Musée Paris

Yes, Paris is full to the brim with more than its fair share of museums and art, and we took a crack and seeing as much of it as we could. Had I not kept a close eye on Jeni she would probably still be wandering one of the museums or galleries we saw.

We had a huge day on Friday. We got up early to see the Centre Georges Pompidou which is the modern art gallery. We arrived an hour early at 10am and didn't leave until well after 5. Jeni described it as walking thru all her art history textbooks. Myself, I loved the Hergè (creator of Tintin) exhibition - with all the original sketches and storyboard mockups in French, and the photography.

That evening we met with Brooke and Tash for cheap meals (€10 for three courses) in the Latin Quarter, then headed over to the Louvre because it was free on Friday nights for youth. We spent from 9.00 to 9.45 madly running around the Louvre trying to see as much as possible before it closed. The place is amazing, with all sorts of wonderful surprises. A great balance, which is a nice change from the 'boring' galleries of Italy.

After the Louvre we decided to walk the city at night. We walked from the Louvre along the river to Place de la Concorde and then the entire length of Champs Élysées to Arc de Triomphe. Managed to finally get home after midnight exhausted.

The next day it was sunny and clear, a nice change from the low cloud which was around since we arrived. We decided to check out Tour Eiffel which we had been holding off. We got there, took some photos but decided against going up because it was too windy and the girls were cold. We instead walked down to the river and took one of the tourist cruises. After that, Jeni and I took the metro down to the very new and impressive La Défence. That night we had dinner in the Latin Quarter again.

Today was the first Sunday of February. This doesn't mean much at home, but for Europe it means that most museums have free entrance. We chose to go back to the Louvre to check out the parts we didn't see the first time.

So, to sum up our Paris experience - it was great. Beautiful by day and night. The people were fantastic, and we saw none of the snobby attitude we had heard about. Overall we really enjoyed it - especially the art and culture of the city.