Monday 4 June

 

The Battistone’s and Luisa went walking around Paris including a visit to the Louvre.  Luisa wanted to do some shopping so Maria and I met her in a shop selling bags located on Rue la Boétie, Andrea gave us the address so we could buy her a gift.  After spending up big, we walked to the Printemps on Bd Haussmann.  It is a huge department store on 9 levels very similar to Myers but with greater variety and better service.

Luisa purchased the dress she planned to wear to the wedding.  

Printemps, cnr Rue de la Pépiniére & Bd Haussman

View from the roof of Printemps on the ornate structures of the building

Looking at the United Colors of Benetton Paris

Eiffel Tower in the distance

Looking towards Montmartre and the Basilique du Sacre Coeur

In the distance are the new buildings of Paris

Inside Printemps

Inside Printemps

Intriguing display entrance to Printemps

Maria found a macaroon store on the ground floor and purchased a small range for afternoon tea.  She was excited to see the range and other interesting things you can buy.

Maria and Luisa waiting to be served

I got told not to take photos, I guess they get sick of people getting in behind the counter and getting close ups of the displays and items for sale.

Window display

Montmartre is on the outskirts of Paris and back in time, because it was outside the city limits, city taxes and regulations did not apply, including the regulation of live and the more risqué shows.  This allowed cabaret shows like Moulin Rouge  to flourish.  So Maria, Luisa and I decided to go and see a Moulin Rouge.  I went during the day to buy tickets at the ticket office, they took my name and advised me that we should be there by 10.30 pm for the 11.00pm show and I had reserved seats which I pay for later.  Feeling confident we would get our seats, went off shopping.

We decided to go out for dinner at a little restaurant called Barklays, a short walk down the street from our apartment.  They specialise in hamburgers and pasta.  The meal was alright  but very filling.

We all had big meals, very filling

After dinner we caught a taxi to Moulin Rouge as Maria was still getting her strength back.  Getting dropped off in front of Moulin Rouge by the taxi was an experience.  Taxis, buses, cars and people everywhere, chaos abounds.  Now we arrived at 10.15 pm (early for us!!!) and found a queue to get in, so we lined up.  Security came up and moved us further away.  It appears that where we lined up was illegal and we had to stand further up the footpath.  We were concerned about this as others were getting into the line ahead of us, but our concerns were put to rest by the security staff, they told the push-ins to move to the back of the line.  Most expressed their displeasure, especially those who had pre-purchased tickets thinking they had priority.   By now we realised that our reserved seats meant nothing and we just wanted to make sure we got in.

The line stated to move a bit before 11.00 with us getting into the foyer.  It was impossible to work out how they allocated seats because we all appeared to be treated the same whether you had pre-purchased tickets or not.  Finally we were shown to our seats in what seemed like a very well-oiled machine, they got people to their seats quickly and soon had the place packed – not sure how they complied with fire regulations

We shared our table with 3 gentlemen – father, son and friend of the son.  We introduced ourselves, asked questions about each other – they come from Australia, the fathers lives in Brisbane, his son and his mate live in London, the father was holidaying in Paris so the son and his mate came to visit and see the show.

Waiting in line, people just wanted to push in, thankfully security made them go to the end of the line

Crowd outside Moulin Rouge

Inside the foyer waiting for our chance to get our seats

Maria and Luisa looking and wishing!!

The show costs €105 each and included champagne.  The show started at around 11.30, it is glitzy, glamorous, feathers, beads and of course the breasts!!!  It was entertaining and well worth watching.  The show finished a bit before 1.00 am and they got us out of the building quicker than we got in.  After looking at the gift shop we got out onto the street, found a taxi to take us back to the apartment.