Why join a gym when you can climb the Eiffel Tower?

Bonjour from Paris!

Our trip to the home of fashion started out a little bit rocky when we were forced to run for our overnight train, because the connecting train was about 20 mins late. It's a little scary when you jump onto the train and then it starts moving immediately. Aside from near misses, our time in France has been wonderful (even if the weather hasn't been).

As usual we utilised the Sandeman's New Europe Walking tours to get the scope of the city. It started out with a bang. Literally. Our guide started to introduce himself and then a van collided with a motorcycle. He was okay. We think.

Our tour guide (his name is french and pronounced R-no) was most definitely the best guide we've had the whole trip. He took the group around the city of Paris for 3 and a half hours and not once were we bored. He was so good that we were easily convinced to take one of the paid tours that night because he was the guide. The Montmartre Tour at night time, was definitely one of the highlights. Montmartre is a area of Paris located on the only hill in the city. It's not a very impressive hill but the French seem to think it's steep. It's really not. The Basilica of Sacré-Cœur, the church in the area is located on the very top of the 'hill' and is the focal point of the tour. It's absolutely beautiful, a bit castle-esque and white marble on the outside, and what you intially think is paintings on the inside turn out to be all made from mosaics. It is my favourtie church in Europe. It also has a great view of Paris, unfortunately the night we went it was very foggy.

The next few days we took at a slow pace, wandering around to all the famous french monuments. We hit up Notre Dame, didn't make it up to the top to take the typical 'hunchback ringing the bells' photo as it was a little expensive, but we were able to wander around the first level for free. Notre Dame is very famous and very well located (in the middle of an island dividing the Seine river, however it's a sight that I think could be missed.

We walked all the way along the Avenue des Champs-Élysées which leads up to the Arc de Triomphe and the eternal flame. Funny story from our tour guide, apparently the supposedly 'eternal flame' has been extinguished twice in recent history. First time, a drunk American tourist urinated on it and it died. Second and more embarrassingly for us on the tour, some Australians bought some snags and had a barbeque on it. Apparently one of the sausages dropped into the flame and put it out. Both the drunk Americans and the Aussies are not allowed to return to France at all. Fiona and I felt humiliated and guilty for our fellow country men. Other than the stories about the eternal flame, the most entertaining thing to do at the Arc de Triomphe is to watch the traffic at the giant round about. There are no lanes and statistics show that there will be a accident every 15 mintues. Haha. We miss Australian roads and their very logical road rules (and lines).

The next day we made decided to climb the Eiffel Tower. When we got there we nearly had a heart attack from the size of the line. Then we realised that it was the line to take the lift up. We walked straight up to a ticket booth, and then straight up the Eiffel Tower. It pays to take the stairs. I think some of the people waiting for the lift were still there when we came down. The Eiffel Tower was worth the climb, it has some beautiful views of Paris and you could play spot the runners in the park beneath. I spotted about 20 in 2mins. People in Paris like to run. This city has the most runners of all of Europe we've seen. Italy has the least.

Even though the view from the Eiffel Tower is fantastic, funnily enough you can't get a good view of Paris with the Eiffel Tower. So we ventured to the only sky scraper (literally the only one, it's illegal for them to be built now). Visitors are able to go up to the 56th floor and get a panoramic view of Paris which includes the Eiffel Tower. Then we went shopping.

I dragged Fiona to a Vintage Thrift shop called Come on Eileen, which is supposed to have all sorts of vintage designer clothing for cheap prices. We got a little lost and spent a while walking, made a pit stop for chocolate, but we found it. I came out with a vintage [i]Celine red coat for 70 euro - very happy. And then we found Pylones. We want to live there. It sells all sorts of things, from hairbrushes to toasters. It cannot be described in words. Here's the link to their webpage. PYLONES!!! Only catch is they don't ship to Australia so we're seeing how much will fit in our bags and still be at 20kg for our flight to Dublin... We will prevail. After Pylones, we went to the Lourve and visited the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo and the Dying Slave.

On Saturday, we took a day trip to the famous Gardens and palace of Versailles. Our tour guide led us around the gardens telling us about their history and all of the gossip about the royal family.

On the 31 Jan (Fiona's birthday) we've got a tour of the Seine, dinner at the Eiffel Tower restaurant and a show at the Moulin Rouge (which actually means the red windmill in french) booked. After that it's on to Ireland and the countdown to homecoming begins!!

Our top things to do in Paris:

1. Visit a Pylones store and spend all your money.
2. Have a crepe at a sort of hole in the wall crepery in the Montmatre district. WE (and every tour guide) think they are the best in Paris)
3. Visit the Lourve after 6pm on a Friday night. Under 26 years get in for free.

Adieu,

Mel and Fiona