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 -