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Published: August 15th 2009
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On a bench
Two heavy weights at each end! We travelled to Paris and arrived late in the evening. Great Apartment leant to us by my long standing French pen friend - we have been corresponding since we were both 12.
Bit of a problem with the parking space which was 2 floors underground and not suited to the big blue beast and its roof rack. After deliberating for some while we took the roof rack off and drove the car into the parking lot - just missing the ceiling pipes by literally inches. Then what to do with the roof rack - it was really heavy but we took it to the entrance to the car park and were stopped by the security staff. Luckily there were two of them and one persuaded the other to let us take the roof rack and leave it by the car.
You can see the Eiffel Tower from the apartment - and in the evening it is great to sit on the sofa and watch the twinkling lights and the laser beam. It made us determined to visit the next day but as ever after a late start we arrived to hoards of people snaked around the base of the tower all
in queues and looking as if they may be there for several hours. We all agreed that this was not fun and made our way on foot through the Paris streets to the Louvre - guess what it is closed on a Tuesday!!
No worries we had had a really nice lunch just off the Champs Elysees and when we got back to the Eiffel Tower (via the boat taxi) we found the queue for the stairway route much reduced. We decided that 700 steps was worth a reduction in queue of about an hour and I am sure my thigh muscles have benefitted.
The evening was clear and we could see for miles - definitely worth the wait and climb.
Why is it that we always start off with a really late start. This happened again the next day and by the time we left the flat it was nearly lunch time. Anyway we used the metro this time and made out way to the Louvre in order to buy tickets in advance. Actually when we got there there was no queue and so we went straight in. Arty was very keen to see the Mona
Lisa - and Smarty and Karate were interested in the Egyptians.
When we left we were all worn out with the heat and the people - there were some seriously garlicy breaths in there too which detracted from the enjoyment of the higher level APG experience.
Anyway - Farty was on a mission and we set off on the metro again to Montmartre where we found a great café away from the hoards and had a lovely meal high up on the cobbled streets overlooking Paris.
Finally we wended our way back via the Moulin Rouge and back on the metro again.
Smarty completed her negotiations on the Eiffel Tower key rings and we got back to the flat around 10.30pm.
After successfully replacing the roof rack and spending 2 hours on the quayside at Calais we got home very late but happy to be out of the big smoke - note to self - avoid Europe’s capital cities in August.
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