Paris!

Paree!Paree! Ah oui! Ah oui!
Baguettes and fromage
Pate and canard
Your effortless art
Your old but young heart
ThE Tower, the Dame
The well-deserved fame...
Paree! Paree! Ah oui! Ah oui!

Vendredi: Train 1hour 20, no stamp in passport, no checks, no security
Walked from station to lovely cousin's flat, then out to eat duck and frois gras (don't ask how they make it)

Samedi: Eiffel Tower (cool as! 677 steps to 2nd floor),
Arc de Triomphe (way bigger than I thought)
stroll down the Champs Elysees (shonseleesay) having Christmas markets (bought nothing of course),
Petit Palais (which is huge),
Notre Dame (impressive but WAY too many people),
Metro (superb and easy to use).

Dimanche: Le Louvre! Five hours and several times getting lost - I didn't know it was the biggest palace in the world - the ceilings are fantastic and that's without the official art. Typical moment was, "Oh that's a cool sculpture! ...Oh, it's by Michelangelo" and then, wandering through a long hall, "Those are stunning!... oh, Leonardo da Vinci " (The Mona Lisa is good, not mindboggling. Others I liked more). "The colours in that one are brilliant... oh, Brueghel... Botticelli... Veronese... Rembrandt etc"
My absolute favourites though were the French sculptures - huge, detailed, rearing horses, beautiful women, gorgeous men, some very clever political statements obvious even to the non-Francophone.

It reminded me that humans are capable of beautiful things.

Walked home and got a weensy bit lost, bumped into the Opera house, a big column and eventually some food. The sun comes from the south here, Penelope, the south...

Lundi: Breakfast then back to Brussels via some drama because I couldn't find my seat - eventually crammed into the excess luggage section with the rest of the plebs just as the train started moving. Got given a proper seat after a while through kind French men translating for me but the officials were not helpful at all. C'est la vie!
Tour round a Romanesque collegiale in Nivelles in the afternoon, weather so wild the guide was too scared to take us to the top. Have to go and buy a baguette for lunch now - au revoir!