Monday 10 October: Paris

Our hotel is immediately across the Seine from the Louvre - said to be the largest art museum in the world. So we walked over just on opening time and went in. We used the main entry (under the glass pyramid) but there were no queues at this hour.

As with the hermitage in St Petersburg, the Louvre is far too big to see every exhibit (or even every gallery) in one visit. So we looked at the ancient Roman art, Egyptian antiquities and some of the French and Italian painters. The place was not crowded but there were still a lot of people about. Unfortunately the main drawcards (Venus di Milo, Mona Lisa etc) were very crowded indeed - especially with large Japanese tour groups all pushing & shoving and taking each other's picture in front of these famous artworks. It's really not possible to appreciate these works with such large numbers of people around.

We had really only scratched the surface of this immense collection, but four hours had flown past. Enough - time for some lunch and get on with some other things. We had to reserve our train seats to Ghent so caught the metro to Gare du Nord and stood in queues for an inordinate amount of time. While we were there we checked out which platforms etc so that there would be no confusion on Wednesday morning.

Back to the hotel where we met Ezekial Lopez, a member of Nikonians and one of Jacques' students. Ezekial had very kindly offered to show us around, and it was very pleasant driving around Paris in his open-topped VW Golf. First stop was the Montparnasse tower, the tallest building in the region - almost as high as the Eiffel Tower. Up to the roof for some stunning views. Unfortunately it was pretty hazy and not quite so good for photography.

Ezekial then took us to Montmarte, one of the famous artistic quarters overlooking the city. We stopped at Sacre Coeur, and got some sunset shots. There was a Japanese film crew there with three actresses or models, and it was fun just watching them carry on. By the time we went inside Sacre Coeur it was dark, and the interior was subtly lit - a very beautiful church.

Dinner at a open air restaurant in Montmarte, then back in the Golf to the Eiffel Tower. We parked at the Trocadero, on the opposite side of the Seine, and got some great shots of the tower under lights. By then it was pushing midnight, well past our usual bedtime, so Ezekial took us back to the hotel.

We have been extremely fortunate in Paris, to have received such hospitality from Jacques & Sophie and Ezekial. They have been extremely generous to us, and we are very grateful.