Our plane departed Vancouver without a hitch, after the horrendous line to check in. The 10-hour flight went by rather quiet and quick, despite the new addition to our first leg back on the road. The boisterous Natalie AKA “Chatterbox” was not her usual self, passed right out within minutes of take off (Dub – you were right!) - much to the appreciation of the entire plane. We landed in Munich ahead of schedule as we were glad to be off the plane and into familiar territory. It felt like Rav and I had not left Germany at all. The only things missing this time were the crazy soccer fans, and the large screen TV that was assembled for the World Cup of Soccer.
Everyone eager to see Nat leave for two weeks so they can enjoy some of the oxygen as well
On the plane – the only 5 minutes all three of us were awake
Happy to land in Munich – please note, altitude sickness may cause some distortion in facial expressions for novice travellersWe quickly made our way to the Euro rail desk and were pleasantly surprised to find out that there was a train leaving for Paris that night. We ware even happier to find out that we did not have to pay for the transportation to town as it was covered in the Euro rail pass. We made our way to central station and boarded the overnight train to Paris. The train was quite empty and we thought that we had an entire compartment to ourselves but we were wrong. We were joined by two Austrians and a French man, nice enough but we wanted to get some shut eye, so we moved to another car where we found peace and quiet to rest our tired bodies. We were awoken by a smoking German man who had booked the seat next to mine. I don’t know what was worst - the second hand smoke or the loud French disco music blaring out of his I-tunes. Needless to say it was a restless night, and morning could not come fast enough for the three of us.
Our first train ride in first class….so why not pile up on Rav??
We arrived in Paris’ Gare Du Nord (train station) at 7am without any pre-booked accommodation. Much to our surprise we found the streets of Paris to be empty at this time of day. It was only later that we found out that it was a bank holiday and everything was closed, and we do mean everything (cafes, banks, restaurants, etc…). However, we did manage to find a very nice family run hotel (Printania Hotel on Boulevard Du Temple) for 60 Euros a night, that could accommodate the three of us and it had a private bathroom and was extremely clean. We were ecstatic and spent the first day in Paris getting acquainted with the new surroundings. The three of us ventured to an area called Bastille - where the prison was stormed by the revolutionists on July 14th, 1789 an event that sparked the French Revolution. Not much remains of this infamous day, but there is a memorial honoring the victims of the July 1830 revolution. We spent much of the first day orienting ourselves but managed to visit the infamous Notre Dame.
52m high hollow bronze statue
Rav and Nat enjoying French crepes in front of the new Opera house
Golden Statue on top of the Colonne de Juillet at Bastille squareNotre DameBuilt in the middle of the 12th century, Notre-Dame exemplifies the dominance of French Architecture of medieval times. Formerly a Roman Temple, Notre-Dame was reconstructed by armies of architects and craftsmen and has been renovated numerous times.
Notre-Dame front facade
Nat and Rav at the back of Notre-Dame
Garden at Notre-Dame
Rosery of Notre-Dame
Back of the Main Alter of Notre-Dame
Main Alter of Notre-Dame
Gargoyle perched on the outside of the building looking down on the city of Paris
Another great gargoyle view of ParisThe LouvreThe Louvre is the biggest museum in the world and judging from the outside of the building, we knew we were in for a long day. With much anticipation, we entered into the Louvre at the center of the courtyard where the magnificent addition by I.M. Pei dominated the space, adding a touch of modernity to this 18th century of classical and baroque architecture style like much of Paris. The simplicity of the pyramid glass structure is a great contrast to the decorative background of the Louvre itself. More impressive however, is what’s being housed on the inside of the Louvre. There are hundreds of paintings and sculptures by masters such as De Vinci, Monet, Rembrant, and Matisse, just to name a few. It would take an individual 12 hours a day for over 8 months to view everything in the museum. With that in mind the three of us entered into the museum to see it all in two and a half hours. Fighting through the crowds, we were able to see the one thing that we all had wanted to see, that of the Mona Lisa. It took a while but we did manage to see it eventually along with hundreds of others in the same room. It was a little disappointing as we had limited amount of time to spend with the painting. No photography was allowed, but that did not stop some of the patrons of the museum including our own Natty who managed to get a blurry photo of the famous painting. We managed to see some other works by Renoir, Monet, Cezanne, Braque, Balthus, Miro, Matisse, and the Venus De Milo and the Nike statue. It was quite unfortunate we couldn’t spend more time in the Louvre, but we had so many other things to see.
West wing of the Louvre - can not even get it all in the photo
The new addition to the Louvre
Glass Pyramid by I.M. Pei
Rav and Nat at the Louvre
The Old and the New
The Statue of Victory
The Mona Lisa – taken by culprit Natty VermaasSo the girls left me at the Louvre while they went shopping along the Champs Elysees – a wide avenue full of pricey shops and restaurants. It did not take long for me to get lost at the Louvre as I wandered through one room at a time. Before I knew it, I was late to meet the girls at the Arc Du Triumph which was half an hour walk away. As I hurried through the garden that lay between the museum and the Arc Du Triumph I could not be but totally amazed by the size and grandeur of Paris. It took me a while, but I managed to meet up with the girls and of course they were not done shopping, and were complaining that they did not have enough time for all of the shops. We ventured up the Arc Du Triumph to get a vista of Paris from what was built in recognition to Napoleon and all of his conquests. Now lies a memorial to the unknown soldier for the first WWI at the middle of the Arc Du Triumph. The Arc is a great monument that has become one of the infamous icons of Paris.
Arc Du Triumph
One of the twelve corridors leading to the Arc Du Triumph
Looking back at the Champs Elysees and the Louvre
Oh what a view from top of Arc Du Triumph
A beauty by night as wellSo after 10 hours of wandering through the streets of Paris, the Louvre and the Arc of Du Triumph, you would think that we would be heading back to the hotel and resting for the next day, but NO! We decided to visit the Eiffel Tower, the most romantic place in all of Paris. (Rav and I … oh, ….. and Nat) so much for romance….
The symbol of Love
So much for a romantic night - who invited her?
Always bringing laughter to everything that she does… Nat at her best
Rav and Nat seeing the Eiffel tower for the first time
Rav and I in the city of loveThe three of us, a million pigeons and one really aggressive beggar had a picnic, with cheese, wine, pate, baguette, salami (for Nat - it is really Italian and not French!), more wine and a night not to forget. It was amazing to have a picnic here, looking up at the Eiffel tower along with some fellow travellers and the locals, and the en-slaught of rain (yes, you read right). The night ended much too soon when the thunder and lightening came along with the downpour. We ventured for about 20 minutes in the rain, dodging in and out of canopies, trees, and people to try and stay dry, but that was not a task we were too successful in. We were drenched through the bones within minutes, but that did not hamper our spirits as we just had more spirits…
Can you say alcoholic??
Enjoying a picnic by one of the most beautiful landmarks in the world
At the base of Eiffel Tower 
An evening at the Eiffel Tower
Rav and Nat at the Eiffel Tower in the evening
How cool is this?
At the very TOP of Eiffel Tower – 1,063 ft above ground and only a mere 704 steps to the second level where you must take an elevator to get to the very top
The “storm” in Paris – guess we bought the rain with usOkay that’s enough for one day…on to tomorrow…
Yeah it’s me again finally some peace and quiet as the girls are back on the road… to shop once again. So where was I? Mmmhhhhh , Oh yes the Museum D’Orsay. Another magnificent building, a former train station that now has been converted into a museum with more modern addition to the back, while preserving the original architecture. It is a great space and unlike the Louvre, this museum was much smaller, but very well lit with natural lighting, which enhanced our viewing of the great pieces of art.
Museum D’Orsay from across the Seine River
The interior of the space of the main exhibition hall of the Museum D’Orsay
One of many great sculptures at the Museum D’OrsayWe also visited the Picasso Museum, but were could not really understand his genius. Most of his work was on display here as the French state attained most of his work after his death. If you are a Picasso fan this is a must, but if you are not it is not worth it, because there are so many other great pieces of art to see in Paris.
Another museum we skipped was that of the Paompidou - the Museum of Modern Art, although we did see the museum from the outside. Tell me what you think of this one. Not really something you would expect to see in Paris. It looks more like a factory to me, although the piazza outside was quite a nice space.
Image of the Pompidou from the street
Pompidou from the piazzaAnd then there was the Musee Rodin where some of Rodin’s sculptures are on display. This was a very nice museum with his works scattered within the building and within the garden. My favorite was The Thinker nestled within the garden, but you can still see a glimpse of the Eiffel tower behind him. It was a great afternoon where we ventured through the garden and enjoyed his work. Unfortunately Rodin’s “The Kiss” was a bit of a let down as it was in a room that was poorly lit and was not displayed properly.
The Thinker
Nat and Rav –thinking about their next shopping trip in Paris
Rav at the end of the garden in the Musee Rodin
The hands of the statue “Three Shades”
Nat trying to get into the Rodin Museum..something tells me they won’t accept a never ending talking statue
Imitating the Three Shades….we like to have fun everywhere we go including the museums
The Kiss – another famous piece of Rodin’s work
Now this is a REAL KISSWe also saw some great buildings that were not museums. These included the Opera House and the Hotel De Ville. Two magnificent buildings that stop you dead in your tracks.
Front façade of the Opera House
Rav and Nat being themselves and having a grand time as always
Nat wanting to be the lamp post
Hotel De Ville – formerly a hotel but now city hall
Bazzar de Hotel De VilleIn between all of the museums and great buildings, the girls did manage to do some shopping and even took in a show at the famous Moulin Rouge. So I will pass this over to one of them to write a few words on that experience.
A show at the Moulin Rouge was a definite must see for Nat and I. We knew it would be pricey but we were willing to fork out the dough to be able to see a show at the most famous cabaret in Paris even though Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor weren’t going to be there in person!! :) We ended up booking a combo tour at the Cityrama travel agency which provided us with an one hour evening boat cruise around the waters of the Seine River followed by the 11pm Moulin Rouge show, Feerie for a great price of $94 euros – not a bad deal at all. We had a FANTASTIC night. The boat cruise along the water was amazing as we got to see many of the major landmarks and bridges of Paris lit up – it would have been PERFECT if my huney was there with us but he had opted out of the Moulin Rouge show as he was not as interested as going as we were so seeing this beautiful romantic city with Natty was the second best thing (kidding Nat, I’m kidding). But boy what a different nightfall can bring.
After the cruise, we made our way to the Moulin Rouge and as soon as we arrived, it’s exactly what we had imagined. The lights, the line up of people all dressed up in front, and the characteristic windmill all came into view as our bus rounded the street. “Broad shoulders”, aka Natty, made her way from the back of the bus on the top level down to the bottom and was first in line out of our group. How she did it, I’m still trying to figure out but hey, it was good for us. We got great seats when we were ushered into the cabaret, which looked exactly what you would imagine a cabaret to look like. It was dimly lit with red lights, there were tables everywhere and everyone sat very close to one another, the bubbly was being drank and the staff were running around like chickens with the their heads cut off trying to meet the demands of the customers. We ended up getting seats on the 2nd floor, one tier up from the main floor and had the two front seats overlooking the balcony so there was no one blocking our view of the stage. And as soon as we made a toast and took our first sip of the champagne, the lights were dimmed and the action started. The show was fantastic - the songs, the flashy outfits, the choreography of the dances and the singing were unbelievable. So unbelievable for Nat, that at one point, I looked over and she had dozed off. I gave her a few minutes at which time, I pinched her. Let’s just say she didn’t fall back asleep after that. The 1 hour and 45 minute show was well worth every penny and we were both glad we had gone. An evening not to be forgotten. (Unfortunately we were unable to take photographs while the show was happening, guess you’ll have to come out to Paris one day and see it for yourselves, definitely worth the trip).
The Moulin Rouge
Awake now, but not for long!!
What a sight – inside of the most famous cabaret in the world
Girls Night out in Paris, FranceWe spent 5 days in Paris, that flew by rather quickly. At the end of each night we were exhausted from the day’s activities but could not be more content. We also had been able to have some really good food here as well. To our surprise the prices of food in Paris is not that bad, so we have been able to enjoy some of the finer things in life, like croissants and wine. There are so many things to see and do in Paris that the 5 days we spent here were really just a good starting point. How can you really appreciate all that wonderful art work that people have spent a lifetime developing and mastering in just 5 days. We will be back for sure.
This is Paris – the land of love
And this too is Paris – the land of meeting new people – Nat’s new friend, Milan who thought she was a pretty girl and had a beautiful smile - no broad shoulders comment here
You don’t want to know….believe us!!
Getting lost in the streets of Paris – famous last words “Take a left, I’m sure all the streets connect back up again”….NOT
No license needed here…god help all Parisians on the road 
Good times and great friends…Paris was a blast!! Next, we are off to Versailles.....
