Berlin, A Tragically Scarred Beauty

Craig Writes;

18/07/13. A seven hour train ride and what did I have to show for it. Four repeat episodes of The Walking Dead, season three, two rounds of smoked salmon, philly cheese and capers and an hour of writing. We had a brief moment of excitement when two German policemen stormed the train to drag a small man of eastern european descent from the train and bundle him away. Very mysterious. I don't think I was the only one looking to make sure he hadn't left behind a backpack.

When we finally arrived in Berlin we were picked up by Petra, the gatekeeper for the apartment we were staying in. She very kindly offered to transport us from the train station in her early model Mercedes station wagon and helped us to cram, shove and push our luggage into the boot. We're very excited to be here in Berlin.
We are staying in what used to be the old West Berlin. It is quite surreal to pass old buildings with chunks blown from them and the staccato spread of bullet holes strafed across the broad stretches of red brick walls making them look like giant join the dots puzzles. 

Even the wall across from our kitchen window had been shot up

19/07/13 There is a one kilometre Turkish street market that operates twice a week on our street only 100 metres from our apartment. Such an amazing variety of the freshest looking produce.  If you lived here this is where you'd be shopping. Meats, fruit and veggie, clothes, shoes, fabrics etc etc. Brilliant.
After settling in we went straight back out and hopped on the local metro for a trip down to the main train station to book our next few train legs and got our first glimpse of a couple of neo nazis. Just a couple of young innocuous young fellas with shaved heads, peacock mohawks and bovver boots. These lads actually looked a bit uncomfortable, not like the gang of ten I was to meet a couple of days later on the same train. 
On the trip back we found this brilliant organic shop. Look around if you ever get here.  The organic stuff, while not as cheap as the US organic range you'll get in somewhere like Wholefoods, is still way cheaper than in Australia. Then it was back to the apartment and time to be drinking some Doppel Hirsch, the 2012 World Beer Cup Gold Award Winner, $3 for half a litre, thank you very much. So good.

You know your in Germany when your Bratwurst is bigger than your bun

Just a very small sample off the amazing markets right on our doorstep

If this is what they call the good stuff, what do they call the crap stuff?

20/07/13. What a great day. Went for lunch at the Weinhenstephaner restaurant and had a couple of my favourite Weinhenstephaner beers with a fantastic lunch of sausage, mustard and potato salad. Christina had the most amazing roast pork with sauerkraut and potato dumplings. The walking tour we had booked was leaving from this restaurant at 2pm which gave us 45 minutes to eat and drink, just enough time. 

The famous WeinerSchnifer beer

If you dont know which sausage to order... order them all

The tour was amazing, We saw the last remnants of the Berlin Wall, we stood over the remains of Hitlers Bunker which is now a car park, I though a set of public toilets over the top would have been more appropriate, we walked through The Brandenburg Gate, saw Checkpoint Charlie and visited the haunting and aptly named The Museum of the Murdered Jews. 

The longest stretch of what remains of The Berlin Wall

Many a villain/hero have walked through the Brandenburg Gates. Now we have too.

The haunting Museum of the Murder Jews tells it like it was

A car park sits above Hitlers Bunker, it should have been a public toilet

CheckPoint Charlie

We went to Bebelplatz where the nazi's started the book burning, the nazi Air Ministry which miraculously escaped being bombed and we saw the Topography of Terror, the strip of land where the three buildings that once housed the SS, The Gestapo and the SA all once stood. Our tour guide was excellent and so full of knowledge. This country has undergone so much self inflicted terror and hardship over the last 100 years it is amazing it is still standing. One cant help but reflect that the small diminutive man who couldn't win an arm wrestle with a teddy bear , through the sheer magnetism of his personality and some political cunning could coerce the majority of the population of a country into believing that it was perfectly acceptable to exterminate an entire race of human being. Could so many of histories tragedies like this have even been considered possible without the consent of the average man. At what stage is it ok to validate your actions by saying, "I was just taking orders", at what stage does the average person say, this is not acceptable. How powerful would these sick and evil men be  if in the beggining enough ordinary people just said, no.

20/07/13 Great plans to go out to Potsdam, the home to Prussian Kings, Princes and German Emperors and home of the famous 1945 Potsdam Conference where the spoils of WWII were to be carved up between England, France, America and Russia and effectively, start the Cold War. Unfortunately, young Charlie had a fever and wasn't up to it so I played baby sitter and Christina and Callum went. Bummer.

Christina writes: After all the would we or wouldn't we go to Potsdam this morning, Callum and I made a mad dash for the train and arrived at the meeting place for the walking tour with only a minute to spare. It took about an hour by regional train to get there, and we started our tour at the Spy Bridge.

A previous border between East and West, and a place for spy-Swapping

We crossed the bridge and saw where the former wall stood, and then our guide said, 
"We will walk through a park now towards the Palaces - it is a Nudist area, so you will see lots of naked people..." Callum just looked at me and said "What!?!??"
And yes we saw lots of naked people, like the Nude Bomb had just gone off. I said to Callum, "Dad is going to be so bummed he missed this" and I snapped a few photos for show and tell.

Then off to see some palaces, have some lunch and enjoy Potsdam. 

Cecilienhof, Home of the Potsdam conference

The spot where this famous photo of Stalin, Truman and Churchill was taken in 1945

Sanssouci Palace

The gardens and buildings were beautiful, but as funny as it may sound, walking through the Nudist colony was the highlight of my day.

Craig writes:

21/07/13 Christina and the boys stayed in today and I ventured out to hit some museums. Unfortunately of the two I wanted to see one was closed because it was Monday and The other had a massive cue. As keen as I was to see the 8th Gate of Babylon that Alexander the Great rode through, two hours was too long. I moved on and wandered the streets till I got to The Topography of Terror. It is a vast strip of vacant land cover in bluestone. Previous to it's last incarnation as an ornate Prussian Palace but in the end it was it's use as the headquarters for Henrich Himmlers SS and the dreaded Gestapo that saw this grand and regal building demolished and returned to dust when the Russians finally liberated Berlin. What is left today is a walk along the only remaining section of wall left. A section of the basement area where prisoners were tortured and executed. There is a promenade of photos and detailed explanations of who was responsible and who were some of the victims. There is also a vast white museum housing a more detailed look at the place, it's people and it's joyous demise and destruction. The section on the Nuremberg trials was interesting. So many got what they deserved and found their fate at the end of the hangman's noose. But too many also seemed to have negotiated their way to a light to non existent sentence. Weaving patterns of liars, deflecting blame or simply by informing on their previous cmradess, they manage to leave the war behind them, disappearing into society to live out fruitful and full lives while the souls of their victims scream out in unheard torment for justice.

Signs of the war are everywhere 

Are the bullet holes kept as a reminder to the German people?

It's not hard to imagine the running battles that occurred

As the Russians marched in and took control

22/07/13. Another day to myself. I was off to Sachsenhausen Memorial and Museum, site of the first operating concentration camp responsible for the torture, gassing, hanging and subsequent burning of over 90,000 people. 

For a jew, these gates to Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp were one way

One foot on this bluemetal path meant instant death, many tested it

It was from here that the systematic murder and commercialisation of the wholesale slaughter of millions of people through the chain of  other concentration camps including Auschwitz, Trebiana and Dacha was coordinated. All while the people of sleepy little Oranienburg, 40klms from Berlin, went about their day to day business of tending their gardens, going to work and raising their children. 

The SS could murder all day and walk the 100 metres home to play happy families

The SS lived in apartment blocks only metres away from the camp. They would go to work, torture, maim and murder and then clock off to be home in time to throw the ball with little Fritz before going in for dinner. 

I saw the "Green Monster", the bright green painted mess room where the SS were fed and entertained by the prisoners. Failure to entertain or a spilt bowl of Spitschel on the wrong officer resulting in a beating for the lucky ones or strangulation on the spot for the unlucky. Their were two barracks, left, built for 120 but housing over 400. 

Two remaining barracks

The weak slept on the floor, in the filth of the stronger

The stronger got the bunks, the weak and infirmed got the floor where due to restricted access to the lavatory they often wallowed in the excrement of those above them. It was strictly survival of the fittest. There was the Gestapo section for "special" prisoners the pit they were thrown in for punishment and the three torture poles where prisoners had their hands tied behind their backs and hung of the ground, for a full day. 

Your arms would be tied behind you and you would be hung from these all day.

The infamous running track where prisoners were made to run a marathon every day to test new army boots. They were made to simply run themselves to death. It became part of daily life in 1942 to have daily hangings where the entire camp was made to watch. Failure to watch would result in you being pulled from the crowd and you too would have a noose placed around you neck and hoisted of the ground to slowly strangle to death.

The most harrowing section of the tour was section Z. This is the site where 10,000 Russians were executed over a matter of weeks in 1942, it is the site of the Death Trench, where thousands where summarily shot and there bodies stored for cremation.

Death Trenches, would run red with the blood of the dead

Inside is the remains of the small building where the gas chamber, the shooting rooms and the crematoriums still stand. Although rusted and decayed by the ravages of time, their purpose and use are still plainly visible.

This small corner  room was the gas chamber

The furnaces would run continuously to keep up with the demand

While not a pleasant experience, I am so glad to have been here to see for myself what mankind is capable of at his utmost worst. How simple family men can be brainwashed into believing that the person on the end of their boot is undeserving of life simply because they were born of a different religion, born in another country, were gay or simply enjoyed reading certain books.  This was state sponsored terror and mass murder by a democratically elected government, not the result of a military coup, and quite frankly it scares the shit out of me when you think about it.

Last night in Berlin. We feed the kids breakfast cereal and toast and peanut butter, stick them in front of their I devices, lock em in and head down the road to this great little Indian Restaurant. First time I've had a cocktail called the Swimming Pool, all rum, vodka, coconut milk and something else. I had two so I cant really remember. It was a great finish to our stay in Berlin.

The place is intriguing. There is an undercurrent just below the surface of "party town" Berlin. The people are friendly enough but you feel it wouldn't take much to set them off.  In the short time I was here I saw way too many Neo Nazi skinheads, too many buildings covered in bullet holes and shrapnel gouges and lots of graffiti  I think it's a city that if your coming to Europe you need to experience but It's not a city that embraces you. I dont' feel I need to get to know it any more than I have.                                                                           

Amsterdam, Dykes, Bikes and Beer

Craig Writes;

13/07/13 Landed in Amsterdam after a 7 hour train shuffle involving five changes. But we got here and also managed a very memorable stop in the magnificent train station that is Antwerp.

Antwerp, possibly the most beautiful train station in the world

We met Roeland and Leah at the apartment. It's great but it's a bit of a goldfish bowl. The Dutch aren't big on curtains, at least in the main rooms so don't walk out of the bathroom into the kitchen/loungeroom in your birthday suit unless you're feeling buff. 

Our lounge room, great spot for a nudie run

14/07/13. Got an email from Roeland offering to give us a free bike tour of the city. How can you say no. We arranged to meet him at 3pm at the bike rental place an easy 20 minute work from our place. Our main concern was Charlie who currently has some sort of bike phobia. We thought we were good when the assistant gave him a bike to try and he said "yep that's fine". We signed the agreement, paid and went to go when we hit the brick wall. No money or bribe was going to get him to get on that bike. So with eyes tearing up the only alternative was for Christina and Charlie to make the 1.6 km walk back home and Callum and me to head off with Roeland. I offered to take him back and let Christina and Callum go but Christina took the bullet. The three of us headed off but the traffic got a bit too much for Callum and we headed back to the apartment to drop Callum off with Charlie and for Christina to take his bike. Soon enough, Charlie and Callum were safely locked up in the apartment with food , drink and entertainment and Christina, Roeland and me hit the road.

What a great place is Amsterdam. I love it.  Only 600,000 people, Roeland calls it a village. Damn big village but it definitely doesn't have the big city feel of where we've been. I love the canals full of house boats with their bbq's, their deck chairs and their potted gardens of miniature fruit trees and roses, I love the tall and narrow houses with their window boxes full of herbs, red and white geraniums and plush bunches of blue petunias.

The Michael Jackson Day Care Centre
They don't just hang pots over the side here

 I love the parks full of lazy people lounging in the soft sunshine in the lush green parks. I love the friendly pubs and the 9.5% beers and the fried pub food. I love the heavy smell of "oregano" as you ride past the Cheech and Chong and Mellow Yellow cafes. 

I'll have a cappuccino, choc muffin and a spliff thanks

Thank you so much to Roeland for his very generous offer to guide us and his early patience with getting started.  We did get settled into a very nice little pub for a few tasty ales and some tapas but alas time was running out and even though with every delicious gulp the boys were becoming more and more capable of looking after themselves, fortunately I had Christina there to remind me of my parental responsibilities. We climbed on our bikes and wobbled our way back home.

Not only a good host but pours a mean beer

It  would have been rude off me to win

Well I had to beat someone

15/07/13 Today another lazy start, just because we can. A short walk to the local bakery for outstanding apple strudel to enjoy with some home brewed coffee before Christina and I head off on the bikes for a bit of reconnaissance work. We're trying to find the place to hire the drive yourself canal boats but we're being given a bit of a runaround. 

So pretty

Everyone rides their bikes in Amsterdam and while it is not in the SE Asia category of dangerous it is up there. Today I saw a waitress miss being completely run down by nothing more than the thickness off her apron  by a cyclist who thought he was in the Tour De France time trials. Next, I was waiting at a set of lights when another speedster ran the red light and zipped passed me only being missed being completely splattered by a BMW because they both happened to swerve at the same time and in the right direction.  While I personally don't have any problem with the legalised pot smoking here I can see how dropping into the High Times Cafe for an espresso and a quick bong or two then hopping back on your bike may have a little to do with the gung ho attitude of some of the two wheeling fiends. Having said that, if you are vigilant and stay off the main roads, the back streets are an absoloute pleasure to cruise. We didn't find the boat hire but we found a great little corner pub to have a beer in the balmy afternoon sun. 

Now this is outdoor furniture

16/07/13. Would you be surprised if I said another lazy start today. I took the boys out to this awesome local park just a few minutes walk from where we were staying. It had a flying fox and an obstacle course that we all had a go at. A lot of fun. I'm amazed at how nimble and athletic the two boys can be when they want to. Callum and I then hopped on the bikes to take them back to the rental shop. Hopefully, come Berlin we can convince Charlie to hop on one. The cities here are very bike friendly with dedicated bike ways and dedicated traffic lights just for cyclists. It is a great way to see the place and get around. This is just a big village and now that we've been here a few days and gotten around a bit, I can really see it. It is so quaint with the narrow streets and the meandering canals with their colourful house boats and the small electric pleasure crafts filled with tourists and locals enjoying platters of cheese and accoutrements a beer or a wine.

This was Roelands fave pub. I can see why

Callum and I then enjoyed a quiet stroll back to the apartment to pick up Christina and Charlie to walk down to visit Anne Franks House. Probably the most famous fifteen year old of the 20th century. We read her diaries before we went and it made SO much difference to the visit. All I knew before hand was that she was a young dutch girl hiding in an attic during the nazi occupation of Holland who kept a diary which was discovered after she had been captured and sent off to the concentration camps never to be seen again.

That naive description doesn't even begin to capture the full measure of her experience.  

The scene of a gut wrenchingly honest account of  a courageous attempt at survival. 

She was a remarkable young person. Surprisingly articulate and an astute and deep thinker. Her writings captured the complicated relationships entwining the eight people hiding in the two small floors of the Annexe and the hardships they endured with a maturity far beyond her years. There is no doubt that had she survived she would have surpassed here wildest dreams of becoming a famous author. Her insight into not only her own character but those around her and her ability to express it with courage and a raw authenticity are the hallmarks of great contemporary writers. For me it was truly one of the most interesting and "real" experiences of our trip.

17/07/13. The four of us took of for a bit of a walking tour this morning. It is a great place to stroll around.

Did someone say icecream

My happy little leaning post

Picture perfect

Back for lunch of ham and cheese crepes then Christina and I headed down through the city to the train station to look at booking some more of our European leg. Took a ticket because the guy handing the tickets out said, "one hour". After 20 minutes it became very clear that he actually meant to say "three hours". We bolted and seeing as we didn't have the kids headed to the Red Light District". Now, I know there are younger readers who are enjoying the blog so I feel it best not to go into to much detail. Needless to say, I enjoyed it very much and Christina a little less:)).

Off for a big juicy rib eye and an early night before we hit the rails for Berlin.

Paris, It Leaves A lasting Impression-ist

Craig Writes;

07/07/13. We landed at Charles De Gaulle  Airport at 7.15am local time and 1.15 am US time. We just lost 6 hours of our life. We stayed awake for the nearly seven hour Atlantic crossing. The thought was that we would take a nap once we're settled, around 10am, and then get up around 1-2pm, go out , shop etc and try and have a normal day till we collapse from lack of sleep around 9pm. Hopefully we all wake up tomorrow and are back in the swing.

We went for a walk down to the Tourist Bureau to sort out transit passes etc. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon to be walking in the shady quiet streets of Paris. Our apartment is in a building that is right on the main restaurant, cafe and boulangerie strip but set back and behind two big security doors. Once the doors clang shut and you charge up the four flights to your apartment you can't hear a thing. The streetscape caught Claude Monets eye and he did a series of paintings on Rue Montorgueil in the 1870's. 

Monet loved our street so much he painted it in 1878

The view from our kitchen window into our courtyard

8/07/13 Aaarrghh, jet lag, the bane of every traveller. Forget global warming, it's too late anyway, the whales are big enough to look after themselves and if we cured the common cold people would find quickly find another excuse for taking the Monday after the long weekend off. No, we need a cure for jet lag. And wash your mouth out if you say, "well just don't travel", you heathen. I staggered to bed at 9pm last night falling face first onto my pillow and slept like the dead till I woke up at 3am as if someone had come screaming through the bedroom banging pots. I was now wide awake and there was no going back to sleep, so I got up. I read, I wrote, I did my yoga, I did some exercise, I read more etc etc till the rest of the house was up and awake...six hours later.

We eventually got going about 11.30 with the aid of the first really descent cup of coffee I've had in three months. Sorry USA, but bigger is not always best. No sight seeing of lovely Gothic cathedrals or Neo Classical Museums today. Today was a "work day" and we were off to find the EUrail office and stand in line for two hours listening to a group of 20 year old aussie travellers trying too hard to impress everyone around them with their aussie accents and the "famous" aussie larrikin charm. It was painful. Eventually we found ourselves at the front of the line. Why have ten assistance windows and only 2 to 3 open when there is a perpetual line of a 100 people was a frequently asked question among the crowd.  Having said that, the girl who helped us spoke good english and was very helpful. We left all stamped, validated and with a good idea of where we were heading. We then hopped back on the train and decided to go to Luxembourg Gardens to sit and eat our home made baguettes. Then, a nice casual walk back down the Blvd St Michel, past Notre Dame and eventually home.

Luxembourg Gardens, beautiful, but dont dare try sit on the lawn

9/07/13 Nothing.Damn you cursed jet lag.

10/07/13 Our broken body clocks are still out being repaired but we were determined today to march on without them. This is Paris after all and our time is limited. Even then we found our original plan to catch the 11am free tour around Notre Dame pushed back to 2.30pm. Still, we were out of the apartment by 1.45 all half fired up and ready to go. We are only a very pleasant 20 minute walk to the Cathedral and what better way to adjust yourself than by walking through the busy streets of Paris on a beautiful sunny day.

The last time we saw Notre Dame it was covered in scaffolding going through one of it's many renovations. This year it is celebrating it's 850th anniversary and it looks magnificent. When we first arrived there was a cue of eager tourists stretching about 200 metres around a bend. But, to our delight, our English tour guide, the aristocratically spoken Elizabeth, took us straight through a side entrance. She was an absolute delight. I'm guessing around late teens to early twenties. Hard to tell with the English sometimes with their perfect pale complexions and rose bud smiles.

Happy 850th

The much under appreciated rear end of Notre Dame

Notre Dame is a stunning medieval gothic church with it's huge flying buttresses and the famous gargoyles peering down from above. It is an imposing building dressed in it's ancient grey stone but how magnificent would it have looked in it's day when it was all brightly painted. Even the gargoyles, that today are daunting if not fearsome, would have appeared like cute monkeys looking fondly down on the masses.

It claims to have in it's vaults vast and important treasures and relics, amongst them, The Crown of Thorns, a sliver of The Cross and a Holy Nail. When you read a bit about how they have come to the conclusion that these are in fact the real deal you do have to wonder, just a little bit. There are about 30 venerated Holy Nails in various reliquaries around the world. I'm not a religious guy but I'm pretty sure they didnt drive 30 nails into the poor fella. So there are obviously a few dud Holy Nails out there. Who's got the real ones, if anyone, god only knows.

The massive stained glass windows on the north and south walls are so beautiful. Though they have both been renovated and repaired over the centuries, the north wall window is still 75% original while the south wall window, which was severely damaged by fire in the 17th century, is only 25% original.

It's hard to capture how beautiful they are on a camera

Just behind the Cathedral is a little know memorial to the French citizens, mostly Jewish, who were rounded up during WWII by the gendarmes under the orders of the occupying Nazis and deported to various concentration camps. The Memorial Des Martyrs de la Deportation commemorates the 200,000 who were taken and never returned. Before you enter you are instructed  by a sombre gentleman to please observe silence. As you walk down a steep set of stairs you descend into an open air grey stoned crypt. Uncomfortable large gaps between the large square stones mean you have to watch your step. A small barred window gives an inviting but unattainable glimpse of the Seine rushing by. This is guarded by an imposing black sculpture of large scythe like blades. Behind you are two dark narrow slits. These are the doorways into the memorial. It is dark, claustrophobic and haunting. This is not meant to be a comfortable experience, the idea is to move you physically and emotionally. There is a large medallion with an inscription around it and roped off with thick red cord. Behind that and staring straight at you, is a long tunnel with a gleaming light at the end of it. On each side of the tunnel, mounted on panels along the walls, are 200,000 shining crystals. Each representing one of the souls of the men, women and children who were snatched from their homes, their familiar streets, their shops and schools,bundled into trucks and trains and herded like cattle to their demise.

This was very moving

11/07/13 Another very slow start to the day .  We had all sorts of  plans but ended settling into the apartment and then heading out for a walk down to Musee D' Orsay around 2pm.

Everyones favourite, Musee D'Orsay

The renovations that were underway when we were last here and prevented us from eating in the 5th floor clock restaurant were now complete.

Christina and Callum, very happy with their order, Charlie and I think we should have gone bigger

The fifth floor was now opened with a very impressive new gallery full of all our favourite Impressionists, Monet, Pissarro, Manet, Degas, Lautrec, Renoir, Sisley and others.   We decided to eat early before the crowds got in. The food was delicious but the servings were small and for what we paid we could have feed ourselves in the US for a week. But hey, you don't do it every day.

From Musee D'Orsay  looking over the Seine to Sacre - Coeur

We cruised the halls of the galleries, liking some but not most of the post impressionist. You get very picking when your on your fourth or fifth National Gallery and probably seen a billion dollars worth of art.The Impressionist's have always been our favourites. I like the bold flowing brush strokes and the bright colourful outdoor scenes that they were known for. Anywho, we headed back walking down beside the Seine enjoying the early evening rush, even at 8pm the streets are packed with people going every which way. The roads, the sidewalks, the cafes and restaurants are all busy.

Those old romantic French fools, locking up their love and throwing away the key,                  tres agreable

An observation here, the cafes are full of people chatting, drinking, smoking, eating and people watching. No one and I mean no one, sits with their face glued to a device, tap tap tapping away. Even people who are sitting by themselves dont do it. It is so refreshing to see people interacting, socialising or just sitting and enjoying their surroundings without feeling the need to be connected. This is the first first world country I have seen that in. Now, if only the French would get the message that smoking is not tres chic.

12/07/13 I'm not going to say another word about jet lag, except that it SSUUCCKKSS!!. Bed at 11pm up at 2am, asleep again at 5.30am, awake at 8.30am.  What the!!

We had plans to go to the Eiffel Tower but that was so "last trip". So we decided to catch a train to the Arc de Triomphe instead, have a look around up there and then walk down the Champs-Elyse'es to the Louvre.

Two likely lads in Paris

Deja Vu for us, same spot for us back in 1997

Looking south down the Champs - Elysees

Charlie in the stairwell of the Arc De Triomphe, fantastic shot  by Christina

They're setting up road blocks everywhere for the big Bastille Day parade this Sunday. Unfortunately we're on a train to Amsterdam on Saturday so we're going to miss the fun. And, the following Sunday the Tour de France guys will be belting up the Champs-Elyse'es  to the finishing line. Last time we were here in 2011 we left for Disney Land just two hours before Cadel Evans came rushing up to claim the winners jersey for Australia

The Louvre is massive and deserves, like just about everywhere we've been, more time than we had to give it. We had a look at the early Renaissance painters and some of the Bottecelli sculptures and then it was pretty much straight to the Mona Lisa.

About to enter.. The Louvre

Watch and see how their eyes follow you around the room.

"What's all the fuss about", says Charlie. As far as initial impact goes, the painting at the other end of the gallery is quite breath taking just in it's enormity alone. It is quite literally, a third the size of an indoor soccer pitch. Sure it doesn't have the mystique and profile of the Mona Lisa, but wow, it's big. Still, the crowds were in front of the Mona Lisa and it was here we had to squeeze, shuffle and push our way forward to eventually get close enough to get a picture without the mop of a fellow tourists head in our shot.

Head and shoulders, the most popular painting here

It would be nice to be able to linger and look a while but once you get anywhere near the front the claustrophobic pressure from those around you is a bit overwhelming and you want out. Napoleon the III apartments were next on our list and they did not disappoint. The nephew and heir of Napoleon Bonaparte I,  these were every bit as opulent, if not more so than Versailles. As with the Louvre itself, most of the amazing works are on the painting ceilings. But, here, on these apartments, there is not a single surface that is not gilded, lacquered of painted. The artworks, the furniture, the fittings are everything you would expect of a French Emperor at the height of his game with endless resources of wealth and artisans at his disposal.

Have you..

ever seen..

such pure opulence..

and indulgence.

As the sun started to set on our last night in Paris we made the trip home at a slow meander. We had put about 6 - 7 klms of walking under our belt today and we were all looking forward to putting our feet up before packing in anticipation of an early start tomorrow morning.  We had a 10.30 am train to Amsterdam to catch. This is our third trip to Paris and it is truly magnificent. I am slowly defining those places that I could live for an extended period. The places that I would really like to get to know. San Francisco, New York and Paris, three to six months in each would be very nice.