Sitting in Rodin’s garden, we had a conversation with an American woman. She told us enthusiastically about her visit that morning to the Musee D’Orsay. We also had just been there, so we shared our experiences. She also told us that she and her husband had been travelling for fourteen days and had visited eight countries. They did England in one day and night.

She told us they would love to visit Australia, and I told her that she needed more than one week to do it justice. When her husband returned, she said “these people are from Australia and they say we can’t see it in under one week”. He smiled and said “well, its a big country”.

After ten days in Paris, we feel we have seen and done many things, but have barely scraped the surface of what can be seen in Paris. When it comes to art, there is no end of galleries and museums, when it comes to art, it is a big city.

L’Orangerie is small and a place to go to escape from the heat, dust and chaos of the streets of Paris. I sat in front of Monet’s water lilies and could feel myself calm down. It was also a joy to see other paintings such as Renoir.

Le Louvre is open late on Wednesdays and Fridays and we heard that if you go in the evenings, the crowds are smaller, making it easier to find Mona and see her in the flesh. Not a good idea if you have been out all day, walking, exploring and seeing other things. I became tired and more than a little grumpy. Keith turned to me and asked “do you want to go home? I really hate it when you become irritable.”

That stopped me as I thought “but we haven’t seen Mona”. I managed to pull myself together, but you really need to feel strong and full of energy to go to the Louvre – even when the crowds are smaller. It is enormous and confusing to work out how to enter the different galleries and navigate your way. We did find Mona – eventually but were more excited to discover a painting by Van Dyck of King Charles I. All things seem to eventually lead back to English seventeenth century history.

We loved visiting Pompidou. Level 5 contains a breath-taking collection of modern art from 1880 to 1940. As you walk from room to room, you are able to look out the glass walls and see the Parisian roof tops and out towards the Eiffel Tower and Montmartre. It all sparkled in the sunshine.