Day 70...Esmereldaaaaa! - 4th September

Not so happy today. Woke up and found out Steve Irwins dead. (About 4am Paris time). Geoff via text sent us the news, and we thought it was a joke. Verified it on internet and feel a bit teary about it actually. He was such an enigmatic happy young guy, but more important was that he was doing good things for conservation. Buying tracks of land, and getting kids excited about animals was such a good thing to do. We sat at the internet cafe for a while, and felt weird the whole time. Nate chatted with Geoff, then we went for a breakfast of omlettes at a cafe nearby. (The one with the French Gareth).

Phone and internet took a while, so it was mid-morning by the time we subwayed it back to Ile de la Cite to try and see Notre Dame Cathedral again. It was open. The line to the tower was long and it started to rain, but we were tenacious and stuck with it. It was definately worth it. After a long, leg burning spiral staircase (again we pondered how many we will climb during this trip) we got to the top. Up there, we were face to face with 14th century gargoyles that were perched on the church, overlooking Paris. It was so great, I couldn't stop taking pictures. Very funky. We then did a bit more climbing into the bell tower (where Quasimodo the character in Victor Hugo's book rang the bell). There was a 13 tonne bell in there, called Emmanuelle. I made some tourists laugh by screwing up my face and yelling “Esmereeeeldaaaa!”. I also yelled “sanctuary!” haha when on the top as well. Righteous.

After that, we took the long trip down and then into the cathedral istelf. It was like Sacre Cour inside – lots of ass kissing statues, candles and hushery. You could take photos in there though, so I got side tracked photographing a religous nut for a while and lost Nate. There is much more religous fevour in Europe, its fascinating. I was worried as it was midday and we probably needed a full day in the Louvre, so I ushered Nate out of there and hurried post haste there.

We ended up being able to walk straight in, there were no lines. We expected quite a few lines but there were none. That was a bonus. We decided to get the old Mona Lisa out of the way, so went straight to the Italian painters. Inside, the Louvre the ceilings were high and ornate and there were light timber floors. We were walking along a corridoor, then suddenly there was Virgin on the Rocks! (By Leonardo da Vinci) And next to it was his painting of John the Baptist. There was a fair bit of jostling there, but we got an ok view. There were no photos allowed in certain sections of the Louvre which pissed us off.

The only sections where you couldn't take photos were the good ones. I mean its fair not to take a photo with a flash, as it damages the paintings and tapestries. But no photo at all? So they can sell postcards? What a rip. Some people tried to take some photos and this security guy came running up yelling “No photos! Forbidden! Nevvvaaaaaa!” We thought it was pretty funny. We say that line now whenever we see a 'no photos' sign.

Then, in a room off the side was the Mona Lisa. I thought there would be a long line, and that she would have a room all to herself but there she was! We pretty much walked straight up. I don't know why she is the landmark one and needs bulletproof glass while all the other paintings are ok, but she was pretty cool. Nathan really liked her. He said that he really admired it due to the fact that there was a quirkiness to her smile, a mysterious personality really shone through. After people telling me how small she was, I thought she was a pretty good standard size. The smile was cool. Seeing it live, it was like those 3d paintings as to “she's not smiling – oh, now she is” sorta thing. I was naughty and geurilla'd a shot off. No one saw me so I didn't get in trouble, but alot of the shot is of the back of this Japanese guys head. Not great.

After that, we had the Louvre at our leisure. I was looking to see a painting by Nicolas Pouissin but apart from that, we had no idea what to see. We walked around and admired the Italian paintings, then moved onto the Dutch and Flemish. Now they are a weird bunch. They love painting dead rabbits for some reason. Nearly every photo was religous or a dead rabbit. Then walking along there, I saw Nicolas Pouissin's “Les Bergers de Arcadie”. For those Holy Blood, Holy Grail fans, it is the painting that Sauniere was so interest to see when he went to the Louvre. It is a painting of people painting at a grave with the inscription “les bergers de arcadie” which translates to “and in arcadia I...” which doesn't make sense. But when changed as an anagram, it translates to “begone! I conceal the secrets of god”. Hmmmm intruiging. It was so cool to see it in the 'flesh' so to speak.

Nathan said you could devote a lot of your time to the Louvre if there were placards in English. Next to the paintings there were explanations in French, but none in any other language. If you could read and look at the same time, it would be really good. But for us, we weren’t sure what we were looking at. There was a million ones of jesus crucified, jesus coming down from the cross, people clutching themselves in adoration. What upsets us both too, which we discussed in full – is that there were so many talented artists, but the only people who could afford to commission them was the church. So all artwork is of a religious theme (particularly the baroque period which is out and out marketing!) So even though they are great paintings, you feel like you are looking at an ad from the church.

And so from then on guys, I’m sorry to say you’d be disappointed in both of us. We both descended into bored hilarity after several hours in there, and commenced to point out and take photos of womens boobs, horses assholes and dead rabbits. Not very cultured I assure you.

We stomped around and saw all the painters and a lot of the Egyptian section as well and the scultprue too. We did about 2/3rds of the entire Louvre, even though we started at lunchtime and ended up leaving early. We walked down through the centre yard with all the glass pyramids and took some photos, then headed towards Place de la Concorde. To get there, you walk through the heritage gardens between the louvre and there. They were very regal and pretty gardens with various hedges and statues and fountains. Kids were playing with old school wooden boats in the fountains.

At one point we sat down and rested in the grass and enjoyed the view. Nathan mustn’t have been over our hilarity in the Louvre as he stared at me for a second, then gave me a whopping great push and I landed face first in the grass! He said the grass looked nice and I needed to be in it. For any observer they would have been most alarmed, but we both cracked up laughing. Splat!

Place De La Concorde is a big square with a traffic intersection attached. Placed in the middle is a 3300 year old Obelix from Thebes in Egypt that Muhummad Ali gave to France in 1831 when he sucked up to everyone and gave all of Egypts stuff away. ( We have been seeing these obelisks in England etc as well). It was also the square where 1343 people were beheaded during the Reign of Terror – including my fave, Marie Antionette. (Remember yesterday where we saw the prison where she was held? Then she got dragged to this square and lost her head. Argh!)

After that we went back to Marais as our waiter at breakky this morning showed us where to shop (after our disastrous attempt the other day – thanks Lonely Planet!). He said to go to the mall Gallery Lafayette. I was unsure of that as I went to one in Berlin and was unimpressed. But we gave it a shot and boy where we glad! It was amazing. It had a real French feel with some really great feminine outfits that were funky as well. The lingerie section was so sexy I wanted to buy it all and wear it all at one! (I didn’t though). I did end up buying a pair of jeans for $40 bucks, as the seat of the ones I have had collapsed. My ass hangs out of them a lot so I did need a new pair. Since Ireland, my crotch of my jeans have been mid thigh and looks fantastic (not). I wish I could say it was because I have lost weight, but no, its just that the jeans are old. I am actually a little pork chop from eating out every night.

After that we had a quick dinner at a diner nearby and headed to Montmarte back to bed.