Monday, May 08, 2006

Paris

Apologies for my absence. I got back from Paris and started working like mad on mid-semester uni assignments. I'm studying almost full-time by correspondence and balancing that with two jobs (albeit little ones) is complicated!

Paris was nice. A lot like London except warmer, prettier, cleaner and everyone spoke French. And I didn't meet any of the rude French people that I've heard so much about. Then again, my standards have lowered. Oh, in the defence of England I should say that the amount of smoking in Paris is gross, even worse than central London.

Seeing all the main sights over the Easter weekend meant waiting in a lot of very long queues. And when we did get inside anywhere it was like being in the middle of a herd of very slow moving wildebeest. Resistance to the group direction was futile. Still, I saw all the big stuff and got this photo to go with the ones from the family trip to Pisa.


The museums were the most crowded places of all and Louvre would have been boring if not for the wacky antics of other tourists. I kicked myself when I missed a shot of a tourist holding on to the leg of an ancient Greek statue and posing for his friend's camera. Fortunately I managed to take this cautious couple.


And I discovered that there are much more exclusive locations for wedding photos than Kowloon Park.


The Musee D'Orsay was my personal highlight. Even there, I concentrated on a small selection of rooms. It's weird but my interest in art only extends to Impressionist outdoor scenes. I think it's because they were the only thing we had at home when I grew up.


So Paris was good but I don't want to do it as such a tourist again.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Joe,
Glad you enjoyed being French for a while. It looks like you enjoyed the trip too. Went up to CKMSC for 10 minutes last week and there are a lot of changes. They have taken another flat on the 17 floor. Tell you more about it later.
Keep in touch
Bill

Anonymous said...

Nice.

Anonymous said...

Mr Bill! I had an email from Sister S last week saying 'by the way, I'm now the boss'. It's awesome that they have a second flat. I'd love to hear your version cos she was very brief.

Yes Victor, while you pushed through crowds of Chinese tourists in Beijing I was doing the same in Paris. As China grows wealthier the Louvre is going to have to start limiting visitors to half an hour each. Or maybe install some kind of moving walkway conveyorbelt system.