France - Paris!

So, we finally made it to Paris, and what a hectic couple of days it was... We decided to spend 3 or 4 days in the capital, and of course that wasn't nearly enough. We still managed to sneak quite a lot of sightseeing in! By the end though are feet were aching but we were happy...

What a great city. I'd heard that it's pretty big, but it wasn't until we starting walking around that I realised how bloody big... Looking at a map it doesn't seem far from here to there, but once you walk it, you soon decide that getting a subway pass is a good option. We ended up getting a 2 day subway pass and a 2 day museum pass, and made good use of both.

Our first night there we just took the first half-cheap hotel we could find, and then the next day moved to a cheaper hotel that was in a much better location - near Hotel de Ville if anyone knows the area... Nice and central for seeing the main sights.

So, for the next few days, we munched on pastries and baguettes, drank a bottle or two of wine, and ran our feet off getting to...

- The Arch de Triumph (twice, jeez it's a long walk up the staircase)

The Arc at night

Looking down at the roundabout around the Arc - this is at a quiet time...

Looking up (or down?) the stairwell that leads to the top of the Arch.

- The Louvre. Only spent an afternoon in there, could have walked around it for another week or two... It's a brilliant building too. Bloody huge.

The Louvre - pyramid and all

Van Gogh - you can only see one ear here...

- The Rodin Museum. Ally has hanging to see this. I got sick of seeing hands and heads after a while. nice to see The Thinker though.

The Thinker

- Notre Dame. forgot to climb the tower though..

- The Consiergerie. a building near Notre Dame that was used for a number of nice and not-so-nice purposes over the last few hundred years

- Champs de Elysees


- The Eiffel tower. 11 euro to get to the very top, great value!

There she is...

At night

Not sure about the tacky lightshow, but isn't too bad

Again...

Again at night, from the other side of the Seine

Part of the Champs de Mars (i think, viewed from the Eiffel Tower)

Great city, great fun. And if anyone needs a decent hotel, for once a Lonely Planet hotel came through, Hotel Rivoli on Rue de Rivoli.

I could go on about paris, but i won't... maybe next time! (missed out on the Picasso Museum, the Catacombs, and quite a lot more...)

Next stop, Luxembourg City