Au revoir Paris

Day 15 (Monday 9th July)

Time for the big one - it's off to the Louvre. It was a cold, wet and miserable day as I caught the metro over there. I avoided the line-up for tickets by buying my ticket from the Metro Station - at an extra 70 cents this is the best way to go by far. I started off trying to find the Mona Lisa using the map. This is a complete waste of time - from the time you walk in the door you can just follow the crowd and it will take you straight there. Whilst it is an excellent painting you're better off studying a reprint - trying to view it properly from that crush is a joke. I did find paintings by Raphael, David, Michelangelo and others that I thought were just as good, and without the hordes. The Louvre concentrates mainly on French and Italian artists, and I stuck mostly to these, although I did seek out one by the Dutch painter Van Meer that was mentioned in the audio guide at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam when I looked at another of his.

After the Louvre I went to dinner at a superb restaurant called (?). This was a mistake of sorts - my lonely planet guide said it was a medium price restaurant when in fact it was priced like a Michelin starred one, but by the time I discovered this they had already gone to some trouble to fit me in without a booking, I'd already ordered a glass of champagne and I was too embarrassed to get up and leave again. I had the tasting menu as I did in the restaurant in Germany, and whilst the service was not as good, the food was truly magnificent.

To round the night out I went to the cabaret at the Lido. I had been tossing up whether or not to go to a cabaret when Barbara offered to put me in touch with a friend of hers. He very kindly organised a ticket for me, and I enjoyed the show immensely. The dance numbers were terrific and much as I had imagined, but it was much more a variety show than a straight dance show as I had expected, with some gymnastics, juggling, mime and other things thrown in. The dance is still the focus though, and it really was spectacular. Unfortunately they don't allow cameras inside, so I can't show you any pictures.

After I left the Lido I took a quick stroll up to the Arc de Triomph to grab a few photos before catching the night bus back to the Louvre and a chilly 2km walk from there.

Day 16 (Tuesday 10th July)

Tuesday was another cool and rainy day but I was determined to go and see Versailles regardless so off I set. It's about 45 minutes away by train, and costs less than 10 euros ($15) return. The palace is similar in style to the Schloss Charlottonberg in Berlin, but on a much larger scale. The rooms are furnished in a similar style, but the ceilings are much higher and all have magnificent paintings on them. The hall of mirrors is amazing, and the grounds are unbelievable.

Day 17 (Wednesday 11th July)

It's 4pm and I'm sitting on a train on my way from Paris to Bordeaux. I saw most of the main tourist sights in Paris, but I would have liked to actually climb the Arc de Triomph, and to have visited the Musee d'Orsee and the modern museum. It would have been interesting to visit one of the cemeteries too. I will definitely come back to Paris one day if I have the chance.