Le Louvre and The Tireds

Our mammoth exploration into Le Louvre after four and a half weeks of constant travel resulted in meltdown. All four of us totally spent. We limped back to our apartment and collapsed. Must
be time to come home.

The Dog Blog

In honor of our beloved boy dog back home, I thought a blog about the European approach to dogs would be fun to write. If you are not a dog person I recommend you switch off now.
As in Australia, dogs come in all shapes and sizes but there are some differences too.
We have seen a surprising number of Schnitzel Von Crumbs (dauschounds), golden retrievers (in the south of France they were very popular), and French Bulldogs (definitely the status breed) but mainly lots of 'no breed' dogs, small of stature, longish fur. When I asked a man in a cafe what breed his puppy was he said, 'I don't know, he's just A Dog!' and in a way, this sums up the European approach to their pooches.
I have noticed many dogs have docked tails, a practice which has been banned in Australia for some years and sadly, many dogs that are not neutered. Surprisingly I haven't seen any stray dogs. I wonder what the state of their pounds is, given the high number of un neutered animals.
We have seen a few pet shops and grooming salons.
But the most interesting thing is that dogs are so welcome in Europe in public places. In France you can take your dog almost anywhere including most tourist attractions. It is not uncommon to see a small dog being carried by its owner around the interior of a castle for example. We saw many dogs being carried around in baskets when we visited the food markets.
Dog owners are relaxed, allowing their dogs to roam around in public off lead. Most dogs appear to have good recall and are happy to follow their owners around. They are also relaxed around each other indicating they have been well socialized.
We have seen a few beggars with puppies. No doubt the presence of a puppy attracts a few extra euro from passing tourists, particularly teenage girls (I talking about you Jess).
Dog poo is everywhere, although less in Paris.
Here are some photos of a few dogs we have seen in our travels.

Jessie and the Escargots

You may enjoy seeing Jessie eating one of her long awaited French dishes as much as we enjoyed watching her eat them. Only frog's legs to go...

Paris Day Three

James birthday called for a big day. So we left our apartment at 7.30am and headed off via the Metro to the Eiffel Tower. An impressive structure built in the 1880's, it was a great experience just to be standing under it. After waiting an hour in the queue we realized we were in the wrong queue and raced over to the other queue for those silly enough to climb the Eiffel Tower by stairs. We made it to the 2nd level then took the escalator to the top. I'm not sure if I was feeling dizzy or it actually was moving, but it was a wonderful and weird experience being up that high. My initial reaction was to throw myself on the floor sobbing with fear. I'm not good with heights.
Afterwards we took a cruise down The Seine, stopping off at Notre Dame, then headed off to the The Louvre to buy tickets for our visit the next day. If that wasn't fun enough we boarded the boat again and headed for the Champs Élysées for a walk up the avenue reaching the Arc de Triomphe. Of course we had to climb that too, so 284 steps later we had a birds eye view of crazy Parisians driving around the Arc. A few close calls were witnessed including people on bicycles, 3 wheeled vans, buses, trucks, taxis. Footsore and exhausted we stopped at a restaurant for James' birthday dinner. Jessie ordered her long awaited escargots but gagged at the first one. So lucky James finished them off. Dragging ourselves home via the crowded Metro we collapsed into bed ready for another day in Paris.

Paris

It's boiling hot, full of people smoking, dog poo everywhere, sirens, crazy drivers, glorious tall 18th and 19th century apartment buildings lining the streets, baguettes on every street corner, Vespa motor-scooters galore, red geraniums in balcony pots, graffiti, pollution, kebab shops, beautifully dressed people, homeless, beggars and makes me appreciate Melbourne all the more.
Today we said goodbye to the Renault, but only after a hair raising drive through Paris. It seemed Madame Tom Tom wasn't going to show up, so James drove without her for a full 5 minutes. Finally she woke up and off we drove in the peak hour traffic to Versailles. We braved the Periferique for the second time, nearly getting sideswiped by a Peugeot.
Two hours later we made it to Versailles but then had to wait in no less than three queues before entering the palace. Every human being on the planet was visiting Versailles today, which made it challenging to enjoy the decadence of the place. And very difficult to take decent photos so apologies for the poor photography.
We headed back to Paris on the Metro after saying goodbye to the car at long last. No dints, scratches, no car crashes. I was so relieved to walk away with our lives intact. James has earned himself a place in the Guinness Book of Records 2012 for driving in the most dangerous conditions while putting up with me having anxiety attacks next to him.
Tonight we visited Montmarte, the site of the famous Amelie movie, a huge favorite of Jess and mine. Lots of artists, cafes, musicians, touristy shops. Couldn't find Amelie's cafe so we
popped into the Sacre Coeur, then wandered past the Moulin Rouge just because you have to if you visit Paris.
We are exhausted from traveling but have so much still to see. Here are some shots of our day.