Back in London for one more night

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We arrived back in London a few hours ago and are back at Rubens Hotel, where we stayed previously. We just came back from Paris and we're heading to Wales tomorrow.

Paris was pretty cool. Not being able to speak French was a definite con, but at least most of the people were polite and helpful, and a lot of them spoke English, so it all turned out okay. We got to see the Louvre (including the Mona Lisa), the Cathedral of Notre Dame (very cool), and had a chance to walk/ride all the way to the top of the Eiffel Tower. That was the highlight of Paris, at least for me. The Eiffel Tower is a very impressive sight, and a lot bigger and taller than I had imagined. The hike to the second floor was pretty tiring - 668 steps in all - and we had fairly heavy and uncomfortable backpacks on... but we made it up in one piece, so I guess that's something to be grateful for. We rested up a bit and then took the lift (that's "elevator" in American) up to the third floor, which is the highest you can go on the tower and right at the top. The view from up there was spectacular. You could see for kilometres, which is saying something.

Anyway, we thoroughly enjoyed our time in France, but it's nice to be back in the UK where we understand the people around us. Tomorrow we're picking up a rental car in Oxford and driving through Wales, where we'll spend the tomorrow night before boarding the ferry for Ireland the next day. And then we have a few one- and two-day tours ahead of us to see the land of leprechauns...

That's all for now. Cheers!

That was Justin - I thought I'd add a couple words...
We certainly got our excersize today - quite the walk up those steps. You can actually take an elevator all the way from ground, but we chose not to. On the way back, we had some time so we decided to walk the 3 miles or so along the seine river pathway. on the way, a man stopped in front of us, bent over, and picked up something from the ground. He showed us what he found. A gold ring. He said it was very nice, asking if it was ours. we said no. He said, well, it isnt his either, why dont we keep it as a gift for our lucky day in Paris. I said no, he said to take a look at it. Once in my hand, he would not take it back. Then he said he was very hungry, and couldn't we give him some money for a sandwich? I said he could sell the ring, and tried to give it back. No dice. He said he gave us the ring, couldn't we help him out? Aha...... pretty good con I guess. I gave him some money, but also gave him back the ring. but he refused it, and off we went. Just as we were discussing the probability of it being a con, another man in front of us did the same thing. Then another. then another along the walk. Pretty funny.

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