I love Paris in the spring time....

 I love Paris in the spring time....(to quote a famous song) but not with all the other thousands of tourists and tour groups!

Yes, we are in Paris and it is beautiful spring weather and everyone, including the locals, are out enjoying the glorious warm days, clear blue skies and soaking up the sun and sights of the world's most touristed city.

After catching the fast train from Amsterdam to Paris our 1st afternoon was spent settling into our Montmarte apartment (complete with circular wrought iron staircase), visiting the supermarket (hence making Arkady a happy boy!) then getting our bearings with a wander up to Sacre Coeur. It was incredibly busy with the place overrun with school groups of all nationalities and heaps of people sitting on the stairs and grass, having picnics, enjoying the odd drink or two and obviously waiting for the sunset.

This time around we've ventured further afield to discover new arrondisements and see different sights including the Musee Marmottan, a hunting lodge housing one of the most extensive Monet collections as well as a massive exhibition of Berthe Morisot's work. The hunting lodge itself was fairly impressive and over the top, but the Monets, including a whole room of waterlillies paintings was fantastic. Even busier was the Morisot exhibition which was very popular with groups of impeccably dressed French women of a certain age.

Today was a great day of contrasts. First up was a visit to the Catacombs. This really made Anika's day, as the last time we were here the Catacombs were closed due to vandalism and she was very disappointed. After heading down 130 steps and along narrow corridors we came out into the ossuary section of the catacombs where we were surrounded by thousands and thousands of bones and skulls.

It was a fascinating place to visit where you felt totally immersed in years of history. More than 6 million bones are buried underground in the catacombs and everywhere you looked there was row after row of skulls and bones neatly stacked along the corridors, some of the bones dating back to the 1700s.







Later in the day we saw other macabre sights but from a much more recent period, courtesy of the Tim Burton exhibition. This was the exhibition that was in Melbourne about 2 years ago which we didn't get a chance to see then and I'm so glad we managed to catch it in Paris. It was a brilliant exhibition and very extensive and showed just what a wicked, odd sense of humour and imagination Tim Burton has.

It included an incredible range of his drawings and cartoons, costumes and props from many of his movies - Batman masks, Edward Scissorhands outfit and scissor hands, models from the Corpse Bride, weird animal sculpture creations, the wire contraption Willy Wonka wore as a kid to stop him from eating chocolate, the razors from Sweeney Todd just to name of few. It was fascinating and well worth seeing.

Off to Versailles tomorrow for a look at over the top indulgence and grandeur.