Paris Friday 29 August

Last day in Paris and again a full day out.

After a sleep-in I walked around this locality a little, just to see if there was anything I'd missed. I caught the Metros around to Maubert Mutualite: that's where Graham and I stayed on our first trip, in the Latin Quarter; I found the familiar spots where we'd walked often during that week.

That's where I got on the Batobus for a day trip; it's such a lovely leisurely ride along the river and you get views of the sights from a different angle, although it's difficult to get pictures because of the warped plastic windows on the boat. What a beautiful bridge, Pont de la Concord:

I got off at the Musée d'Orsay;

There was an exhibition of sculptures and Impressionists, so instead of one small room of Monets, there were at least a couple of dozen of them, if not more, mixed in with the other Impressionists. Again, a wonderful experience to linger over the works of the masters, and I've discovered a liking for Tissot this trip. I also discovered the rooftop clock and outside access which we hadn't seen before. Great shots from inside the clock!

From the rooftop, you can see Sacré Coeur:

I walked across another bridge and then across to the Place de la Concord to hop on a Metro to the same Costa coffee shop as yesterday for a huge iced coffee. By the time I got back to the square near home, it was after 4.00pm and I'd only been munching on fruit since a small breakfast, so I thought I'd go into Maccas, buy a burger and check out the wifi. That took a little longer on the tablet, but I caught up on everything, picked up a few little things for a light dinner and tomorrow's snacks for the airport and now I'm back in the hotel. Today's weather has been warmer than recent days and reached a high of 22! That's a hot summer day! Of course, they're heading into Autumn now.

A word of warning to any prospective users of the Paris Metro: firstly, you will need to take at least four different lines to get to where you want to go - go a few stops, get off, go up stairs, down stairs, around tunnels, up stairs, down stairs and get on the next one; repeat until you get to the stop you want. Having said that, once you understand the map and the station lists, it's dead easy for a touriste like me! Secondly, never stand back for anyone else! It's everyone for him/herself which I discovered to my detriment: standing back to wait for others, the horn sounded, the doors slammed and I was still waiting to get on! You definitely don't try to get on when the horn sounds because if you get caught between those slamming doors, there won't be much left of you! There's no guard, just the driver, so he can't see the platform. The trains move very fast and you can see right through to the front, snaking through tunnels, twisting and turning, all at breakneck speed.

Additional summary: all drivers in Europe are crazy! Taxi drivers, tour van drivers - absolutely crazy!