Paris!

Epiphany Means 'A Sudden Realisation of Great Truth'

Yesterday's epiphany was - don't overwhelm the kids. 

Yesterday we travelled from Amsterdam to Paris. Got out of the Gare du Nord and stepped...straight into Mumbai. There was a festival to Ganesh and the streets were closed and awash with women in brightly coloured saris, helium balloons and loud, cracklingly loud, Indian music.  

It was a relief to get to the youth hostel.

Whereupon we went straight out again and went to the Louvre.  It's free on the first Sunday of the month, and yesterday was...the first Sunday. The Louvre was even more crowded than the streets.

We decided early on that we were not going to try to see everything at the Louvre. It's impossible. So along with everyone else, we just went to the famous things!

Crowd at the Mona Lisa (it's the small black rectangle in the distance)

By 5 pm we were exhausted and had to resort to Starbucks for therapy. And Starbucks in Paris is hideously expensive.

Moral of the story: We should have paid to go to the Louvre. And not done anything in the afternoon.

Guards ushering visitors from the Louvre

Today we're just chilling. Here's the Paris Pajol youth hostel. It's brand new and much more comfortable than any other accommodation I've ever had in Paris.