Friday 22 May

Friday 22 May

We had “Gunpowder” tea for breakfast. An intriguing flavour and a change from the ubiquitous “English Breakfast” but it has no flavour and despite putting two bags in a little pot it doesn’t do anything so we end up with a cup of hot water.

Tina hands her letter in at the trip office and we begin our walking tour of the Louvre (a couple of hundred metres from the hotel). As promised we avoid queues and are whisked in with headsets. Our guide is passionate about her art history (“The marble is very happy here”) but she is VERY short (and I mean very short). Most guides hold something that sticks above the crowd (umbrella, plastic flower or scarf on the shaft of a golf club) to act as a rallying point but our guide does not. Consequently she is easy to lose. Luckily there is a tall couple in the group and I focused on them. It was also fun to try and find her by working out which piece she was talking about.

Parts of the Louvre were busy, other parts not but even the busy parts (Mona Lisa) were nothing like the Sistine Chapel. After the tour we decided to find out where the rental car agency was in order to smooth things for Sunday. We found it quickly – it is inside the Louvre! There is a shopping mall attached and a carpark underneath. Brilliant.

We walk slowly to Notre Dame and look around. Stunning. Catch a cute tricycle back to the hotel – nice cooing breeze as we are slowly pedalled along and the relaxing speed means there is time to see the sites. Much nicer than a taxi. A lot of fun – we were giggling all the way although when he entered intersections with motorists flying in all directions I held my breath.

We rested, had a meal and made our way back to the internet café. We decide to have an early night – watch a women’s football final but … we don’t turn the tv off when it is finished because … next is arm wrestling which makes for great tv! More time is spent by the referee setting up the bout (ie the hand/arm positions) than on the actual wrestling itself. We get through the finals of the lighter weight divisions and then it is on to the super heavyweights won by “The Monster”. Turn the tv off now? No way; next is poker with €1million going to the winner. There were 7 finalists and one by one they dropped out. Riveting stuff. So much for an early night but a very satisfying day.