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Paris

This was a quick day trip to Paris for administrative reasons. The TGV from Luxembourg gets you there in under two and a half hours.

We finished the administrative stuff a lot earlier than expected, so we had six hours to waste. After an expensive underwhelming lunch in the Cafe de l'Opera (the Google reviews are about right), we crossed the road to the Galeries Lafayette Haussmann and enjoyed the view from the rooftop as well the Christmas decorations underneath the impressive dome.

We then planned to have a look at the nearby opera house, but the hall itself could not be visited at the moment, so we skipped that and headed to the Louvre. The queues were short and we headed straight to the Mona Lisa. Here a reasonable crowd of people was taking selfies so we waited a few minutes to get to the front to view the most famous picture of them all:

Given the understandable distance you have to keep from the picture, if you really want to study it, you might be better off buying a poster in the souvenir shop 😉.

Next we viewed the "Libery leading the people", which had been photoshopped earlier in the year. Well, the analog equivalent. They call it conservation in the art world!

Finally here's an obligatory shot of the glass pyramids around the Louvre:

After that it was time to head back to the train statio, but first a quick glimpse of the Seine.

Overall, the one impression I have from this day trip to Paris is that compared to 25 years ago it has been tidied up a lot and made far more pleasant and accessible to tourists, and hopefully locals as well. Also, there were lots cycle lanes which were being used, despite it almost being winter and about 8°C. Well done Paris!

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Privacy

A very interesting post on privacy by Tim Bray. I particularly like this point:

Because you’re forgetting about the people who do need privacy. If only the “suspicious” stuff is made private, then our adversaries will assume that anything that’s private must be suspicious. That endangers our basic civilizational privacy privilege and isn’t a place we want to be.

He also has couple of talking points to use when discussing privacy with others, who are perhaps less concerned than you are.

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