Day 15,16 Expect the unexpected.

We have visited Paris previously, so this time we are able to dig deeper into the layers of history, culture and art that the city has to offer. Highlights include a return to the sublime Impressionist collection at the Musee d’Orsay, a first time visit to the Musee Rodin to view The Thinker and a visit to the medieval museum Musee de Cluny to see the famous Lady and the Unicorn tapestries which are, sadly for us, on tour in Japan at the moment.Planned visits to museums and cultural sites are a must, but sometimes just hanging around a city like Paris presents the unexpected and rather spectacular.

While walking one day towards the Marais we noticed in front of us a huge mass of people. Many of them were dressed in yellow or blue. We figured that it might be a demonstration, which was blocking the road ahead. Suddenly we noticed that the huge crowd appeared to be heading towards us, up the street, at speed. Finally we noticed that the crowd of two or three thousand people were actually on roller blades and we were witnessing the commencement of a Sunday afternoon tradition an organised roller blade ride around Paris. Amazing!

A couple of days later we are patiently waiting in a long queue to enter a museum when we suddenly hear a roar in the sky. Over the roof of a neighbouring building came a fighter jet leaving a trail of red, white and blue smoke across the sky. For the next  fifteen minutes wave after wave of military aircraft paraded above. We guess it is a practice for Bastille Day next week. Dozens of fighter jets, three types of transport carriers, refuelling planes, satellite surveillance planes and a few others that we were unable to identify, proceeded to fly directly above us in close formations. This event was again unexpected and very impressive… and certainly made our time in the queue more enjoyable.