Paris - Coming to an end

Our final full day in Paris was the Louvre.  To try and keep it as interesting as possible for the kids, Serena had managed to create a scavenger hunt for some of the most interesting pieces for them to find on their way through (thanks Chat GPT).  Once again we had a timed slot to enter the museum and after standing in the wrong line for about 10 minutes we found our way to the right line for our time slot.  I’d have to say the way the Parisian’s organise their entry lines for their various monuments, icons and sights is pretty amazing.  The first line that we stood in was the 9am line (with ours being 9:30am tickets), the line would have had a couple of hundred people in it (still at 9:15) and we were lined up around the corner, as we found our way to the right line they managed to escort all of these people through their security checks and in the door and started processing our line pretty much bang on time.

Once in, the pure scale of the museum and even the history of the museum itself (before you even get to the exhibits) is pretty fascinating and incredible.  We grabbed our audio guides which are Nintendo DS’s equipped with a 3D map of the entire museum as well as Audio descriptors of the main artefacts and exhibitions. 

It might be saying something about the age of the parents more than anything else, but both Serena and I really struggled with the clumsiness of them and the navigation left something to be desired (although I think Kaia was the first to really get the hang of it, so make of that what you will…), we managed to get a few of the descriptions going, but largely didn’t bother as it was just too much hassle.  A big highlight for Zach in the Louvre was the Egyptian exhibition and some of the history of that part of the world, not to mention the 1 Mummy they have on display.  For me and Kaia it’s a bit of a cliche I suppose, but there’s something about seeing the Mona Lisa in person, but I was also just absolutely fascinated by the history and architecture of the Louvre itself.  

I think ultimately I’d love to come back again and be able to spend a bit more time really taking in some of the exhibits as while the kids did exceptionally well walking through and taking their time, the reality is that trying to keep an 10 and 7 year old entertained for the amount of time it would take to properly go through was probably a bit much.  After the Louvre we then headed out for a bite to eat in the heart of Paris where this time it was our waiter (at a very nice Parisian restaurant) who took a liking to Zach’s haircut, telling him he’d love to have the same if he could get away with it.

As we now head on to Porto and Portugal for the next couple of weeks I’m left really thinking about how some of my illusions and expectations about Paris have been, to put it bluntly, shattered.  I came to Paris expecting history and I guess a concrete jungle which is absolutely true, but I was also expecting it to be a bit dirty and smelly, time and again I’d heard different stories about the smell and how rude Parisian’s are, and well, I just didn’t experience that at all.  It was pretty clean for a city of its size and age, the metro was amazing, there really was very little smell and certainly nothing like the stories I’ve heard, and the people were amazing, friendly, helpful and lovely, nothing like the parochial speak French or get out stories I’ve heard in the past, I can’t wait to see what the rest of France brings later in the trip.