Bonjour!
We thought it was hot in London, but it was nothing compared to here. We have been unbelievably lucky with every day being hot and sunny.
On Thursday we did a walking tour of Paris which covered many of the major sites. The tour guide was a young girl from Melbourne who was kind of hyper, but we learned a lot and had a great time. We walked up the Champs – Elysees to the Arc de Triumph. We climbed to the top for some great views and then sat and watched the traffic at the roundabout. It was crazy – there are 12 different exits on the roundabout and the drivers are all nuts!
We had dinner at a French restaurant and had snails for entree. Surprisingly they were pretty good. After dinner, we made our way to the Eiffel tower. Our first close sighting of the tower took our breath. It is enormous and absolutely stunning. We sat on the grass until it got dark and watched the tower sparkle on the hour. We then lined up to catch the lift to the second level. We were told at the bottom that the top level was closed and that you could not buy tickets to go up there. We later found out that they say this all the time and that it is bullshit! So, we got ripped and only went to level two. The views were still amazing and it was great to see the lights of Paris.
On Friday we made our way to Montmarte to visit the Sacre – Coeur. We climbed to the top (we will have the biggest muscles in our legs when we get back!) and again saw great views of the city. We were hassled by African guys to have a bracelet made from string...I folded, and am now the proud owner of a string bracelet that set us back 4 euro! We were not dressed appropriately to go inside, so we went all the way down the stairs to buy t-shirts and an ugly skirt for me to wear (see photo). I think I look like a gypsy! Speaking of gypsies, the are everywhere, begging for money. There are also a number of drunks on the streets too. Nobody has tried to scam us, but we did see from the bus, a guy trying to pull the dropped ring trick. It doesn't bother me all the people asking for money but it is starting to piss Turls off. We also visited the Moulin Rouge purely for a photo opportunity and in doing so, drove through the red light district of Paris.
We then made our way back to Notre Dam, had baguettes in the park for lunch and climbed the stairs (again) to the top. We then caught a train to see the Catacombes, but had no luck finding them before closing time. After going back to our room and freshening up, we went to the Louvre in the evening. There were hardly any crowds at this time of the day, so we had a great view of the Mona Lisa.
Yesterday morning we went to the Eiffel Tower again, but this time climbed the stairs to level two and then a lift to the top. We only waited 25 minutes at the bottom and 10 minutes on level 2 which was remarkably quick. The views were amazing and the climb not as bad as we expected. By the time we got down, the queues were enormous. We spent the rest of the day at Versailles. There was a fair bit of stuffing around with trains as the station we needed to go to was closed. The gardens at Versailles are gorgeous and huge! I have never seen anything like it. Mum and Dad would have the best time there! We also went inside the chateau which was also very nice.
We are now sitting on a train on our way to Brugges in Belgium. I can't get the bloody wifi to work so have no idea when I will be able to post this.
Au revoir!
Ange & Turls xx
