Paris

Paris Well we got to Paris in one piece. We got lucky and could check straight into our hotel. So we headed straight to the Champs Élysées. France had just had there election and the arc d triompe was surrounded by French flags. It was a real sign of nationalistic pride. We had a coffee in the nespresso store which was unbelievable and the macchiato was delicious.  Later we headed down to the Eiffel tower, on walking there you get to see just how grand the buildings are. At the tower they only had one of the 4 lifts operating so we decided to give it a miss. We then walked through the grassed area to the Ecole military. After that it was off to galleries layfatte which is a beautiful department store. Had bad memories of being stuck in there many years ago, but they do have a cool roof top terrace. Went back to the hotels and fell asleep. Had a great run through Paris the next morning, saw more in 10kms than I did in 3 days last time. After breakfast we headed to the Eiffel Tower. It was great to go up to the top of the tower this time (last time we could only go to level two), it made the 90minute wait worth while. I enjoyed the view better in the day time rather than at night, it enabled you to see the landmarks better. The fact Gustav Eiffel built himself an apartment up the top was amazing. Fair hike up the 1710 steps back then. I think the visit to Sacre Coeur was probably the highlight of the time in Paris. The whole Montmartre area up there was beautiful with the small streett. The art work was fascinating as were all the street artists there. The church itself was magnificent. The detail in the art work on the roof was sensational. We visited Notre Dame after this, at least this time the facade wasnt all covered over. Impressive building considering it is 800 years old. That night we did the boat ride along the seine. Great seeing the grand buildings lit up. The last morning I decided that I was determined to see the Mona Lisa. This has been on the bucket list and it was looking like it was going to have to wait until the next trip with the family. But we got there early and the line was short, we went straight in and straight in to the Mona Lisa. It was great as it wasn't crowded. I had been told how small the painting is so I was expecting to see some tiny picture, and it was great that it was bigger than I expected. We didn't get to see much of the louvre but what we did see was spectacular. On the way back to the hotel we dropped back to nespresso on Champs Elysess. Yum. Then it was onto the tgv to Grenoble. Love the fast trains.