Paris weekend

Arrived at the hotel and was told that we'd been moved to the other hotel down the road, where there is a ground-floor room. Back down the road, and an encounter with a friendly woman who was deaf. Sis#3 was already at the hotel; person on the desk said he'd decided ground-floor room wasn't suitable because of the floor surface in the corridor and put us in a third-floor room. I suspect he was wrong, but ground-floor is often noisy so I didn't mind... except that the lift was too small for Chariot and I had to partially dismantle it. Nice room, though big-city-no-space size: we moved the beds as far apart as possible. We'd both had enough of travelling for the day, so we had a quick look at the street-market, sat outside a café and watched The World over our tasses, and went for a wander round the Galaries Lafayette. Perfume sampling, of course, and got pounced on by someone who demo'd putting on eye-cream with the inside of the wrist (interesting, must try it sometime). Found some gorgeous clothes in wonderful colours and horrible price-tags. Didn't buy any, of course.

Just as well we spent nothing in Lafayette, because the evening meal (in a flashier Café) was horrendously expensive. And perfectly marvellous. Marvellous décor, too, all brass lamps and red walls and candles. It was fun watching the waiters: there was a kind of roundabout of shelves and work-surfaces through which they ran at high speed. They scurried and bustled everywhere, making the place look even more like a scene from a 1930s film.

The next day we braved the buses. They're actually very good, and it's much more fun to look at the streets and squares as you pass than it is to fight the crowds of the dark noisy metro. Besides, most of the buses have ramps, which WORK :)

... And went to the Louvre. Sis#3 has been outside it a few times, but never inside. It was hard work, trying to follow the maps and find ways round the steps and stairs, but we managed to see the Mona Lisa and a lot of rather more interesting things including some huge friezes from the palace of Darius I, which, my dears, are in just the colours I want for the new room (though where to find a sofa in pale greeny-turquoise, I don't know).

Caught a bus all the way back to Gare Montparnasse. So, that's the route from Montparnasse to Gare du Nord sussed for when I go Eurostar :)

And so to bed^Whome.