[with the usual apologies that most of this will be boring to most of you, but it is needed for my records]
Sooo I'm back from my yearly "trip to Paris with mum." It was ok. Not too bad, not too great either, just average. Slightly stressful and I had nasty headaches (and only found out after two days - again - that it was due to lack of caffeine *shudder* @ the thought of the espresso I had to drink).
Spending time with my mum was also kind of stressful. There are things I don't wanna talk to her about, things I don't want her to notice, things I know she doesn't want to know and I guess - oh I dunno, but after she'd left I felt like I could breathe again. But she paid for everything except the flight so who am I to complain.
So. Report. I caught the early flight again (6.20) and I cursed myself for it. I almost didn't make the flight - I'd checked the Heathrow site beforehand and they said to arrive at your normal time. But there were massive queues for checking in and I had to be pulled out of the bag drop queue and ushered in front of everyone in the end. *lol* Then the stupid security people told me I was fine, I shouldn't fuss and queue like the rest of them and I made the plane with just 5mins to spare. 
So I was already superstressed before it started, and then there were queues for the train tickets in Paris too and I was feeling all restless and antsy cuz of my happy pills anyway and I had a strong desire to kill someone. I calmed down eventually tho.
When I found my mum she said there wasn't an awful lot going on (we always buy a "what's on" guide and look for things to visit). We ended up doing ok tho. Saturday we went to the Modern Art Museum (which I'd never been to before - not Pompidou!), it was ok. Pompidou is nicer. Then I dragged her to Square Récamier, a cute little park that so far had always been closed when I was there - and this time it was open! Woohoo! And it is indeed very cute! So have some pics...
Then we went to see an exhibition of Marilyn Monroe pics... her last photo session, by Bert Stern. This was quite nice. Then I believe we went for a rest to cure my headache, then to the Arènes de Lutèce (which were not far from our hotel), then for a drink (it rained), for dinner at a cute little Italian restaurant, and finally for our usual late night walk. My mum complained a lot about her feet hurting lol.
Okay. Sunday. We were gonna go to the Crypte Archéologique in front of Notre Dame to learn about food & drink in Roman times, but the whole square was closed off. Some policeman told us to come back in the afternoon. So we went to the Ste Chapelle - we'd decided to go see a concert there that evening so had to prebook our tickets. And we also went inside again, for it is breathtakingly beautiful and one cannot see it often enough.
Theeen we went to see a Paris Photo exhibition in the 4th arrondissement... can't remember what it was called, but it was nice. By now I had a headache again. *sigh* We then went past the Place des Vosges
and ended up at the Musée Carnavalet so I could reverently stand in front of Proust's bedroom again for a change (and it's free). We had lunch at the Boulangerie Finkelsztajn in the rue des Rosiers, a lovely little Yiddish bakery type thing.
Then up to Montmartre to see the Dalì exhibition (again in my case, but my mum hadn't seen it yet. my headache was now pretty bad so I just sat in a corner most of the time). We went back to give the Crypte Archéologique another try... but the stupid square was still closed off, and there were loads of people, and something was going on. We weaseled our way in... turns out it was being renamed! From "Parvis Notre Dame" to "Parvis Notre Dame - Place Jean Paul II". 
So I took a pic.
Theeen we went to the Panthéon, where lots of important Frenchmen are buried (I'd never been there before!). It was kinda boring tho. Big ugly church and lots of tombs in the crypt, the end.
After another headache-combatting rest we went to our concert. I found it very nice, but found out that I cannot concentrate on the beauty of the music and the beauty of the church at the same time. Sensory overload or something. My mum felt the same thing, but she also found the music annoying (it was Vivaldi's Four Seasons, and they played it rather too fast). I found it a bit cacophonous at times, but the speed didn't bother me too much.
Then dinner (crêperie) and late night walk. Around the Louvre this time. My mum complained even more about her feet. I took some of my usual late night pics (esp. Seine). Paris is pretty.
Monday then. Most museums are closed on Mondays (which I'd totally forgotten. Friday to Sunday would've been wiser. I'll remember next time). First we went to buy shoes for my mum and walked down rue de Rennes & went into Fnac. After that there wasn't much left to do... we went to see Goya etchings (these were largely in-understandable social criticism and kinda boring), and ended up going to the Jewish Museum to see the Dreyfus exhibition (we wanted to see something else but that had ended the day before - grrr).
Then we had a late lunch and then my mum had to leave for her train. I just walked around Paris some more after that and sat in the Tuileries for a while listening to music.
I decided to go to the airport well ahead of time to avoid stress, but there were no queues at all of course, so I ended up sitting on the floor for ages reading my book (they have no bloody seats there - wtf?!). The flight left on schedule, but was delayed getting into Heathrow, and because I am stupid and careless I managed to miss the last bus to Gatwick, so had to spend the night at Heathrow, the most horrible airport ever.
They have only one tiny seating area in Terminal 1 (where I ended up), so there were a few poor characters strewn about there. Including one bum who got dragged away by police at some point, but returned shortly after and started talking, cursing & shouting in his sleep at around 3am. This went on for about 1hr or so. Thank God for my earplugs. Oh, and at 1.15 there was a fire alarm test. Also very pleasant. *lol*
I caught a bus at 5.45 and got home at around 8am. Yay. The End.
Nice. It's a pity you seem to have no pictures of the Marilyn Monroe exhibition. I like her and her photos very much.
Posted by: stagiaire on Tue September 5, 2006 at 15:07Nice report! I hope your headache has gone for good now. I need to go back to Paris and give it another try. I haven't been in a few years and maybe there's a chance I'd like it after all if I went again.
Posted by: Anne on Tue September 5, 2006 at 16:43Sounds like a boring trip but a well written report.
and theeeeen
hope your head feels better, did you try anything for it?
Posted by: kal on Tue September 5, 2006 at 17:02Paris is beautiful 
No arc 
Why "Parvis Notre Dame" and not "Paris"?
Whee @ park being open! 
Don't think you were allowed to take pics in the exhibition stagiaire. 
There are pics online tho, here for instance.
Yes my headache is gone now everyone, and yes I did try sth for it Kal. First lots of painkillers, then caffeine. 
No Arc slore, no. You know I don't like it & we didn't go anywhere near it.
And parvis = the square in front of a church, has nothing to do with Paris.
Bloody French people and their confusing language.
Posted by: BML on Tue September 5, 2006 at 19:12Square Récamier
I can't wait for a someday-trip.
Posted by: See Dub on Wed September 6, 2006 at 11:55