Weather.  During the Paris visit and my preceding trip to Copenhagen, I think I was my own personal low pressure system, as pretty much everywhere I went, it was cooler and wetter than normal.  In Paris, it had rained for about a month straight (although it actually stopped for the most part by the time I arrived), flooding the Seine, making those romantic walks along the river impossible without waders (and it's hard to feel romantic wearing waders).

Moulin Rouge.  I was very excited to see the Moulin Rouge because I wanted hear young Obi-Wan Kenobi and the ex-Mrs. Tom Cruise sing cheesy 1970s pop tunes.  Boy, was I disappointed - it was just a hall with some dance shows.  Not even Toulouse-Lautrec was there.

French Food.  Ordering food in France is interesting.  Even if the menu were in English, it wouldn't necessarily be clear what you were getting.  Which can be a good thing.  "I'm eating duck hearts?!?!  Mmm...duck hearts...."

Lights.  Paris is called the City of Lights, but you're a neon light maven, the views from the Eiffel Tower in Paris pale in comparison to the views from the Eiffel Tower in Las Vegas.  The lights on the Eiffel Tower itself were quite impressive.  For the new millennium, they added a bunch of flashing lights that would go on every hour.  Tom and Derek were especially impressed.  So much so that they made several late night trips to take them in.  For me, once was enough.

Labor Strikes.  During this trip I learned that labor strikes can be good.  I ran into two strikes during the trip to Paris.  The first was when Lufthansa pilots when on a suprise strike on the day of my flight from Copenhagen to Paris.  So, I got rebooked on a Scandanavian Airlines flight that left an hour earlier and went direct to Paris instead of stopping over in Frankfurt.  Then, at the Louvre, the workers went on strike the day of our visit.  They were protesting the government's proposal to lengthen the work week from 35 hours to 37 hours (how terrible!).  It delayed our entrance to the museum by about an hour, but the good part is that we got in for free.

Louvre.  The Louvre is one of the most amazing places in the world.  It's one part 'repository of great cultural artifacts' and one part Disneyland.  Within reside some of the greatest works of art in the history of mankind.  These great works of art are visited by masses of uncultured noisy tourists clamoring to take bad photos of famous sculptures and paintings just so that they can brag about getting a great picture of a famous work of art.

Mona Lisa.  This painting is probably the most famous piece in the museum.  One claim to fame is that more film is wasted on this work of art than on anything else in the world.  Since it's indoors, everyone's flash goes off.  However, the painting is behind a reflective pane of glass, so when the tourists get their film developed, in place of Mona's ambiguous smile, they'll just have a big spot of bright light.  Of course, I understand the principle of reflection, so I turned off my flash and took a photo that turned out absolutely fantastic.

Venus de Milo.  This famous piece is notable because it's a rare sculpture of an armless woman.  "What?  The arms broke off after it was finished?!  Ohhh...."  Anyway, I got a great picture of Ms. de Milo.

Winged Victory of Samothrace.  This was one of the more disappointing pieces.  It's just a statue of Nike.  It's a shame that such a venerable museum has let crass commercialism invade their premises (and for an athletic shoe company at that).  But despite that, I took a couple of pictures, which turned out great, although I had to shove a crowd of people out of the way.

Code of Hammurabi.  This is not only a work of art, but a government document!  It's the first legal code in history.  This piece had a large crowd around - all lawyers, coming to give thanks.  By yelling that someone had slipped and fallen in the Hellenistic wing, I got the lawyers out of the way and got a nice photo.

Hotel de Invalides.  This building houses the French World War II museum, honoring the French heroes of the war.  Hey, stop laughing - this may seem like an oxymoron, but no!  It was quite educational.  I had no idea the French played such a crucial role in the war.  I always thought that the French caved into the Nazis and waited to be saved by the British and Americans.  In fact, the French were crucial to every single Allied victory.  Suffice it to say that according to this museum if it werent' for the courage and military expertise of the French, we'd all be sprechen Deutsch right now!  (The above is sarcastic, playing on the inaccurate stereotype of French military incompetence.  It is meant only in jest.  I know all about the brave act of subversion committed by the French Resistance to undermine the Nazi's efforts - hey, I've seen Casablanca!   If you are French, please take the above only as a joke; if you have diffulty seeing the humour in it, read it to yourself in a Jerry Lewis voice.)

Versailles.  This a big palace that was built so that the king could escape from the noise and bustle of the city and enjoy the quiet countryside.  Of course, when the king was in residence at Versaille, the palace was the hip place to be and many (talking thousands) people would go and hang out with the king.  This rather defeated the purpose for the king.  So he had a couple of small palaces (small being relative here, they are mansion-sized) built in a secluded area of the grounds so that he could escape from the noise and bustle of the main palace - a retreat from the retreat.  It's a good thing the French royalty didn't do things to excess or they might've had a revolution on their hands!

Café de Flore.  This cafre was Picasso's favorite.  And now I understand the inspiration for his art.  After having a cup of French coffee, which would qualify as a Class 3 narcotic in America, I was having all sorts of cubist visions.