[ Dec.2019 ] The Musée de L’Orangerie we went to is in Jardin des Tuileries.
And in Jardin des Tuileries, the Christmas market was being held on the day in December.
This place was very popular and it was crowded with a great many people.
I cannot tell which was more crowded, this market or Marche d’Aligre, the food market.
Within this Christmas market, what we were attracted was the big wheel.
There used to be a big wheel set at one corner in Place de la Concorde and I had had a ride on it once more than 10 years ago.
That big wheel was not that big and each gondola was not covered, so we were exposed to the open air, which was so scary for me who has a slight acrophobia, that I remember I could hardly open my eyes.
This big wheel, “Roue de Paris” was much bigger and each gondola was properly covered.
I do not feel frightened in the covered gondola, no matter how high it goes.
According to the ticket (€12) stub, the height was 55 metres.
The queue was quite long and while we were waiting for our turn, we were worried if we would be in time for our train back to London, but once we got on the gondola, we forgot about that and thoroughly enjoyed the ride.
It just happened to be the sunset, so the air was faintly pink and the view was very beautiful.
We could see the Eiffel Tower, Montmartre, Montparnasse Tower and even La Defénce area clearly.
Also we enjoyed seeing the houses just below us as well as the people around the nearby Louvre.
All the photos we took was through the window, but most of them were good.
The Christmas market in Jardin des Tuileries had not only shops which were selling things suitable for presents and foods, but also an ice skating rink and some amusement park rides, which looked fun, though the size was not as large as the Winter Wonderland in London.
According to the online information, this Christmas market used to be in Champs-Élysée and moved here in Jardin des Tuileries in 2015.
After getting off the wheel, we just started for home.
It was in the middle of general strikes, but fortunately the metro line 1 was working, so we took that to our hotel and we were going to take the taxi we had booked.
But, the taxi did not come.
The receptionist whom we asked for the booking was nearly crying, saying “I phoned them twice”.
The Eurostar’s departure time was drawing nearer.
We went out to the street to catch a cruising taxi, but because of the strike, all the taxis were busy.
At last my husband secured one and we could get in.
But the traffic was so heavy that it took so long and it cost very much, but fortunately we made it and came back home without any problems.
By the way, the taxi driver this time was a man who had come from west Africa in 2010 and he was critical of the general strikes saying “French people are lazy. The retirement age are 65 – 67 nowadays all over the world, but they still want to keep it to be 55”.
He explained hard in his clumsy English, “And because they do not have anything to do after retirement, most of the Uber drivers are retired people”.
