's nice now to have the perspective of size to add to the visual pictures in my mind!
It was towards the end of the day, when we got to the Louvre. Knowing that there are 13km of displays in the Louvre, we decided to see the Mona Lisa and the Egyptian collection.
Trying to get a view of the Mona Lisa was like trying to get through a bun fight - of groups with their leaders holding flags and individuals taking selfies of themselves and the Mona Lisa. Some were only there for the selfie and moved on the second they had their picture! People jostled their way through the crowd to get as close as they could to take their photo. Good manners at times were absent. It was like that at the Venus de Milo and other famous art works, too. Consequently, the Louvre was noisy and full of people rushing from one famous art work to another. Not quite what I had anticipated!
We didn't get to see much of the Egyptian collection - the bun fight won. I'm not sure how anyone could really enjoy looking at art in that atmosphere!
However, we did see something unexpected, a model of the Opera Garnier, showing relative sizes of the storage areas, theatre etc. We had walked around it before I went there on Monday night and it was a huge building. When I was in the theatre, it seemed quite small compared to the size of the building. Now I know why! I was able to show Craig my actual seat in the auditorium. We have some photos of the model - it is intricate and beautifully detailed.
Dinner at a Thai restaurant around the corner from Stan and Helene's topped off the day.
We've had such lovely weather in Paris, cool mornings and beautiful

sunny afternoons. Daylight until about 9pm has meant we are able to make the most of the time we have to explore.
We both love the enforced lack of tall buildings in Paris. With all buildings in the centre only about eight floors high, it is a very different feeling walking around the city. The city feels more spacious and there is so much more light. For people not fond of cities, this is a very different experience!