Paris 4

Today marks our final day in Paris - our train leaves back to London late this afternoon. We are making a lazier start to the day and will be having a little wander around Montmatre as the sole aim. We will also likely pay a visit to the Sacre Coeur while there.

Yesterday was also a later start - we left just after 10 and wandered down to the Place du Trocadero and across to the Eiffel Tower. The views from here were unsurprisingly fantastic - you could see quite a way! The structure itself is immense. Following a stroll through the CHamps de Mars to l'Ecole Militarie, we caught the RER out to Versailles.

Versailles is a place I have never been before. The palace is huge, and the gardens even more so. The original grounds covered a greater area than modern metropolitan Paris. The rooms were ornate and sumptuously decorated - the long Hall of Mirrors was particularly fine.

The evening - after the return trip to Paris - featured a boat trip along the Seine. This gave us an opportunity to see all of the sites lit up, although as you were at water level some were harder to see than others. It was definately the superior option to see it by night however.

Paris 3

Auj'hordui je suis en Paris aussi! Yes, my feeble smattering of French has been dusted off and I have been communicating with the locals in their own language - to an extent!

Yesterday we went to the Ile de la Cite - the central island in the Seine at the heart of the city. Prior to arriving there we took a detour to the Pompidou Centre, and also went past the magnificent Hotel de Ville.

Once on the island itself we visited Notre Dame, and as well as seeing the magnificent interior also climbed the towers - yielding a superb view over the city. We also visisted Sainte-Chapelle, constructed in the thirteenth century as a reliquary for the French kings, and saw (on the outside at least) the Palais de Justice.

This filled the majority of the day - in the evening we visited the Musee d'Orsay, a former train station that now houses a magnificent art collection including works by Monet, Gaugain, Cezanne, van Gogh and Rodin. After eating we managed to catch a Metro back to the Arce de Triumphe just in time for last entry, and the views over the city and night from here were truly spectacular. We did have time after this for un glace at a fancy cafe on the CHamps-Elysee - tres Parisian!

Paris 2

So today I'm in Paris. That sentence is thoroughly underwhelming - it makes it sound as if there is nothing either unusual or exciting about this. Perhaps a better start would have been 'Today I'm in Paris (trailing exclamation marks)'.

Yesterday we saw several sights but the main highlights were Place de la Concorde, l'Orangerie, Jardins du Tuileries and the Louvre museum. Today the goal is to head to the Arce to Triumphe to start with and then on to the Ile de France to walk around there!

Paris 1

Considering I am not at work, today oddly saw an earlier start than usual. I was up at 5:45 and we left the house at 6:35 to head into Surbiton. We then caught the train into London and the tube across to St Pancras for the eurostar.

Yes, this does mean that we are heading to Paris for a few days! More updates on this will be forthcoming over the next few days.