Easter Weekend in Paris

Arc De Triumph
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First of all, I'm pleased to report that I have reduced my pack size by a whopping 10 kg - left a bag of things with Phil and Jenny in Wales, and another (much bigger!) bag at Matt's in London.  Now I can actually walk quite comfortably for a good 45mins with it on my back, as I discovered when we couldn't find our hotel room on arrival in Paris!  The map we printed from the hotel's website looked so clear before we left, but we soon found it missed some key street names - most notably ones we had to turn down to get to our destination!

Second hand bookstalls along the river...lots of old Tintin and Asterisk comics in French!
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I discovered a food market a stones throw from our hotel room on the first morning, so despite my poor french we indulged in a delicious breakfast of fruit and fresh, buttery croissants.  Bliss!  We had read about river cruises along the Sienne so decided to do this first.  It was an absolutely fantastic way to see some of the highlights of Paris, and get our bearings around the city.  There was an audio commentary in English which gave a bit of history to the well-known icons like the Louvre and Notre Dame, as well as buildings/bridges I had never heard of!

The Notre Dame
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We had planned to hit the Eiffel Tower that afternoon, but the queues were horrendous so we put it off until the next day.  This backfired on us a little bit, as the queues were just as bad the next day!  We grabbed a very average and overpriced lunch (travel lesson No1 - NEVER buy food close to popular tourist attractions!)  and I was co-erced by a charming italian man to have my portrait drawn for his portfolio...or so he said.  Travel lesson No2 - people drawing pictures around popular tourist attractions may say it is for their own collection...but when it's finished they will try to sell it to you for 80 euros!  Of course I said no, and eventually Matt bought it for me for a much more reasonable 20 euros.   Travel lesson No3 - if the price seems unreasonable, it probably is - and it will drop considerably if you make appropriate cringing faces!

Gargoyles on the Notre Dame!
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We eventually made it up the Tower the following day, after an incredible 4 hours of queueing.  I'm glad we stuck it out though, as the view from the top was incredible.  Once I had stopped shaking and actually managed to look over the side, that is.  I'm such a chicken!

After devoting so much time for the tower, we had to chose between Notre Dame and the Louvre...the Louvre won out in the end.  Saw the glass pyriamid, a la The Di Vinci Code, which was pretty cool.  Headed straight for the Mona Lisa of course, then wandered back through the rest of the museum.  It astounds me that the art on display has survived, and in many cases still in good condition.  Such a contrast to our disposable era of mass prints and cheap knockoffs.

Matt and I on the 2nd platform of the Eiffel Tower.
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Our last stop for the day was the Arc de Triumph, and we arrived just in time to watch the sun set over Paris.  What a perfect finish for a whirlwind weekend!