Merci Paris

It's an incredible city - simple as that.

It was an inspired decision ( probably by Wendy coz she was the lead planner :) to stay on the left bank as everything is literally at the door step.  Walking distance to the Louvre and Notre Dame and a 10 € cab to the Eiffle Tower and Arc de Triomphe.  Wonderful bakeries and speciality butchers and cheese mongers ( not sure that is the correct term ? ) only a block away and always interesting people to see when I did my daily trek to buy the morning breads and pastries ( in fact I'm nibbling on a particularly delicious pastry creation even now as I type - ok I'll admit also that I'm having a wine - just to get the creative juices flowing mind you :).

Early start yesterday to get to the Fat Tire Palace of Versailles tour.  On the train for 25 minutes then on a bike for 4 hours peddling around the Grounds and listening to Pete the guide bringing the history to life.  I did chemistry, biology and physics so was completely oblivious to to story of the 3 Louis'.   It was such an incredible period of history and to walk around where some of it played was quite cool.  Grace and I saw the place where Marie antoinette and Louis 16th were beheaded while on our bus tour.   After the bike excursion we went and saw the fountain display and then lined up for around an hour to get into the Palace.  Magnificant.  Not sure how they knew to do that stuff way back then - but they did, and they did it really well.  The kids we knackered so it was a bit of a dash through - pity about all the bus groups as they tended to dominate the space around the exhibits and so kids etc couldn't get a look in.  C'est la vie !   ( I also took French for 3 years but I'm not sure that Mr Stead - my french teacher would be too proud of my efforts over here - I wonder if he's even still above ground ? :).  On the train, in a cab quick slap up dinner and bed.

Oozed out of bed this morning feeling all of my 50 years, the combination of the sun, the walking and the biking did take it's toll on all of us.  Had some breakfast and in a cab and off to the Eiffle Tower.  Incredible to think that it only took two years to put up and like the London Eye, was going to get dismantled !  We went up to the 2nd level and that was enough for the crew - wonderful views of the city and a few great photos's.  Walked down the 668 steps and had a wee detour to Louis Vuitton shop to pick up a trinket for our trip memory box - hmmmmmm who knew that LV doesn't do trinkets :).  Now 3 o'clock and Kate is having a nap prior to us going to the Louvre.  She is skyping her class tonight and is super excited about that!

Hi - Wendy here now.  Andrew has said it all really but I just thought that I would add in my two cents worth :). Huge day yesterday - fantastic way to see around the grounds of the Palace, and Pete was a wealth of knowledge. Like Andrew I hadn't done History in High School so I had no idea. One of the great moments for me was chatting to Grace as we biked along and her saying that this made her want to go home and read more books on the era of the "Louis's" - that is what so much of this trip is about. As Andrew said the crew were all very tired this morning. Rushed to the Eiffle Tower - thank god for prebooked priority entrance. Our booking was for 11am - the queue was already at least three hours long!! We walked in and were taken straight through with at the most a 10 minute wait. Now Bill Manning - if you are reading this I thought of Tina all the way up in lift, I remember you telling me she wasn't fond of heights either :). Once on the second level the views were wonderful, and there were not too many people so you got a great chance to see everything. 

Borth - thinking of you today as well as I got into LV, Andrew was so funny when he discovered there is nothing in the way of trinkets that you can purchase there. The key rings were over 300 euro :). I also made it to the shoe shop you recommended - purchase made - tick! :). 

Andrew has just gone off to the Lourve - kids really tired, and are happy to have seen the outside of the Lourve. I'm happy to let Kate sleep as she has to stay up until 11pm tonight to Skype her class - and she is so excited about it, that is the most important thing right now.  I will start packing again .... Off to Rome tomorrow where it was 34 degrees at 8 am this morning .....