Mussels, fairy floss and love locks!

If you thought romance was passé in Paris, all you have to do is look at Paris bridges to see it is being displayed in full force.

The Paris “love locks” are back.

The love padlocks have been a phenomenon in cities around the world.

For those of you who haven’t heard of them, here's the story. A couple writes their names on a padlock and locks it onto one of the bridges. They then throw the key into the Seine River as a symbol of their undying love.

Some say the only way to break the seal of love brought on by this love lock act is to find the key and unlock the padlock. Of course, that is nearly impossible, since the keys lie at the bottom of the river. This reality induces many brokenhearted individuals to return with bolt cutters to try to chop off the padlocks in the dead of the night. 

Alex and Charlie decided they wanted to put their padlock on the bridge too. They wrote 'Alex, Charlie and Sam, Paris 2013' on their lock and tossed the key in the Seine (and kept a spare for their journals).

The car park we deposited the car at did free bike hire so Rog hired a bike and did some touring by the Seine giving 'croggies' to the kids. We went to the Jardin des Tuileries near the Louvre and went on the fair ground. The views from the air chairs was fantastic. (Cheaper than DLP and no queues or mice in sight!) 

Ended the day with steaming pots of moules frites (again!!).

We love Paris!!

A & C with their padlock

Charlie attaches it to bridge

The Louvre from the Jardin du Carousel

Louvre again 

Going up on the air chairs

The Louvre from the air chairs

Log flume- be warned you may get wet!

Fairy floss of course 

Musee d'Orsay and some tower

Moules frites (again!!!!!)

Musee d'Orsay

The Musee d'Orsay used to be a steam train station but it had to close when it's platforms became too short for modern trains. The giant station clocks are still here and it is home to some of the most famous Impressionist paintings in the world including Renoir, Cezanne, Manet, Monet and Degas. There were also galleries devoted to Van Gogh and another to Henri Toulouse-Lautrec. The collection is truly breathtaking, in a forgotten corner on the 'Art Nouveau' level (which was empty as the hoards were in the Impressionist gallery) was a fabulous Edvard Munch painting.

When official art dealers saw the paintings of Cezanne and Monet they burst out laughing . 'R' for refuse - rejected - was stamped on the back and the canvases were returned. So, the artists decided to exhibit their paintings in their own show, the Salon des Refuses or ' Room of the Rejected.'

The kids loved the gallery, Alex was delighted to see Van Gogh's 'Starry Night' which he'd learned about at school and Charlie loved Degas' paintings and sculptures of dancers.

Paris is very 'kid friendly'; there are lots of playgrounds with many close to the main tourist attractions which makes 'letting off steam' easy.

View of the Louvre from the roof top terrace

The Sacre-Coeur through the station clock

The main gallery with station clock reminiscent of the movie 'Hugo' at the end

MO

Alex and Charlie are in Melbourne at the playground outside