Plan B

Whenever we go away for the weekend we like to have a 'plan' so we don't end up wasting precious time.

Plan A was to see the Monet exhibition at the Grand Palais, but I foolishly booked the flights before double checking the availability of tickets, and so we arrived early in the morning 'sans billets' and were faced with this queue....

we were prepared to wait it out until we were told it was going to be 4 hours before we got in!

So Plan B was hastily put into action ... and we headed back down the Champs Elyses to the Orangerie where they have the famous Monet Water Lily paintings. Much more civilised and no queue!

And Mr B was also able to see paintings by his favourite artist ... Modigliani

 .... he really likes these paintings ... I'll be honest I don't really see the attraction!

A stroll through the Tuileries gardens revealed a favourite spot in a new guise ... I've never been to Paris in November before and it was lovely to see the old familiar places wearing their Autumn colours.

Much later we headed to the Louvre ... partly to shelter from the threatening rain, and partly because although we'd both been there before, we had never been there together.

Of course, there was the usual scrum to see the Mona Lisa. When I first saw this it was just hanging on a wall surrounded by other paintings ... but after a crazed knife attack it had to placed behing glass for its own safety. In my opinion it's a lot of fuss for a very small picture.

I much prefer lesser known works like this portrait by Raphael ... I think this is stunning.

We were blown away by these dramatic sculptures from Ancient Mesopetania ... the photographs don't convey the enormous scale of the things. They were vast ... and just hidden away from the main thoroughfare We stumbled across them purely by chance.

I must admit, I do find the Louvre deadly dull ... it just seems to be saying 'Look what we've got!' ... and we learned very little about the exhibits. (We have a much better Egyptian gallery at our provincial museum in Liverpool,  much more fun!) It's also exhausting ... so big ... so busy ...so hot ... we were shattered when we staggered out and needed reviving .....

But hot chocolate and tarte tatin did the trick!

I love the little things in Paris more than the showstopping 'must-sees' ....

I love their pride in their national flag ... it's displayed everywhere you go.

I think our flag has been hi-jacked by football and hate groups.

I love their flamboyance .... these magnificent sculptures are all around you wherever you look.

I love their passion for order ... everything is linear and symmetrical

... and clipped and tidy

More flamboyance on a major scale ... the Christmas lights on Galeries Lafayette cover the whole shop. Incredible!

I even love the signs you see around the city ... everything is just as you imagine it to be!

It was a bit of an indulgence going away for no particular reason, but these days we are living for the moment

and blow the money!

Also, we were in Paris just two weeks before my diagnosis in May, and this trip sort of brings it all to a nice closure now that I'm well again! Like symmetry!