April 28

Well here we are again. The day started a bit differently than most others so far. Bob went out early to shop for some milk and crackers. He arrived at the store a little early and had to wait about 15 min before he was able to get in. He was the second customer at the till, and only had a 50 Euro bill. He cleaned out all the change the teller had :-(

After breakfast we started at the Arc de Triumph and walked down the Champs-Elysees, where all the expensive shops are located (sort of like Rodeo drive in LA). We saw prices like 24 Euro for a hamburger, and 4800 Euro for a watch! (The current exchange is about 1 Euro=1.60 Cdn$) We had lunch at the Cafe de Roma a fancy name for a Pizza Joint (lol), sitting outside on the sidewalk, watching the traffic speed by, really, motor scooters weaving between the cars and busses at an unheard of speed, well for city traffic in North America!


We then walked onward to the Place de la Concorde and the Grande Palais and the Petit Palais (they are right across from each other).



We got some beautiful pictures of the Egyptian Obelisk and the Tuileries Gardens designed and built in the 17-18 centuries. They are quite something to behold what with the different trees and the statues etc. They run for 1 km. between the Place de Concorde and the Place de Carrousel. The Place de Carrousel is the original gate into the Tuileries Palais that was destroyed by the peasant rabble during the French Revolution when King Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette lost their heads.



From there it is about another kilometre to the entrance to the Louvre. We were a bit disappointed with the layout of the Louvre. Not only is it extremely overcrowded, everything is in French only (go figure, we're in Paris after all). There are too many stairs up and down all over the place and it is quite difficult to navigate to the different displays. We got a few good pictures, and the entrance fee was free with our museum pass, but all in all, we weren't (at least I wasn't) impressed.

It had rained some while we were inside, but had stopped when we left, so we decided to go back to the Latin Quarter, for supper. Instead, we stopped at Lafayette street, but found the prices at the restaurants there quite expensive, and then the rain started again, so we changed our minds. and headed back towards home, and eventually found a little pub around the corner from the apartment, where we had a nice supper.

Tomorrow we're off to Versailles.