29. For the Grandboys: Pour Jacques et Henri

Bonjour Jacques,  Bonjour Henri,

The very tall building on the left of this picture is the Paris Town Hall.  It is much bigger than the Geelong Town Hall, which is near your Daycare.  This one is called the "marie".

In front of the marie is a vary large, open, flat area called a "place" where all sorts of interesting things happen.

The very interesting thing that happened today was tennis.  At the moment the French people are having a big tennis tournament called "The French Open Tennis Tournament" and tennis players from all around the world, including Australia, have come to see if they can play well enough to win the first prize.

So that everyone gets a chance to enjoy the tennis, the Mayor of Paris decided to have tennis in the square.  In these pictures you can see a huge television screen at the back of the square - big enough for everyone to see.

The whole area has been painted orange like a tennis court - with white lines.  At the front there are small, blue tennis courts where children can learn about tennis by hitting the ball over the net to each other.  There is a tennis coach there to help them learn the rules.  Can you see him in the green shirt?

At the very back there are bigger courts for older children (but they are difficult to see.)

And there is a big trampoline with a white safety net. Trampolining is good exercise for tennis players because they have to be very fit and have very strong muscles.

And today we also saw this spotted car in our street.  Have you ever seen a spotted car in Geelong?

And here are the last of my interesting photos.  This grey car was parked in a "No Parking" area.  

What is happening to it?

Yes - it was towed away.

And 15 minutes later, a black car parked in the same "No Parking" area - and guess what happened......?

We are missing you both a lot (and Mummy and Daddy too).  Shall I say goodbye in French?

Au revoir, Jacques!  Au revoir, Henri!

28. Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers

I have only one photo to send today.

For the past two days we have been at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers- the museum of lifelong education, research and innovation and scientific and technical knowledge.  In summary, thousands upon thousands of models of machines in glass cases: from the simplest to the most complex.   Doesn't sound much, I know - but it was so interesting we went two days in a row.

But it was not conducive to photography; unevenly lit, lots of old glass that doesn't photograph well, and there are only so many glass cases that I can make "look" interesting.
But here is one, and it is a good example of the whole place.  It shows how the Egyptian obelisk in the Place de la Concorde was erected. 



Yesterday, Sunday 29 May and we ventured briefly to the other side of the river, to the Left Bank, to buy a large electric car fridge for our next 4 months of motoring.  It was a very large box to get home on the bus - awkward to carry and manoeuvre.  I felt that there were twice as many people on the streets this weekend as there were three weeks ago, when we arrived.  While the trains and buses were packed, you just couldn't move on the footpaths in the Latin Quarter and on Boulevard Saint-Michel on the Left bank  We felt very grateful that we'd chosen to be in the quieter suburbs around rue St-Honore and the Louvre.  Not that it is all that quiet here at night though.  The apartment is double glazed and keeps about 85% of the noise out - but the restaurants don't close till 2am (6 nights per week), the night clubs in neighboring streets discharge their last patrons at 5am and those people can be loud, and then the garbage collections every second day start at 6.30.  It takes a bit of getting used to.  OK for the good sleepers though - Paul has  heard nothing for 3 weeks!

This is our final week in Paris and we plan to complete our month by going atop the Eiffel Tower and revisiting the gardens and Trianon at Versailles.  On Wednesday we will pick up the car from the Peugeot dealership at La Defense and leave Paris on Thursday 2 June - which is a public holiday in France and it may be a little quieter on the road.  

While I was at the Musee des Arts et Metiers today, I read something about water and dams and hydro electricity, and about sustainability and the current water wars in Africa and the Middle East.  The document said "in Paris the average consumption of water is 100 litres per head of population per day (all sources); in Sydney, Australia it is 10 times that"!

I was reminded of this document that Adam sent me -

27. Avenue des Champs-Elysees. Part 2

So we have walked to the top of the Avenue des Champs-Elysees and there is nothing between us and the Arc de Triomphe except a whole lot of traffic.

So we go down the steps on the left, into this underground gallery .............

....and emerge under the grand arch .......

..... at the tomb of the unknown soldier.

Looking up .... this thing is VERY big .............

...... and the figures in the decorative sculptures on the sides are about 15 feet tall.

I wasn't going to go up.  I said I'd happily wait at the bottom for an hour while Paul went up.  50 metres, straight up.  234 steps with no elevator.  And I needed to go to the loo.  "I'm not going up," I said.  "I'd rather wait here," I said. 

I'm weak, I know.  And as it turned out, there was a loo on the horizontal bit before you get to the "roof".  All the same ..... that was a lot of steps.  Funny thing - I remember just about running up those same steps 13 years ago.   The photo above shows our walk -from the Place de la Concorde and the Louvre (hard to see, I know) up the tree-lined Champs-Elysees.

The traffic on the Champs Elysee side of the Arc. See the red bus on the left near the trees? That is the spot where I took the first photo, and where the steps go down to the pedestrian gallery underneath this whole intersection.

There are 12 grand boulevards radiating out from the Arc de Triomphe, each named after a famous historical battle; here are two of them. I think one is the Avenue des Grand-Armees, but I'm not sure.

It is easy to see the Tour Eiffel.  Other landmarks are more difficult to photograph.

This is Avenue Foch - the most expensive residential real estate in Paris.  "How's that for a set-back?" says Paul.

And here is La Defense.  See the invisible arch (the Grande Arche de la Defense, built in 1989) in the centre?  Brilliant.

Paul spent ages watching the traffic .........

........ watching............. watching...............

....... watching.     

When he picks our car up in a few days time, he has to drive it back to our apartment around the Arc de Triomphe and down Avenue des Champs-Elysees!    Brave man, my Paul.  

I guess I should tell you something about the Arc de Triomphe.  In 1806, after the Battle of Austerlitz, Napoleon declared to his soldiers "you will march home through arches of victory".  The inspiration for Napoleon's arch was the Arch of Titus in Rome (Napoleon had a liking for ancient Rome).  It was constructed between 1806 and 1836 and stands on Paris' main east-west road, linking the Palais le Louvre, the Tuileries, the Place de la Concorde, the Avenue des Champs-Elysees, the Avenue de la Grande-Armee and the Grande Arch de la Defense.   Wow!  What a mouthful..... and this is the route Paul has to drive when he picks up our car, and again when we leave Paris to go down south.  Scary! Scary!  Funny though .... he's not phased at all.  In fact, he's looking forward to it!

Arc de Triomphe

And those of you who are on the ball, will be asking "What happened to your trip to the up-market market?"  Well, it was a fizzer, wasn't it!   Too expensive, not fresh enough, too many tourists......  so we had to have a coffee and consult the map.  How to get to our regular market from where we were.  What was best?  Bus or train?  Choices, choices.

So we decided - one stop on Metro Line 8, then two stops on the RER A line ...... that got us to Opera..... then we hiked it to the market, about 400m but most of it underground, including a lift!

And voila! Here we are at our "local" - Marche St. Honore, every Wednesday from 11.00 am till 7.00 pm.

Filled pasta, salami, prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella.........

Cutting Paul's prosciutto ...... "Thin enough, signore?"

Buying fruit and veg - filling the free bag we were given by a nice lady from  "Les Marches des Paris".  I'm sure we'll make good use of it when we get out to the regional areas.

Then the walk home (about 2.5 km), via the butcher and the boulangerie.  I've given up cakes.... they're too wicked!  But the bread ..... ooooohhh, the bread, freshly baked for the restaurants at 6pm - that's when we get ours too.  And I'll have to tell you about dinner at the wine bar last night.... it was so good!

26. Avenue des Champs-Elysees. Part 1

Our task today was to buy fruit and vegetables.  I decided we would forgo the same-old, reliable, high quality, fresh fruit and veg market at St. Honore that had served us well for the past three weeks.  I decided we should broaden our horizons and try an "up-market" market, something "recommended" by those who profess to know about the famous Paris marches.   

So I chose Marche Poncelet, somewhere in the area of the Champs Elysee/Arc de Triompe and therefore quite a way from where we live and quite a way to lug the loot home.  But, intrepid tourists that we are - why not?  So we caught the bus to the end of the Tuileries, alighting at the Place de la Concorde - the one with the Egyptian obelisk. Place de la Concorde is the beginning of the Avenue des Champs-Elysees and we decided to walk the boulevard from the Place de la Concorde at one end to the Arc de Triomphe at the other.
Avenue des Champs-Elysees

From the Place de la Concorde........

 ..... past the Grande Palais on one corner........

... past numerous parks along the way ...........

....... through very large intersections …..  the cyclists have no fear, they go wherever cars go...….

....... past the cleaning of the fountains and replanting of the garden beds ...........

...... up and up the wide pedestrian paths ........

..... till we are almost at  the top of the hill.  As a point of reference, I think this is where the Tour de France does a 360 degree turn (make that a 180 degree turn) and goes back down the Champs-Elysees.

And finally we are there...... the Arc de Triomphe.

We saw two interesting things along the way.

The first was a pair of Australian made ugg boots for 205 euros.  That is $293.00 AUD for the short pair.  Things are expensive in this part of town.

The second was the Peugeot dealership, complete with these blue things.

I am reliably advised that the first object is a La Monza racing car.  No further detail forthcoming.   And the second is a Peugoet 404 that looks nothing like the 404's we have in Australia.

Part 2 - coming up.