Saturday, 2 October (cont.). We roamed the gardens and visited the gift shop before walking a couple blocks down the small road to the Musee d'Art Americain. Although not limited to Impressionist art, some of the paintings there easily could have been mistaken for Monet's.
As we headed back to the bus, we passed through an area where a couple dozen classic cars were on display, mostly very expensive British makes such as Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Astin-Martin, and Jaguar. Just before noon, the bus drove us
a few miles to the charming Moulin de Fourges (1750) for lunch. Situated on the
Epte River, the mill is absolutely beautiful. We left there at 1:40 and were
back at our hotel in Paris a little after 3:00.
We had also signed up for the optional evening excursion to the Moulin Rouge in Montmatre. It was overpriced, but we wanted to do something special in Paris to celebrate our 51st anniversary (actually the next day). The bus left the hotel at 6:30. We had a short wait outside to get in, then were seated at tables for six. There was a good view of the stage, but the tables were crammed together so it was almost impossible to move. Of course, there was none of the charm or ambience of the original Moulin Rouge. Everything old seems to have been ripped out in the process of expanding the space to seat 900 customers - and every show is sold out!
As we left the Moulin Rouge, there were hundreds of
people (probably 900) lined up on the sidewalk outside, waiting to get in for
the 11:30 show. That performance does not include dinner but does require the
purchase of one drink per person at 95 euros ($120) a pop, even for
water.
On the way back to the hotel, the bus took us on a very enjoyable Paris by Night tour. This happened to be the Nuit Blanche, when many people party all night long, so traffic was exceptionally heavy. We got back to the hotel before midnight, ready for some rest after a very busy day.
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