November in Paris 2007

We passed turned the corner past Espace Dali (which is around the corner from Place du Tertre in Montmartre) to find a short cobbled street (Rue Poulbot) lined with cafes and restaurants and found the perfect spot, Le Poulbot. It was in an old building and inside it had low beamed ceilings, lots of prints and pictures and decorations. The hanging lamps had lacy covers and there was also a small back room as well. We sat down and had expected to order from the 15.50 euro fixed menu but were given a small menu that had a few choices for 10 euros. Must be a lunchtime special menu. It seemed to suit us so that’s what we ordered from. Lunchtime portions as well not quite as filling for Graham but he was satisfied. We had a lovely pate with French bread for starters. I had beef bourgignon and he had lasagna and we had dessert and coffee.

This little place was the quaintest and loveliest place I’ve ever been in and it had more atmosphere than it had a right to! When we left, I noticed a small sign on the door that translated as “the dog is nice, the master is a lunatic”! I didn’t notice a dog on the premises and the waiter seemed sane enough so perhaps someone else was the owner of the dog!

You may need reservations at night, as the restaurant is not that big but in mid-afternoon on a Wednesday in November, it wasn't busy at all.

You don't usually think of Chinese or Asian food when you think of Paris but there are some good restaurants for this type of food, mostly in the 13th but we found La Muraille de Jade (Jade Wall) on a side street in St. Germain. We were there on a Wednesday night in November and the restaurant was not crowded at all. There are two floors and there were only a couple of tables taken on the main floor. We were seated promptly and the waiter was friendly and helpful. We decided to go for the "menu gastronomique", a fixed price with three dishes for 23 euro each. A bit pricey for the quanitity, though. The quantities served weren't what we are used to, most Chinese restaurants here in Canada and in the UK really pile on the food for their banquet menus but it was plenty for me. My partner has a bigger appetite and it left him wanting a bit more. The food was tasty and hot.

Not sure if you would need reservations or not. We walked in on a Wednesday night in November, after 9 p.m. and it was very quiet.

Located on the corner of Rue de Seine and Boul. St. Germain beneath the Welcome Hotel, Le Mondrian is a nice little brasserie with indoor and of course, outdoor seating. We had dinner here one evening in a dimly lit corner. The bar at night is dark, with candles and coloured lights gleaming off the wooden tables. The wait staff was congenial and helpful and we had a very pleasant meal.

They had several main dishes for 13 euro so we ordered onion soup, a main and had Berthillon ice cream for dessert. I had a fantastic piece of salmon with rice and salad and my partner had burger and chips. we each had two scoops of ice cream but ordered four different flavours to share. The flavours were very intense and delicious, and i especially liked the lemon and the pistachio that i had. Total price including three drinks, dessert was about 60 euro.

My fiance loves Salvadore Dali so on our afternoon wandering through Montmarte, the small Espace Dali was definitely on our list of things to do. It's just around the corner from Place du Tertre where the artists are. It's a little pricey at 10 euros each and isn’t covered by the museum pass but we hadn’t been to very many museums so we didn’t mind.

The exhibit had a lot of his drawings and prints, and sculptures as well with explanations which was quite helpful since Dali is a bit incomprehensive. There was also a temporary exhibition where famous fashion designers were asked to produce a creation that is inspired by Dali so that was interesting too. The space was just a large open room with black walls so it wasn’t long to go through but it was interesting. I really didn’t have much exposure to his works before so I quite enjoyed it.

The Musee du Louvre started off it's life as a Royal residence in the late 12th century but the building we see today was constructed in phases over several hundred years, from about mid 16th century onward. The two long sides are the Denon and Richelieu wings. The Richelieu wing has actually been a museum open to the public since the Revolution and the Louvre itself had ceased to be the main Royal residence about 100 years before that when Louis XIV decamped to Versailles and took the government with him.

Today it's probably one of the most visited places in Paris and it houses thousands of artworks, artifacts, sculpture, Egyptian and many more types of art, many of which are some of the most famous pieces of art in the world including Leonardo DaVinci's Mona Lisa, the armless Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory. If you plan to go to the Louvre, it's probably best not to attempt to do the whole museum in one visit. There's just too much to see and it covers 650,000 square feet which is a fair old distance to walk! It's far better to take it in small bites of a couple of hours a day over a few days if there is quite a lot that you want to see. Alternatively, you can use a guide book or join a "highlights" tour through the museum. Probably a good idea to choose what you want to see most and make your way there via the map you can pick up at the entrance. The only caveat I would warn here is that the map seemed to me to be a bit confusing because one floor may be more than one level and things didn't seem to be found where they ought to be according to the map.


The museum is closed on Tuesdays for maintenance, and open all other days from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday and Friday it is open later until 10 p.m. and I would recommend going on one of the evening openings. It will be far less crowded if you head in about 6 p.m. (Check the website for the various holiday days of the year that the museum is also closed or closes early) There are other entrances besides the main pyramid entrance but the main entrance is the only one for the late openings. The other entrances are: Porte de Lions which is on the Seine side of the building past the Arch du Carroussel towards the Tuileries Gardens; 99 Rue Rivoli on the other wing of the building; Through the Arc du Carrousel in the courtyard. You can also get to the entrance hall from the Metro Palais-Royal-Musée stop. To get to the museum, many busses, including the city hop on hop off tour busses stop in the courtyard, the Metro as mentioned, stops there and the Batobus has a stop at the Louvre as well. There are disabled entrances and there are lifts and ramps in much of the building.

current fees are 9 euro for an adult which is a full day pass so you can leave and return. If you go to the evening opening after 6 p.m. it's a little cheaper. This does not include access to temporary exhibitions but you can either purchase tickets for those separately or as a combination ticket (13 euros or 11 evenings). There are discounts for seniors and children. You can also buy tickets online and if you have bought the Paris museum pass, you can get in without queuing and that pass would be the thing to have if you plan to return over several days to take more in.

Visiting the major pieces, the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa, will likely be crowded any time you go but less so in the evening. We went on a Wednesday night and there might have been a half dozen people looking at the Venus. The Mona Lisa is in a room that has some paintings on the walls but is itself on a free standing wall in the middle of the room with a roped off viewing area. I found it quite off putting, to tell the truth. Very "tourist trap" feeling. The painting is also behind glass so if taking a photo of it, take it at an angle or without a flash which you can do because the room is well lit.

After your visit, you can walk over to see the Arc du Carroussel and walk down towards Place de la Concorde through the Tuileries gardens. There used to be a palace at this end as well but it is long gone. There is still a nice little museum there, well worth a look and far less exhausting than the Louvre itself. The gardens have lots of sculpure to look at and manicured gardens which are very nice in the summer. In Concorde, there is a large observation wheel. The "pods" are free hanging and very low seated but the views are really quite good. They are open to the wind and weather, mind you, so if you've got a problem with heights or if it's windy, it might not be a good idea. There's a canopy over them so you do get shielded from the rain a little bit unless it's windy.

Louvre's English website

Most of the other reviews that I've read here describe experiences cruising the Seine in the daylight hours aside from one traveler who thought their night cruise was magic. I concur! We spent a very long day tramping around Montmartre and then tried to see a bit of the Louvre which was too much for my poor feet. After a rest, though, I decided I could manage to get to the boat dock at the Pont Neuf nearby for an evening cruise. We missed one boat and waited 40 minutes for the next as they aren't as frequent at night, and definitely not in November when we were there.

The company is Vedettes du Pont Neuf. They charge 12 euros for an adult but you can get a really good deal on the website, a 5 euro discount so it's well worth it. Keep in mind, though, that booking on the website, the tickets are non-refundable. Also keep in mind, at least in our experience, they do not take credit cards (unless you buy off the website, of course). Make sure you have cash!

We had a live guide, not a taped commentary though the guide had an eastern European accent that made it a bit difficult to understand over the speakers. It was still really good, though, and there were lots of explanations about the various bridges and buildings that you glide past. You get to see the Eiffel tower lit up and sparkling on the hour, too which was absolutely beautiful.

When we boarded the boat, a photographer came around and took everyone's photo. These were printed and available when you returned if you wanted to purchase this souvenir of your cruise. We didn't bother.

There are lots of companies that do tours, both with or without a dinner involved. I think most of them have very little difference in the price charged but do check the websites for discounts. We went off season so the boat was nearly empty. It was a bit too chilly to stay up top so after the boat reached the Eiffel, we went down into the main inside area under the glass roof where it was warm!

I have to say, though it's a very touristy thing to do, it's well worth the cost which we felt was pretty reasonable.

We boarded the Air France plane in Manchester on time but then had to sit there for about an hour and 20 minutes because of fog in Charles De Gaulle in Paris! Aggh! You don’t really think of Paris as having fog issues do you? We made up some time and landed about 50 minutes later than scheduled so not too bad. Flight itself was fine but we only got a small cupcake and a coffee/tea on board. We were pretty hungry! All the flight attendants were men too, a bit unusual in my experience.

The airport didn’t seem to be as busy as I thought it would be. Perhaps it was just that terminal, (2F) I don’t know. It’s a huge airport though, but very modern and lots of windows and light where we were. Because there is a transport strike on, we asked about transport at the information desk and she said that she'd heard the RER was running a few trains so that was good news. The train only went as far as Gare du Nord but we managed to find the metro line we needed from there. It was very crowded, hot and sweaty! We arrived at the Odeon station, a couple of blocks from our hotel in St. Germain. We started off in the wrong direction first but got oriented and found the hotel ok. (Welcome Hotel, see hotel review)

So we’re in Paris!!! And we were starving! We walked down Rue de Seine away from Rue St. Germain. It’s always a bit of a head case trying to get yourself oriented to what you see on the map, what is in which direction. Going this way, we’re walking towards the Seine. The street here has a few cafes already and a small grocery store and you come out onto Rue de Buci which has even more cafes. I knew Paris was famous for them but wow, are there ever a lot of café/bars! There are small tables outside even in winter! Many places have heat lamps outside and some also have a clear plastic enclosure around the outside seating. They don’t have a smoking ban so we would usually keep an eye out for smokers when deciding where to sit.

We strolled along and checked out the various menus. The waiters were all very enthusiastic, putting the stereotype of snotty French waiters to rest. They all tried to get you to come in to their restaurant and were all dressed impeccably with the full torso apron tied around as well. We picked one because the waiter had even brought out the menu to us and pointed out the set price meal which seemed reasonable. Our first lunch in Paris in a real French café with a real French waiter. It did seem to specialize in seafood with a display of fresh shellfish of various kinds set up outside. We had a lovely lunch of onion soup, steak and fries, dessert and a half litre of wine with it and coffee after. Steak and fries (steak frites) is actually a fairly popular meal there. We sat outside and it was a little chilly but we were under a heat lamp so it wasn’t too bad. The atmosphere was worth it!

I was quite pleased with myself during these three days. I only took French in school and haven’t used it since. Not much anyway. I didn’t do too badly making myself understood and figuring out what was said to me most of the time. I know they would be able to tell I was English and many would switch to English but I managed to catch a bit of most things and figure out what I needed to. Menus weren’t too much of a problem and many of them had English translations as well.

After lunch we walked down a street that would ultimately lead to the river but before we got there we found a little park behind this large domed building which turned out to be the Institut de France. The park had an interesting statue and a couple of park benches that looked like open books!

And there it was, the Seine! The traffic was pretty busy and we were to discover the truth about crazy French drivers! Along we walked, and then across a bridge to Ile de Cite. We walked past the Palais de Justice where Sainte Chapelle is. I did want to see that but we didn’t get around to it in the end. We walked through where the flower market is, past a metro stop (Cite) with a green wrought iron art deco entrance and eventually came to Notre Dame.

It’s a huge gothic cathedral, dark and peaceful inside, with astonishing stained glass windows high up over the arches. It was started in the 12th century and not completely finished for about 150 years. It’s been altered and sometimes nearly destroyed and it’s had it’s treasures destroyed during several political upheavals but it’s managed to remain and is still used as a Catholic cathedral. Outside the structure, there’s a round marker embedded in the ground to denote the centre of Paris. All major national roads in France apparently have their mileage starting here and if you stand on the stone in the ground, you will return to Paris someday, something like tossing a coin in the Trevi fountain of Rome, I guess! You can go up in the towers and down in the crypt for a price though we didn’t.

We did spend about a half hour inside, looking at the beautiful windows, the artwork, the vaulted ceilings and other details. The stone carved and painted chancel screen showing scenes of the New Testament in particular was awesome.

We left there and walked down the side of it, looking up at all the gargoyles leaning out away from the walls. We crossed over to Ile St. Louis after a look in the park behind Notre Dame. Ile St. Louis was transformed from farmland to 17th century townhouses and is very picturesque and and exclusive place to live now. The main street has lots of little unique shops, restaurants and cafes of course, galleries and tony hotels and flats. It’s very picturesque and quaint, the 5 and 6 storey buildings with the ubiquitous Parisian wrought iron balconies over the window/doors.

We stopped at the start of the island for a coffee in one of the cafes which probably does cater to all the tourists but that’s what we were, after all. We asked for a coffee crème for Graham and a hot chocolate for me and looked at the case with the cakes. The waiter ran back and brought out a chocolate cake and that’s what Graham wanted. He went back to prepare it. It took a few minutes. It’s only cake, right? Or so we thought. He brought it back, four or five thin slices arranged on the plate, with sauce dribbled over it and the pate and whipped cream around it as well. Wow! This was something that happened a lot. Even a breakfast of an omelet was arranged artistically! It made eating a pleasure, even if it was just a snack let alone a meal.

We wandered through the island, window shopping and we picked up some sandwiches and drinks to have at the hotel later. Walked back to the river and across, catching a little bit of sun in the late afternoon, finally. My feet were pretty sore now and we were both very tired from the early start. Rue St. Germain actually came out very close to where the bridge was so we knew all we had to do was follow that but it was longer than we thought and I thought we had past where we needed to be at one point.

We finally did get to the hotel after another stop at a chemist to get bandaids because I was already developing a blister. That’s another thing we noticed about Paris. There are a *lot* of pharmacies. They are identified by a large green cross, usually neon, and they were all over the place.

We got to our room and took nice hot showers which revived us and we relaxed and looked at our pics on the digital cameras and had our snacks. It seemed like a long night, I kept waking up but a strange bed is always hard to get used to. The pillows were nice and soft though I did get a bit too warm so was throwing off the covers all night. The traffic on Rue St. Germain was noisy but we had double windows which kept it to a manageable level and it wasn’t what kept me awake, though it was noticeable when I was awake.

The skies are grey again today. Sometimes it looked like it might clear but it did rain a little at one point and sprinkle a bit now and then. The strikes are still on so we’re not quite sure how far afield we will get.

We went back to Rue de Buci for breakfast, sitting outside in Café Conti which had an enclosed outdoor eating area. There were smokers inside so we stayed out. The café had old 70s and 80s music playing. We had omelets which were excellent though the waiter didn’t quite understand that I wanted milk with my tea. He only brought more hot water when I asked so I had it black.

We walked down to the river again and found a statue of Voltaire which had a rather nasty expression on his face. I wonder if he was a bit of a plonker? We crossed over and had a look around the exterior of the Louvre which is closed on Tuesdays for maintenance. We saw a little round robot that was running up and down the glass pyramid cleaning the glass which was pretty cool. The Louvre was originally a palace and has been added to many times over the years. It’s a massive building with three wings. The courtyard now has a large glass pyramid that is the entrance hall underneath though you can also get to the entrance from the Louvre/Rivoli metro station. There are two smaller pyramids as well as some reflecting pools adding a bit of modernity to the old structure.

We went towards the Arc du Caroussel and the start of the Tuilleries Gardens. As we were walking out, a woman came up behind us and picked something up off the ground and showed it to us. It appeared to be a man’s heavy gold wedding ring. I wasn’t sure of everything she said but she wanted to give it to us for good luck. It was strange but we eventually took it and she left but then returned and seemed to say that it wasn’t good luck for us but for her. And then… asked for the price of a coffee. Ah HA! She seemed insistent though not aggressive and I thought I would give her a bit of change at least. I had less than one euro in coins and gave her that. You should have seen her face fall. She asked for 4 or 5 Euro (which, to be fair, is closer to the cost of a coffee in Paris) but I said that was all I had so she did go away. Serves her right, I thought. Stay tuned, though, that’s not the end of the story.

We walked over to the Musee D’Orsay which used to be a train station but is now a gallery and has some excellent Impressionist paintings. We had to queue to get through a security scan and then found the right line up to buy a museum pass but just as we got to the desk we noticed a sign that said the Impressionist galleries were closed because of the strike. That didn’t quite make sense but we found out later that there was also a general strike on today. Well, we didn’t want to bother paying for a pass or a ticket because it was the Impressionists that we particularly wanted to see. Any other museum we went to, we might as well just pay the entrance fee because it wouldn’t be worth getting a pass for at that point.

Where to next? Coffee, I think. Across the way from the museum was a café so that will do. Yes, more expensive, I suppose, because of it’s location but we just wanted to sit somewhere dry and warm. While we were waiting for our drinks, I took out that gold ring to have another look at it. Just as I realized it wasn’t in fact gold, but probably brass, the waiter came up and said something that ended in "pick pocket". My eyebrows raised and I said "Really??? A woman gave this to us…" He said "Oui, pickpocket!" Ah… Well it made more sense now then. And later on in the same day, someone approached Graham and tried to give him a gold ring but he said sorry, mate, I’ve already got one! This must be a common scam. I suppose when they’re bent down to "pick it up" they’re checking out where your wallet is and the state of your handbags and things. We didn’t lose anything to light fingers other than the few cents I gave the first woman so I guess we were pretty lucky!

We walked a bit from the cafe by Musee D'Orsay to a metro stop, thinking we might be able to get over to the Musee Carnavalet but we waited about 20 minutes and no train seemed inclined to come and there were only a few people waiting. On the way out, I noticed the video screen that said the line we were waiting for was "non assuré " , which basically means service is spotty at best. We finally decided to hike to Place de la Concorde and maybe get the metro there.

Well that was the plan anyway. We got to the square across the river, which was the location of the guillotine during the French Revolution. There are fountains and statues, an obelisk and the "Grande Roule", an observation wheel with hanging pods which only have a canopy over them for coverage. Graham took one look at that and said he'd not be caught dead on it but I could go if I wanted. I hadn’t actually planned to but why not? It was very lightly raining but the canopy kept me more or less dry. Views were pretty good if hazy and we went around quite a few times, at least a half dozen I'd say, for 8 euros. While I was on it, it did start to rain a bit harder so Graham waiting below got a bit soggy.

From there we walked to Rue Rivoli where there are large buildings lining the street with covered walkways. We window shopped there for a few blocks though I did actually pop into one or two stores and picked up a few Christmas gifts. Some of the boutiques were very expensive but not all, to my surprise.

We decided we were getting hungry so with that in the back of our minds, we headed down Rue Rivoli, thinking that there would be cafes or restaurants further down, which there probably were had we got that far but we got sidetracked when we saw the tall column in Place Vendome where the designer shops are. We walked through the square and down Rue de la Paix to see the posh shops such as Cartier, Van Cleef and Arples, Dior etc, and then ducked down a side street that had some eateries. We decided on a very basic takeaway type mid-eastern place that also had some tables inside. Graham had a kebab and I had a very excellent pizza that was topped with marvelous cheese.

By this time, we've reached mid-afternoon and decided against the Carnavalet because it had been raining on and off, mostly lightly and the busses and metro so far today proved to be a bit unreliable. We headed for the nearby Opera Garnier which also seemed to be closed. Behind it, however, were the big department stores, Au Printemps and Galleries Lafayette which we did go into.

Galleries Lafayette is huge, there is one 7 floor store and another multi floor store for menswear and yet another one for home décor. The main one has a large centre open area, that soars up to a marvelous stained glass dome. Their Christmas tree nearly reached the dome, or so it looked from the ground floor where mostly all the makeup, perfume and accessories were. We went to the top to see the Paris souvenir area and I did find a few things I liked including a ceramic building about 4 inches tall which has a café on the ground and the typical windows with balconies painted on as well.

We trudged around the store looking for loos and an atm, both of which seemed to elude us though we did find the toilet. I was getting warm and a bit cranky with sore feet again so we left there for the cool air and found another café for a restorative hit of caffeine and a pastry.

The sun was going down so the next place we thought we'd go was to see the Arc de Triomphe. We had to walk a little way to find the right spot for a bus but we didn’t have to wait too long for one. The Arc was closed so we couldn’t get up to the top *damn strike* but we took pictures around it and looking down the Champs Elysee where the Grande Roule all lit up could be seen in one direction and the Arch La Defense could be seen in the other direction where all the skyscrapers are.

Back to the bus stop, and the same bus route will take us to the Eiffel tower. Every hour on the hour it sparkles with thousands of lights, with a blue beam circulating on the top. It’s very cool! We took pictures from the Palais de Chaillot across the river and then walked over to it. It’s dark so the tower is all lit up and you just can’t imagine how huge it is! You know you can see it from most of Paris depending on if there aren’t buildings blocking the view so you know it must be tall but it’s more the sheer size of it that stuns you when you see it from the other side of the river and watch people and teeny tiny car lights streaming under and around the massive "legs" supporting it. It had stopped raining but it was quite windy and chilly under the tower. We had no intentions of going up it, we had just wanted to see it up close.

And boy were there a lot of cars as it was rush hour! Traffic in Paris is just madness! Even when the lights change, cars and scooters are bearing down on you from around the corners and and don’t seem to care if pedestrians are in the cross walk. We’ve even seen them back up into an intersection. They just don’t seem to give a stuff! What really impresses me, though, is that the cars are all in very good condition. Compare that with the crazy traffic in Rome where the cars are all scratched and dented!

We walked towards the College Militaire for a little way and noticed a lot of soldiers around. We aren’t sure if that’s because of the military school right there or if it’s just general security for such a high profile tourist icon. We found what looked like a main road and waited for a bus that looked as if it would get us close to the hotel but it never came while we waited. We walked a bit further to the nearest Metro station which was actually on the line that would go right to our hotel.

And waited. But this time it did seem like the announcements were a bit encouraging. The trains would be slow but they would arrive. We chatted to a nice man who spoke very good English and translated the announcement for us. Seems the line we wanted only had one train running back and forth so if we waited long enough, we'd be rewarded. Meanwhile, there were two guys further down the platform that were well into the party mood though it was only about 7:30 p.m. One had a guitar and they were singing Beatles songs (badly) at the top of their voices. Still, it passed the time and was entertaining if only for having something to make fun of!

The train came eventually. I think we only waited about 20 minutes in all though we'd also waited 20 minutes earlier for the bus. We got back to the hotel and decided to have dinner at the restaurant that was right underneath the hotel, Café Mondrian. We both had onion soup and Graham had a burger to see whether French burgers were better. He said it was quite tasty and he was satisfied. I had a really nice salmon with rice and salad and we had ice cream for dessert by the famed Berthillon company. Very intense flavours!

We slept late today. I guess we were later to bed than I realized. We woke up about 10 this morning and between the two of us getting ready, we weren’t out of the room until about 11! The sun was shining, the sky was blue and we'd slept away half the day! At least it’s nice to see the sun! We had a quick breakfast at a café on Rue St. Germain and headed to where we could catch a bus that would go all the way into Montmartre. Turns out there was a bus stop just feet from the intersection but we'd gone across the road and up a few blocks to find a stop. Just as well though, we passed a post office so I managed to get stamps for a few postcards.

The bus came after a few minutes. Still free of charge, too. It took 30-40 minutes to get there and only got us close-ish but was the easiest and most direct bus. We walked for a bit, not finding it quite as quaint as we expected at first but the streets were soon cobbled and narrower. There were lots of fruit and veg stands, flower shops and of course, cafes. We ended up by the Abbesses Metro so rather than going up closer to Sacre Coeur, we seemed to have gone sideways around it.

There was a gorgeous Byzantine church there, St. Pierre de Montmartre that we had a quick look at and inside they had some lovely stained glass windows. We saw a sign that pointed the way to the funicuclar that would pull us up to Sacre Coeur and when we got that far, there was a lovely old carousel at the foot of the hill. It’s really beautiful, with figures, and scenes and an organ on it and it’s actually got two levels. Things were ruined a little by a group of men that kept approaching the tourists trying to tie coloured lengths of string around wrists, for a fee no doubt.

The funicular was free! Up to the top to Sacre Coeur. In photos you see it looking very white and clean but it’s actually rather grey and dull. The views from the front of the church were pretty spectacular!

We went into the church which is very nice but not as impressive as Notre Dame. I turned the sound off on the camera and managed to get a few stealth shots without the flash.

We left there and strolled around behind, past St. Jean de Montmartre which is quite an old church. As we got closer to Place du Tertre where the artists are all set up, we were approached twice by painters carrying a canvas who were trying to get us to agree to sit for a portrait. No thanks. The square itself only seemed to be about a third filled with people set up but late November is hardly high season. You'd walk by and the artists would still try to call out and say we had inspiring faces. All the cafes around the square were hugely expensive so we had no intentions of having our lunch there.

We went to the Dali Exhibition just around the corner (see review) after we had a lovely lunch at Le Poulbot (see review).

We weren’t really sure where we were going when we started walking but we knew we'd come out of Montmartre if we just walked downhill. We followed a few lovely winding streets with beautiful houses. It was all very quiet, no traffic other than the occasional car and hardly even any people walking about at first. We knew we wanted to get to the Moulin Rouge eventually but at one point, weren’t quite sure where we were and couldn’t find the street on the map. I actually took a picture of a street sign on a road below us to get an idea and a man came along and gave us a hand as well. Where we were was actually just off the top of our map! He directed us to a little staircase, like an alley, which took us out onto a famous street, Rue Lepic, which, when followed, would take us down to where the Moulin Rouge was and back to "civilization".

Rue Lepic was home to several famous artists. If you go up it far enough you will also see another old windmill, the Moulin Galette though where we came out from the staircase was past that. Rue Lepic is lined with old buildings and quaint views and when it straightens out, there are a lot of fruit, veg, flower, cheese and butcher shops as well as interesting little gift shops and, of course, cafes. It doesn’t feel "touristy" at all yet I’m sure it is probably elbow to elbow with visitors in summer.

We rounded the corner and snapped a few pics of the red windmill over the famous nightclub, the Moulin Rouge, which was made famous by the can can dancers and Toulouse-Lautrec who painted the dancing girls there. Farther on is the large intersection, Place Clichy. The vehicles are coming from every direction and the bicycles, scooters and motorbikes are weaving in and out between the cars, trucks and busses. People cross the road whenever they can, regardless of the redness or greenness of the lights!

We got bus 95 and even got a seat! It stops right in the Louvre compound but we went out by the river to get a few pics with the late afternoon sun shining all golden on the water and buildings.

There weren’t long queues to get into the Louvre. Wednesday is late opening night and it’s about 5 p.m. now. My feet are really sore and I don’t know how long I’m going to last but we’re going to give it a try. I got frustrated pretty quickly because the museum map didn’t seem to match the signage and I couldn’t seem to get oriented. I was warm and my mouth was getting really dry. My blisters were killing me. We did manage to find the items on our list and saw some other nice statues and paintings along the way.

When I was first here in 1977, the Mona Lisa was on a wall, now she’s on a temporary wall in the middle of a large room with a "viewing" area roped off. Really seems to cheapen it now. The Venus is in a hallway all on her own and apparently it’s usually packed out too but when we were there, there were only about a dozen viewers. My favourite is the Winged Victory of Samothrace, the headless and armless statue that represents the Greek goddess Nike. She made a big impression on me in 1977 and I really wanted to see it again.

I was nearly at the end of my rope by this time and even finding a café was a trial because that was something else that didn’t seem to match the map. We found our way back out to the grand entrance hall under the pyramid and found a takeaway stall where we bought some water and some diet coke. We found a bench and recovered for awhile. It’s not like I expected to see the whole Louvre. You couldn’t possible and stay sane. There’s just too much and it’s something you need to take in smaller bites.

I started to feel a bit better once I'd rehydrated and rested my toes and I decided I did have one last burst of energy to go on our boat ride on the Seine. We made our way to the Pont Neuf (the oldest bridge in Paris even though the name means New Bridge). The boat dock is below the bridge near the left bank. We had a 40 minute wait for the next boat and had to use up most of the rest of our cash because they didn’t take credit cards.

The boat left at 8 and we started off outside on the top deck even though it was chilly. There was a multi lingual woman taking photos that you could buy after the cruise for 10 euro. The tour was narrated though the accent of the man doing it was very heavy and hard to make out. The buildings and bridges were so nice all illuminated. It all takes about an hour. We managed to get a few decent photos which is difficult obviously because of the movement and vibration of the boat.

The dock wasn’t that far from the hotel, about a 10 minute walk. I saw a sign that I thought said "Marquis de Sade" which sounded interesting. It was actually "Muraille de Jade" (see review).

Back to the hotel around the block, pack up our stuff and hit the sack because we want to get up early.