Paris report: The first part

[fuchs]

On our way to Paris via Thalys, there was an extremely annoying family. The only endearing act we witnessed was how the son made himself a terrorists mask out of one of those Church Day rags that everyone and their mother wore that day. Utterly fitting, somehow.



Then we were inside the Paris metro system, which is very old indeed. You can still see those beautiful old tilework. But there are next to no elevators or escalators, which is very inconvenient with baggage.



Abesses was our metro station, smack in the middle of Montmatre, and beautifully art nouveau.



Few meters away from it: Our hotel with the two chatty and friendly concierges.



We were really happy to reach our room, which was absolutely gorgeous! The wall paper wasn't paper, it was fabric.



And the view was green and calm. More room pics later.



When we walked through Montmatre in the evening, there was a friendly cat, up for a chat as well.



The next morning we went to the Louvre. We were early enough, apparently, so we had to wait in line for a very short time.



We started our tour in the ancient foundations of the old castle which stood there before.





Then we went to the egyptian exhibits, where I took a picture of mighty Horus for faelkchen. :)



There was so unbelievably much to see... Look at Isis, for example, and dare tell me the later pictures of Maria with her Holy Son weren't copies.



And the mummies, uaaah... they had mummies of cats (which I expected), crocodiles (which I did not expect) and shrews (which dumbfounded me totally). And where there weren't mummies, there were... stains... XD



Later on we visited the old chambers of the Louvre, lovingly restored.



This is me, right after I took the picture above. I just said: "Woah."



Sadly, my camera didn't took the three pictures I wanted to build into an animated gif. The way tourists are walking is just... eerily different.



This man is not taking any sound samples. It's not a man at all. It's art. Really. He didn't move at all. And he's standing on a small platform. Cool, huh?



I wasn't allowed to take any pictures in the paintings section, though there was SUCH a gorgeous behind in one painting... oh well, there were others...



And of course, Amor & Psyche, eliathanis' favourite statue. As you can see, many guides had light sabers. O.o New work opportunities for Jedi!





One very severe statue held this... eagle fledgling? Looks like a mini-owl to me.



And then we were at the Seine, finally. And it was just as beautiful as I imagined it.



Under the bridges live the very poor, who are bugging tourist nearly everywhere.



I had to steady the camera where I could.



Yeah, well. I took so many pictures of her (it's LA Tour Eiffel, I was told), that in the end even Elia grew exasperated. XD



At Pont Neuf we climbed into a batteaux, which gave as a beautiful tour of the Seine. It was really tackily decorated, though.



Lookit, Paris' smallest house. :D



Even the ugly streets were beautiful...



And the details. For example: fox handles!



On our way back we stopped at a supermarket, where we found a whole big rack of mousse-au-chocolats. It was overwhelming. *drool*



tbc...