Paris Part 1, France 18.08

We left Bern fairly early, after we packed up our tent and filled the car. Somehow we managed to leave behind most of our cutlery and our eating bowls. This was a bit annoying, but we were on our way to Paris, so nothing could keep our spirits down. After 600km of driving, we arrived in 'Bois de Boulogne', where our campsite was located. It was a very good thing that we booked, as the line at the reception was out the door. The boom gates were shut as well, because they didn't have room for any more people.

After we set up our tent, we decided to head into the city for dinner. We drove the car to the nearest metro station, and took the subway from there. While we were parking, we found out from a local that the every parking meter in the city that has a yellow sticker, means free parking for the month of August. Perfect for us! It's probably because all Parisiens are out of the city on holidays at that time.

We left our car at along the street near the Porte Maillot metro station. We noticed that there seemed to be a lot of vans parked there. It didn't take long to figure out that these were "shaggin' wagons", or cars used by sex workers. They wait in the front seats for their clients and then escort them to the back. We managed to see inside one of them, when a woman opened the side door to throw out some water. She was dressed up in tight gold and silver clothes, and the inside walls were covered in curtains, with pillows and a mattress/couch at the side. After this peek into the life around Bois de Boulogne, we decided to go to Bastille for our dinner. Artur had eaten there before with his cousin who lived in Paris for a while. Loren was thrilled when we stepped out of the metro station onto the Place de la Bastille. The giant monument in the centre of the traffic was enormous, and the houses all around the square were just so French.
The Bastille was built during the 14 century as a fortified royal residence. The monument here represents this building and the success of the revolution, as the building no longer exists. The residence, which turned into a notorious prison, was demolished by revolutionary mobs on the 14th July 1789. The Bastille monument is in the centre of a busy traffic roundabout, and the backstreets nearby are full of ethnic bars and restaurants. We decided to bypass these restaurants and find one that was recommended in Lonely Planet. It was a fair walk to get there, and we were starving after our long day of driving. Unfortunately, true to form, the Parisien owners had closed the restaurant for a month while they went on holiday.
We were very disappointed, and very hungry, so we quickly made our way back to restaurants we'd passed before. After a bit of a browse, we chose a restaurant that served fondue, as Loren had been dying to try it, even since we had been in Switzerland. This restaurant was actually an Italian one, but the only one to serve fondue. Unfortunately, when we had finally gotten the waiter's attention to order, he told us they weren't serving fondue that night. We were starving and annoyed by this point, but we decided that if they didn't serve fondue, we should find a more french restaurant.
We came across hundreds of restaurants serving sushi, chinese stirfries, pizza, indian curries, but no french food! Eventually, we found a little place that served 'menus', or 3 courses for one price. It was a cute little restaurant, and we got a nice table by the street, so we could watch the people going by.
After the comedy of errors that had brought us to the restaurant, Loren started to feel a bit ill. She had some crippling stomach pains, but she struggled through the meal. As soon as we'd finished there, we headed home, so Loren could lie down. We were pretty ready for bed anyway, as our day had been a long one.

As we drove home from the metro, we spotted prostitutes everywhere along the sides of the roads. Their skin reflected in the headlights as we drove past, so all you could see was flashes of legs and arms all along the street.

Tour Eiffel
The next day, we headed back into the city by metro, and headed for the number one tourist destination - The Eiffel Tower! It was exciting to see it so close as we walked from the metro station. It was so big and familiar.

As we got closer, Loren thought it looked a bit uglier than she had imagined. There were nice sections of latticework around the four legs of the tower, but up close it really just looked like a radio tower. It the pictures and in little sculptures, it's always shining and silver, but it doesn't really look like that in real life.
The tower was controversial when it was built, and received massive opposition from Paris' artisitic and literary elite. It was built in 1889 for the World Fair, and it was almost torn down in 1909. It was saved though, because it was a good platform for radio antennas.
We stood underneath the tower and stared up at the higher levels. There were four lines to climb the Eiffel Tower. Two were for people that wanted to walk part of the way, and then take the elevator for the rest. The longer line was for people who wanted to take the elevator the whole way.

We spent a bit of time in both queues, trying to decide whether it was worth taking the stairs, and cutting down the wait. Loren wasn't keen though, as the line wasn't that much shorter. We desperately tried to find a loophole, or some way to get around the queues. We couldn't find any booking agencies, any internet sites, nothing. You just had to wait.
Loren was prepared to spend 3 hours in line and miss other things in Paris, so we decided to just leave it and come back later to see if the lines were shorter. We never did though, but Loren was happy just seeing the tower. The view was not what mattered to her. Artur had been up there before, so his need to climb every tower in the world was satiated.

Next we went to Trocadero which is a huge building facing the Tour Eiffel. It probably has the best view of the tower, in all Paris. We walked past the fountains and stairs which lead up to the Trocadero.
From here, the Eiffel Tower seemed to be standing in the middle of a big field of grass. The field, the tower and the fountains in front of the Trocadero all lined up perfectly. It was a nice line to gaze over.

Next we took the metro to the Louvre, but we didn't stop there. We decided to walk along to the Opera House. We were quite impressed by the beautiful building. The dome was spectacular and the whole building was a real masterpiece.
We found a little stand selling crepes, that was attached to a restaurant. We were hoping for somewhere to sit, but unfortunately it wasn't attached enough allow us to use the seating. We were thrilled to have our first crepes in France, and they were nice and cheesy. The woman serving them was Russian and very loud and brash, and we think she may have previously worked in another kind of 'hospitality' industry.

Jardin de Tuileries
Next we walked to the Jardin des Tuileries. It was quite pretty and Loren was keen to see it. It was laid out in the 17th century, and women used to parade about here in their finest dresses. The Seine river passes by it, and it has been listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1991.
We found the garden to be quite empty of flowers. It seemed to consist more of grass and park benches. We saw an big fountain further down in the park, with people circling around it everywhere. This probably wasn't the prettiest end of the garden, we didn't wander very far into it, and it goes much further.

Place de la Concorde
Just nearby, we found the spectacular 'Place de la Concorde'. It was swarmed by tourists, and there was a photo shoot starting or finishing by one of the fountains. We saw an Asian tourist, probably Japanese, wearing a very fluffy white outfit. She looked like a cross between a bird and a ballerina. The Place de la Concorde was laid out in 1755-1775, and it has a huge Egyptian obelisk in prime position. The obelisk was pink granite, and was taken from the temple of Ramses in Luxor, Egypt. We think it was stolen, but apparently it was given as a gift in 1831, by Mohamed Ali, the viceroy of Egypt. He was probably under huge pressure from the French to do do. We walked from Place de la Concorde, down the Champs Elysees. As we walked down the street, we could see l'Arc de Triomphe at the other end of the Avenue. While we were still on the Place de la Concorde, we could see the Eiffel Tower in the distance. It was the perfect iconic view over Paris. The walk down the Champs Elysees was beautiful. The first section of it is surrounded by parks and full of trees. The leaves were turning different colours, so the trees looked spectacular. A little further along the road, we passed some incredible old buildings. Some of them were enormous, and we think they were museums and exhibition places.
As we approached the shopping section of Champs Elysees, we saw some beautiful corners, decorated with huge garden beds full of flowers. There were little ponds incorporated into some of them. Artur found the no swimming picture attached to them quite funny, as it depicted a freestyle swimmer, and the water was only about 15cm deep.

Shopping on Champs Elysees
It was exciting to reach the shopping section of the street, not just because of the shopping, but because this is what we imagined the street to be like. There were huge expensive shops all along boths sides, and the sidewalks were filled with people. The beautiful old buildings that housed the shops just topped of the glamour of the famous Champs Elysee. We hummed the song as we walked along, it was hard not to as it was stuck in our heads.
There were lots of car shops along the street, and we noticed a Citroen store with a really modern storefront. We decided to go over to have a look, because there were lots of people going in and out. There were cars on suspended levels all the way to the top of the store. The levels were rotating, so you could see the car from all angles. It was like being at a car expo, but it was just a normal car shop. There was a circular ramp that would take you to the top and back, so you could view all the levels of cars, but we were just happy having a look around the first floor. A little further, we found a Mercedes car dealer, which Artur wanted to visit. We had been trying to find a bin anywhere along the Champs Elysees, as we had a coffee cup to throw away, but they didn't appear to exist. When we entered the store, one of the people working there told Artur that he couldn't take the cup in, so Artur handed it to him and kept walking. The look on the guys face was priceless! What else can you do when they don't provide bins along the street?
We visited one more car place for the day, which sold Peugots. We were drawn in by the weird cars that had on display there. One of them was painted in a French lace pattern, and on the inside, the seats were Renaissance style four-legged chairs! We don't think it was supposed to be for sale, just to change your preconceptions about what a car could be like. Very interesting though.

L'arc de Triomphe
After wandering past more fancy stores, and a Louis Vuitton workshop, we reached the l'Arc de Triomphe. It was commisioned in 1806 by Napoleon, to commemorate his victories. It remained unfinished when started to lose battles and eventually entire wars. It wasn't finished until 1831, and in 1920 the body of an unknown soldier was buried beneath the arch. From that point, the arch was bestowed with an eternal flame, and has become a place of rermembrance, for the soldiers who fought.
The arch is in the middle of the wolrd's largest traffic roundabouts. It is also the scene of a lot of car accidents in Paris. Despite all this, Artur decided to cross the road, rather than find the tunnel that takes you to the center. Loren was terrified, but we made it across safely. She demanded that we return via the tunnel though.

Next we took the metro to Anvers, to see the 'Basilique du Sacre Coeur'. We walked along the little streets from the station to the Basilica. We could immediately see that this section of town was much cheaper than anywhere else we had seen before. There were lots of little stalls and shops selling cheap imports and souvenirs at much cheaper prices than elsewhere in Paris.
It started to rain as we walked, and we realised that we would get drenched unless we bought an umbrella. We were in the perfect place for a cheap purchase, so we bought a beautiful powder blue umbrella with little Eiffel Towers and the word Paris written all over it. It was very cute, and we were saved from the rain.
By the time we had bought the umbrella, the rain was bucketing down, so we huddled underneath as we walked. We soon made it the the huge flight of steps that rise up the 'Butte de Montmartre', or Montmartre Hill, to Sacre Coeur at the top. The rain subsided as we climbed, and we made our way steadily to the top.
Artur wouldn't let Loren look until she got to the top, so the view would be more spectacular. He was right, and she was very excited when we reached the top. You could see all of Paris stretched out before you, and we could see the rain falling in certain sections over the city. We could see Notre Dame, Centre Pompidou, and so many other amazing buildings.
We went inside to see the church, and were surprised to find a service in progress. We had a brief look around, and then headed back outside to admire the view again. Loren was surprised to find that she wasn't all that impressed by some of the things she had seen in Paris. Her expectations for Paris had been high, ever since she dreamed of coming there. After seeing so many other incredible cities, she was discovering that Paris was just another beautiful city, not a magical city. The thing she liked the most, was not the tourist attractions or the main sights, but the little cafes and bars, and the huge old houses along side streets.

After seeing the Sacre Coeur and the Butte de Montmartre, we went to find a place that Artur had visited last time he was in Paris. It was a little square that is filled with artists and painters, either painting what they see, or wanting to make portraits of the tourists. We weren't keen on having a portrait done, we just wanted to see the place, and have some dinner there.
Artur was surprised to find that the square had changed. Originally, the square was open to the air, and the painters were set up in the middle. Now the square had been taken over by restaurants, and there was a big shelter built in the centre to house them all. The painters congregated around the outside, trying to find patrons among the diners and people wandering around the outside of the square.
After having dinner at one of the restaurants nearby, we went for a walk around Montmartre. There are still a lot of painters in this area. There has been a big population of artists and writers here since the 19th-20th centuries. Even Picasso settled here, and lived in a nearby studio.

Pigalle and Erotic Museum (please stop reading if you are likely to be offended)
Next we walked to the neon drenched Pigalle, a red light district full of nightclubs, bars and cabaret shows. The Moulin Rouge is here and it still runs flashy cabaret shows with lots of can-can dancers and colourful costumes. We decided to see a cabaret show, but we chose a different style of show. The one we chose was more arty and not so 'Las Vegas' in style.
We had arrived in the area 2 hours before the show was due to start, so we decided to visit a nearby museum to fill in the time. The museum fit well into the district, as it was an erotic museum, (Kiddies and parents may want to skip this section of the blog). The museum had seven floor of displays to see.
The two floors were full of hilarious artifacts from different tribes around the world. There were sculptures of men with enormous and highly unrealistic looking genitalia. Most tribes also seemed to have sculptures of men and women in various sexual positions. There were sculptures of orgies, and even same sex combinations.

It was quite a surprise to see such ancient carvings depicting sex in such an open fashion. Our society is open about sex, but it feels like it is a recent trend, with older people much less likely to talk openly about the subject. Here we see that people have been open about it for centuries, and although some societies squash the subject, it tends to be brought out again eventually.
There were lots of items on display from India, as this is where Kama Sutra originated. Most of the paintings and sculptures involved harems, and several women with one man.

There were a lot of life size carvings of penises, that looked like an ancient version of a vibrator or dildo. However these were religious objects, strangely enough. I think they were carved as offerings, not used for personal pleasure.
The third floor of the museum, was about the history of the brothels in Paris. I think the building that the museum is housed in may have been one too. There were many pictures of the women that worked there. They were so well covered by today's standards that you never would have picked them on the streets.

It was really interesting to read about what their lives were like. Apparently their worst struggle was against boredom, because they weren't allowed to leave except on their day off. They had to entertain themselves with books or talking or anything they could find. They also mentioned that a reasonable percentage of them turned into lesbians, because the women they lived with were the closest people to them, and also as a result of their developping hatred of men.The last three floors of the museum were dedicated to 'modern erotica'. The artwork here and the photographs taken really scared us. The common theme amongst all of them was that they were sadist. They involved people harming or degrading women, women bound with ropes in painful looking ways, women with things threaded through their skin, like blades. There was also a very disturbing section on self harm. We found this section absolutley disgusting and felt very sick afterward.
We were very glad to get back down to the lower levels. We found that there was one more level that we had missed. It was another lighthearted level compared to the top ones, so we were glad to take our minds off the others. The basement level had displays of chairs and bikes rigged up to be pleasure machines for women. Some of them were powered by a handle, and others were automated. They all looked quite old though. There were also some humorous drawings which made it look like the artist's pencil or hand was in the frame, or that the character was alive.

Crazy Horse Show
Next we headed to the 'Crazy Horse', which is where the cabaret show was. We were just in our sightseeing clothes, so Artur was a bit worried that they wouldn't let him in. It was one of those fancy affairs, with a red carpet. The clothes weren't a problem though, and we came inside to buy our tickets. Artur had called before to inquire about the prices, they sounded expensive, but not as much as some of the other shows. When we asked for the price at the counter, the man wanted to know what we'd been quoted on the phone. It already sounded like the prices were a bit dodgy. A board on the wall was showing other prices, so we weren't sure where to get the correct price from. We were conversing in French for the whole time, which is not the easiest thing for us. In the end, the transaction went through as 120 Euros, even though we thought he had said 150.
We were ushered in to the seating area, which was a lot smaller than we had imagined. There was probably only enough seats for 30 people. We sat on red velvet couches, with a little table in front of us. A bottle of Champagne was included, so they opened it for us and left it in a big vase of ice. No photos were allowed during the performance, so snapped a few photos before, and sipped our champagne. The atmosphere was very high class and snobby, so we did our best to fit in. Eventually, the show was announced and the first performance began.
The first performance included all of the girls at once, and was British themed. The girls were wearing the puffy black hats of the Queen's guards and outfits that had references to the Pound, the Union Jack and anything else British. We were amazed to find that all of the girls looked like the same person. They all had identical bodies and similar pretty faces, they could have been clones. They marched and did domino or mexican wave effects. The coolest thing was the strips of moving floor that carried them in lines like tin soldiers. It was like standing on a treadmill, but bigger, so they just glided across the stage. The next act was amazing as well. It was called Venus, and had a space them to it. There was only one girl in this act, and she was sitting on a revolving circular board in the middle of the stage. She was wearing heels without a shoe, so the heel was tied to each foot. She had an astronaut fishbowl like mask over her head, and she wasn't wearing much else. It was amazing though, with the lighting and the music. She looked like she had the best body in the world.
Another between scene act, was of a girl with a blonde Cleopatra haircut. She was decorated only in red lip stickers or shapes. She was covered in all the main areas, and was wearing amazing red shoes. She acted very empty headed and sang along to a little tune that was playing. The only words were, 'Dooby dooby doo, dooby dooby doo means that I love you'. It was very simple but it certainly got stuck in your head. She made a return appearance later in the show, in a gap between performances.
There were other performances using the moving floor to create strange body movements. There were also amazing plays with light and graphics throughout the entire performance. We were really impressed by the whole show. It was really artistic and innovative. We didn't find that it was sleazy at all. It was more of a glorification of the beauty of a woman, and a chance to use amazing special effects and stage tricks.

The downside to the show came during the intermission. The waiter came up to us and told us that we hadn't paid enough. He said the man who we bought the tickets off had sent him over to collect the other 30 Euros that we owed. We were already confused about the prices, and sure that they were ripping us off, so we told him 'what's done is done, it was his mistake'.
The man came over and told us that we had to pay. This time he managed to speak in English, even though we were obviously struggling with French when we bought the tickets, he made no effort to speak to us in English. We insisted that he should just leave it, as we were not the ones who made the mistake, and we were struggling to understand his prices and his French anyway. We weren't happy with his attitude, so we decided to deal with the French way, and just shrug and say 'not our problem'.
He was quite rude, and so we asked to see the manager. Apparently he was the manager, and was quite happy to be making a scene in front of all the other guests and ruining the performance for us halfway through. Loren pulled out the ticket, which said 50 Euros each, and asked where the extra money was going. He told us it was for the champagne. We would never spend 50 Euros on champagne, so that was quite ridiculous for us. This strengthened our will not too give in to his demands.

He said, 'Pay or leave', but we said we would do neither. He threatened to call security, and we said 'go ahead, we've paid for the show, we have the tickets here. We didn't ask for a 50 Euro bottle of Champagne'. So he took the bottle of almost empty champagne and stormed off. We had paid 20 Euros for Champagne that we could quite easily have done without, so we didn't feel bad about not paying the rest.

He could have offered tickets without champagne, or displayed real prices listed at the front desk. Instead he was making them up on the phone or at the front desk. He never showed us anything that was an official price, he just wanted to collect of the price that he quoted us, whether it was legitimate or not. He was already trying to scam us, so his mistake cost him.
The scene that he created ruined the first few scenes of the second half for us. However we soon forgot about it, and enjoyed the show just as much as we did at the beginning. We didn't stick around for long after it finished though.
We left and headed back to the campsite, via the last metro train for the night. We were exhausted after such an intensive day of sightseeing, so we literally collapsed into our tent.

To see the photos from the post in slideshow mode, click on on the link below:
Paris pictures