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continued on from Paris (The Holiday – II)……

I had meant to finish my mindless ramblings about Paris all in one go, but I was looking back on what I wrote the other night (whilst slightly innebriated, mind you) and realised that I’d hardly written anything at all. Worst of all, I’m not living up to expectation (mine mostly, as the ultimate companion to any Lonely Planet, Shannon’s Guide to the world… Or at least to the places he’s actually been). Whats the first rule of the SG series? They’re supposed to offer something different than others. But, it probably won’t, and guess what?

I’m going to write it anyway…..

Moulin Rouge (23/08/2007)

What did I know about Moulin Rouge before going? Not much! I’ve seen the building before, that neon Red Windmill (which I’ll assume was where the idea for the “Gentleman’s” ahem.. strip club came from in Perth) and I remember the boring movie, it did nothing for me, and was probably the main reason I wasn’t terribly fussed whether we went or not. I get it, they family-ified it, but meh anyway. I’ve also heard a few stories about it, like the one of the H-Dog praying to the porcelain god (without the porcelain) out the front of it on a contiki tour, if I have this wrong then I’ll most certainly correct it, but I’m pretty sure those were the details.

As you walk up to the front entrance there’s a red carpet on the ground, and even though you’re the lowly pleb ordering the cheapest meal, you still feel just a little bit like royalty even if just for one second. The mix of chandeliers, brass and smartly dressed bouncers, waiters, ushers and other staff add to the experience. I managed to get one shot off of the foyer before being forced to leave my camera at the cloak room. I can understand that thespians probably don’t want their photo’s appearing on Heat, or Scandal! when they’re rich and famous, and flash photography during the show would ruin it, but I’d have loved to have got some photos of the four of us at the dinner table.

Dinner was great, couldn’t fault the food at all. Our menu (the french Cancan) was good value for the money and the food was tasty.. The Menu consisted of:

Entree: A choice of Garlic Snails, vegetable soup or a pate of some sort

Main: Veal or Sea Trout

Dessert: Special Vanilla Ice cream, or a Bourbon cake

Drinks: Half a bottle of Duval Leroy each. I’m not a huge Champagne drinker, but this was one of the better ones I’ve had, probably better than the cheapish bottles of Moet & Chandon I’ve tried too.

I had the snails, the veal and the bourbon cake, snails are as good as I remember them, but I’m not sure what they’d be like without the thick garlic butter though. They might have th gag-reflex inducing effect of el naturale Oysters.

After an hour and a half or so for food, the show started, I was very impressed! Nothing like the movie at all, they really had it wrong in a few aspects. Of course, what I mean by this, is the boobs. And you could see who was higher up in the dancing food chain too, the better a dancer you were and the bigger part you played, the less and less you wear on top. An interesting heirachy, but entertaining none the less. Back to the movie, I get the idea of it, bring Moulin Rouge to the masses, have a child safe environment so everyone can enjoy the world that is Cabaret dancing. But its not real.. They often say the movie destroyed the book, or the play and so on, but in this case, the movie destroyed the show! The day they bring Debbie Does Dallas, Porn Wars or a Clockwork Orgy to the masses and make them family safe will be a sad day for everyone.

From what I remember, the layout of the show went:

• Boobs, Boobs followed by a Mad Acrobatic duo;
• Boobs, Boobs, Boobs followed by a Crazy guy on +2m tall unicycle riding on a platform balancing crockery on his head
• Boobs followed by a crazy ventriloquist with a whole range of voices and talking puppets
• More boobs then a crazy cleopatra-esque girl jumping in a see through pull of snakes
• and lastly the Grand Finale (more boobs)

I thought the best part of the show was the acrobatic twosome at the start, at one point the guy had the girl balanced on his foot straight up in the air above him, while being hoisted off the ground on only one arm! There was actually a different dance/costume set for each segment, and some were fantastic, like the huge peacock outfit glowing crazy neon colours under blacklight. All in all, it was a great show, I’m not usually one for song, dance or theatre, but this was a well put on show with amazing interval acts so as to spread out the monotony that was boo.. I mean dancers.

A great night was had by all!

Rating Guide

Travel: 15 mins by taxi
Price: €145/ea for dinner and show, or €100/ea just for the show
Time: Approx 2-3 Hours
Value: Good Value, Entertainment value was top notch. A must see

Cons: Sitting side ways in a hard old wooden chair whilst trying to turn to watch the show and not block the people behind me’s view just about killed me.

River Cruise (25/08/2007)

On the last night in Paris, we took a Dinner Cruise down the Seine, which was great. The cruise lasts almost 2 hours (on the dot), allowing you to see all the sights, from a different perspective and at night, and enjoy some tasty Chinese food along the way. We did have some fantastic photos of some of the sights of Paris, but unfortunately these were lost due to a dodgy internet cafe in Belgium. Every hour the Eiffel tower sparkles like a christmas tree, only better, but as I’ve lost the photo’s/video’s I’d taken of it, this internet video will have to suffice.

All in all the Dinner cruise was great value, and definitely worth it!

Rating Guide

Travel: Down to the ferry port by the Eiffel Tower
Price: €40/ea for dinner, drinks and the cruise
Time: 2 Hours
Value: Good value,tasty food

This entry was posted on Friday, September 14th, 2007 at 1:04 am and is filed under Other, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.