Bonjour! Here we are in the land of “Fwonce”, after taking the ferry from the white cliffs of Dover to Calais, and then the train to Paris. Weird train carriages - front half would be a smoking section but back half of same carriage would be non smoking! We found a carriage with no smoking at either end, fortunately…

Been to the Eiffel Tower and decided to spend less and go up by steps to the 2nd level instead of taking the lift. To take lift would have meant a long wait anyway whereas steps line was quite short. Good view from the top and not a really strenuous climb compared to Statue of Liberty in NY.

Checked out the Arc de Triomphe from the ground level - why pay to go up when you’ve been up the Eiffel Tower?

Went to the Louvre today and saw the Mona Lisa - quite a nice frame around it, I thought, and nowhere near the lines we had been warned about. We just walked straight up to it, same as Venus de Milo (aka “Chick With No Arms Therefore Cannot Hold Up Her Clothes”). Other items in Louvre far more interesting, we felt, especially the underground castle remains that the palace which became the Louvre is sited on.

Saw lots of pictures and sculptures of naked people - seems people throughout history have had problems keeping their clothes on, if the artworks were aything to go by. Either that or “great artists” were just perverts…

Found a flea market where people were selling what seemed to be stolen goods - you have to wonder when a person walks up to you and offers you one gold ring and a mobile phone reeeeally cheap…

Hotels in Paris seem to charge extra for a shower and this is a bad thing since we have smelled much more body odour here than anywhere else (even in really hot coutries!). Seems showering is not a common thing for Parisians which is, er, interesting when all crammed into a train.

We are in a hotel on rue St Denis in the heart of the city. The “Let’s Go” book specifically says to avoid it but does not say why. We know why - there are many sex shops and prostitutes at one end, but lots of restaurants at the other end, so we would have to go there for dinner anyway. Perhaps those with families might wish to avoid it, but not scary to us.

Going to Hong Kong on 26th which should be interesting. Until now, we have usually been able to guess text when in Portugese, Italian, Spanish, and French because pretty similar to English in many cases. Going to Hong Kong will be the first test of our linguistic skills in Asia and a little daunting. However, mime bridges all languages and dancing like a chicken keeps us fit…

Categories: Travel, Odyssey 2001