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Paris at last! The train strike today caused a lot of strife, so instead of having a leisurely start at about 7.30am we had to get up at 4.30am to catch the TGV train! Arrgh! We sat in the seats allocated for our 9.30am trip, which was ok for about an hour, then people started coming in and the conductors ended up making us all move way down to the end of the train. Everyone helped each other, the guys unloading and reloading the luggage. Even then, more passengers kept coming in wanting us to move so it was a nerve wracking trip.
We eventually arrived very tired, and made it to our hotel - Novotel Paris tour Eiffel which is very big and quite modern.
This evening we took a trip to Monmarte. We went up in a rubber wheeled train which wound it's way up the hill. It is a fascinating town up in the hills above Paris where all of the artists used to live including Toulouse Lautrec, Pissaro, Modligani and many others. In the square there are many artists selling their wares and doing sketch portaits for the tourists.
We also called in to the Bascilica de Sacre Coeur, a beautiful church that has some stained glass windows designed by the French painter Chagall, whose grave we saw in Nice. We were lucky enough to be there when the nuns were singing, it was so beautiful to hear, we could have listened for hours.
We had dinner in the square then set of down the steps to the bus for our Illumination tour. We passed through the red light district, interesting!
It was magical seeing the lights of Paris while Anne, our tour guide, pointed out the sights. Our last stop was at the Eiffel Tour at 10pm, when the tower is lit up with sparkly lights for about five minutes. A fabulous sight.

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