Day 29 - Paris

---

Woke up to another sunny day and took off to the bus stop for the hop on hop off tour. Like New York, the Paris system had a few different lines so you needed to choose which one you wanted.

We were going to get the Green line which had all of the main sights however accidentally took the Yellow line. Of the four lines, the yellow was next best and we had plenty of time so we stayed on for the whole round trip and then took the green one. We got to see the Moulin Rouge, Madeleine church and some other landmarks so it was worth the trip. We later tried to get tickets to a Moulin Rouge show for later in the week but unfortunately they are all booked out.

Now onto the green bus and our first stop was Notre Dame but not before we experienced the crazy roundabout at the Arc de Triomphe. Luckily we were in a bus and the driver just charged through, although I did work out that there is a system and that is everyone has to give way to the right.

Arrived at Notre Dame and it is a nice place, it's very big and inside there is so much work done to the ceilings and windows with paintings. They have a strict policy that you need to be silent as you tour through which that message obviously didn't filter down to one group of parents who let their baby make more noise than the soccer game the other night.

We also did a lap of the church from the outside and this was my first chance to see the Seine. My first thought was how clean it was compared to the Thames, and the Yarra for that matter. Maybe I went too early with the comment of Paris being a little dirty because for such a main river, it was very nice.

Stopped for lunch close by and as we were waiting I looked up to another booth where a family were sitting. There looked to be one empty seat, that was until I realised there was a bloody cat sitting there getting a pat from a lady. He was happy to sit there all day and didn't seem fussed by all the people and the noise, we later realised he belonged to the restaurant which was strange enough and he waited until our food was on the way and then came up to us for a pat.

Back on the bus and our next stop was the Eiffel Tower. As we arrived I couldn't believe how many people were there and most of them were in the queue to head up the tower. There are three main points only the first two were open and then the very top one was closed, you can either walk up which seemed like it would take forever or take the elevator. As we got closer, the queue was enormous and was not moving quickly. Unfortunately (or fortunately for those scared of heights) it was getting a bit later in the day and the last tour bus was coming at about 5.30 so we didn't think we'd have enough time to queue up and see it. We can book online so we have prolonged the pain until Thursday morning!

Instead we took a walk around and it is still great from ground level. The gardens surrounding it are perfect and probably one of the best views you will see in the world is from the Palais de Chaillot where you are across the road from the tower on a lookout and there are water fountains and the tower in front of you, you can see so much of the city and it's a fantastic view.

Made the trek back towards the hotel as it was starting to get dark. We have had nice sunny days since arriving however it has been very cold with a high wind chill, much colder than London.

Ended the day with a nice Chinese dinner close to the hotel, although we had a few hairy moments along the way. As we were checking the menu at another place, some rocks hit the ground and we had no idea where they came from. Then some more and this time they hit the cars that were parked on the side of the road. People started scattering everywhere and so did we, we still have no idea how it happened, either kids were throwing them from the top of a building although we couldn't see anyone, or they were actually falling off the building which was even a bigger worry.

Tomorrow were off to Versailles in the morning which is meant to be really good, it's about a 45 minute train ride and we will probably spend half a day there. We've then got some shopping to catch up on in the afternoon and need to find a way to celebrate our one month wedding anniversary which is much longer than we might have lasted if we had've hired a car throughout the whole trip after the Los Angeles experience!

---