last night in paris

Eiffel Tower at 11pm (pretty flashing lights)
Eiffel Tower in fog.

On the last night in Paris we decided to go for a walk, (I was actually going back to a shop to buy Jennifer from KFC a present). The day was warm and the night came in quite foggy, we took some beautiful pictures of the Eiffel Tower with the top covered in mist. What a way to spend our last night in Paris.

paris is wonderful

View of the crowd lined up from the top of the Eiffel Tower

The Grande Arch
Concorde!!

Yesterday we went back to the Eiffel tower for the second ride, but this time it was right to the top, we had to line up for about 20 minutes to buy or tickets then it's up the elevator to the second level, then we had to wait 30 mins again for the elevator to the top level, the top photo is a pic of how the the line was when we were up the top, it was not that long when we lined up. The elevator to the top is an interesting ride as it is not supported by much. The view from the top was amazing. After the tower we went into le defense "the financial heart of Paris" whilst in there we went to the Grande Arch, the second photo, what a weird building, we went up to the top of there for a look at the city.

We then caught the train into the older parts of Paris, we walked along Rue Du Ravoli, what a most magical time it was, there were people everywhere as it was a balmy 20 degrees, this what makes Paris, with is narrow streets, intersected by community squares, cafes and bars and full of people, it had an atmosphere about it that you don't get any where else.

Later on at night we went for a train trip to find Moulin Rouge, we ended up at the wrong station, after catching 3 more trains we finally arrived and found Moulin Rouge, shows are very expensive at 83 euro so we decided to look from the outside.

Today we went to Musee de la e'space aero, it is a museum full of the history of flight, it was here that I got to see not one but two concordes. The first concorde was the prototype and the second was from the Air France fleet. What fantastic pieces of machinery they are, not bad considering the first one flew in the late 60's.

Tomorrow we catch the TGV to a place called Carcassconne, it is a town surrounded by a fort, sound very exciting, from there we will head to Barcelona. Will send a blog from there.

Merci.

our first few days in paris

Eurostar from London to ParisArc de Triomphe
Eiffel Tower on Valentines Day

After having all sorts of problems getting to Waterloo Train Station on the Tube because of signal failure, we had to completely re-arrange our route which is not easy to do when you planned another way, we arrived in time to catch the Eurostar to Paris. The train was very exciting as it went around 300km/h, the French countryside was just wizzing by. It only took 20mins to go through the tunnel.

After arriving into Paris we had to work out the Metro to get to our hotel. Not to much trouble in doing that, not that anyone would help if we had problems. After settling into our Hotel room we decided to head to the Eiffel Tower and we got there just before dark. It was amazing to see the tower lit up in the night time, it was beautiful. We paid to go to the first level, but the attendant directed us to the top elevator so we got to go to the second level for no extra charge.

On Thursday we caught the Metro into the centre of Paris and went for a walk along the River Seine, we went to Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe, Champs de Elysees and the Louvre, first port of call in the Lourve was of course the most famous painting in the world "Mona Lisa", there are lots of signs directing people to it, like it is the only painting that mattered.

Paris is a beautiful city only let down by the constant onslaught of beggars asking for money. It's like they work in gangs, I heard the same story a 100 times about being from Bosnia needing money to get home to feed their sick kids, they all use the same lines, its well rehearsed, a very ugly mark on a beautiful city.

Today we have been to Euro Disney. It was a good day, all the rides are cool, a bit like Dreamworld really. The line up for all the rides was not to bad considering that it did seem very busy. Bought some souveniers for a keep sake to remember our day.

Went out to dinner tonight in a restaurant and the food was nice, even the man who only spoke a little English was more than helpful.

Had trouble finding a place for the internet in Paris, that is why it has been a few days since the last post. Will try to update the blog a little more often from now with a bit of luck.