We had an early start today.
The weather was promising snow and to be rather cold. It was about -5 degrees when we ventured out
to visit Sacre Coeur as it was close by and Lisa had not been there
before. It was bitterly cold with a wind
chill factor taking the experienced temperature to -8 according to Lisa and
Pauly.
We took the metro to Musee d’Orsay which is in an old
railway station. Lisa knew the right
station to get off and then guided us accurately to the correct place. We bought tickets that enabled us to go to
both the Musee d’Orsay and the Musee d’Orangerie. It included an exhibition about the
relationship between fashion and art in the 19th Century that was
quite interesting. I had gone out before
Lisa and Bev and was just standing around when I was asked a question by a
woman which once I understood it was that she wanted to know where to get the pamphlet
for the exhibition. I said that it was
at the beginning of the exhibition and then she asked me where I came from. I
told her and she laughed and asked how I was coping with the cold. I replied OK and off she went laughing
away.
We saw some of the impressionist paintings and then it was
time to find some food. I took the women
on a bit of wild goose chase but we did find a nice little café where there was
a view of the street. We ate simply, a
croque monsieur/madame and an omelette.
It was substantive, well cooked and tasty. Just as we were leaving there was a
manifestation (demonstration) where the demonstrators were almost outnumbered
by the police who were standing around in the freezing weather with their shields. We think the demonstration was by people who
were effectively stateless - they had no right of abode in France or the
EU. We then walked across the river to
l’Orangerie and spent another hour or so in that art museum.
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| My torment |
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| Bev pretending to be warm in Ferris Wheel |
When we emerged it was dark, the wind was cold and we began
heading to the Metro station at the Place de la Concorde. We got slightly delayed due to the beauty of
the Eiffel Tower all lit up, and beside us a smaller version of the London Eye
(a ferris wheel). Lisa got seriously
excited and decided that we ought to go for a ride. I protested as I was cold (still suffering
the effects of a cold) and just wanted to find somewhere warm again. Bev caught the enthusiasm and next thing I
knew we were in an unheated, draughty pod with flurries of snow swirling around
the Ferris wheel. We got a neat view of
the Champs Elysees and also of the Eiffel Tower. I thought it would just be one revolution,
but no, it kept going around. We were
laughing, or the girls were at me, while I bemoaned the fact that we getting
far more for our money and that was I mad paying money for to freeze to
death. Nonetheless I would not have
missed that moment of madness for anything.
We headed back to the apartment to warm up. By the time we had emerged from the Metro at
Pigalle the street and footpaths were covered with a thin layer of snow which
kept getting thicker. It looked
magical. We took a lot of photos of
course.
In the evening we went to the Café des 2 Moulins, which
featured in the movie Amelie where we
met a friend of Siobhan (a friend from Wellington). Megan is a New Zealander who did a French
assistantship about five years ago and
liked it so much that she did another before seeking work in Paris where she
has been at NZTE for the past few months.
She is now seeking another job as her contract is about to run out.
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| Snowballing |
We sat by the window watching the odd car sliding around in
the snow, motorbikes unable to stay upright and people slipping in the slightly
icy conditions. The bar was not very
full for a Friday night which we assumed was due to the more sensible people
staying home in the warmth. While
there were not a lot of people in the bar it was still very noisy with French
techno-pop being played which meant that after about two hours of shouting at
each other we agreed a bit of peace and quiet was required. Despite the cold weather the smokers were
still outside under the heated lamps smoking.
As an aside I have been amazed at the number of smokers who despite temperatures
of zero degrees still sit outside smoking.
Even the weather has not provided an incentive to stop smoking.
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| Cafe des 2 Moulins |
The streets were quiet with virtually no traffic apart from
the odd taxi creeping cautiously along the street. In the meantime I had gone inside to get my
camera so I could record Paris under snow.
Lisa, Bev and Megan were not so quiet with much shrieking going on as
they made snow balls and threw them, mostly inaccurately, at me. We spent a
wonderful half an hour out in the cold throwing snowballs at each other and
generally behaved like adolescents before going inside to continue conversing.
It had been a very full and wonderful day where we did
things cultural, met a lovely new person and had a number of exciting
experiences.
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