Residence du Roy Hotel Paris

... Tower!! It was very windy up there. But it was SOOO beautiful! You could see everything from up there. We spent about 35 minutes at the top or so. We had a very tall security guy take a picture of us. Then we got in the line to descend to the 2nd level. At the 2nd level, we got into another line to go down to the bottom. Of course, at the bottom, we were then met with all of the guys selling the tower trinkets.
With that task over ...

I've been in Paris now for a few days, and have had a chance to really get into things. Of course, when you first arrive, it's like what they said in L'Auberge Espagnol - everything is foreign and nothing makes sense. Sure, it might be nice, but it's easy to get lost and you don't understand what's going on. Slowly though, the pieces of the puzzle fall into place, and it begins to come together. Things make sense. The streets become ...

... use the "toilettes" and then we were off to a cafe just outside our door for a bottle of vin! Time for zzzzzzzzz! p.s. no cello man today, hopefully he will return tomorrow and we will get a picture. Tomorrow we are going on a walking , no agenda. Our only plan is to take an evening boat tour on the Seine, to fully enjoy the city of lights.

... cold and tired. We headed towards some buildings that looked like 5 star hotels as we knew there was a metro station near them somewhere we just didn't know exactly where. The one problem with the metro system is they are very hard to spot unless you came out of it. Most of them are not even marked at all other than a staircase leading into the sidewalk. We saw a guard standing in the distance by one of the buildings and decided to ask for ...

... photo op. I get to the Eiffel and by this point, it's pouring rain out. I am wearing flip-flops. I am slipping around like a moron, but determined to get up there at Trocadero (the building across the street) to take a perfect picture of the Tower in its blue glory. Every 30 mins the Tower lights up and there's a flash of lights going off like Christmas lights everywhere. It lasts for 10 mins and then just goes back to its original blue colour. I am standing in the pouring ...

... Ne pas essayer de se trouver tout seul et de partir avec la mappe. Enfin, on était venu pour La Joconde et on l'a. Une salle spéciale, sur un gros mur, une petite peinture. Une foule autour, il faut que tu joues du coude pour arriver en avant. Mais tu es encore à 50 pieds de la peinture. Et il y a un vitre devant parce qu'un malade a déjà donné un coup de couteau dans la Mona. Donc, si j'ai un conseil à donner si vous allez au Louvre, ne mettez pas trop d'efforts pour ...

... the Somme) before picking Daniel up in Lille on the 5th, we travelled towards Champange where we stayed in Epernay again. One can see that a lot of battles took place in this area. Lots of memorials and graves and the towns pretty "new" after being rebuilt. In Amiens we had our first disaster as my bike decided that it had enough. (The bikes with the camper pretty old) We had just been to a bike shop where the owner (Gerard ...

... du Mont, near the Pantheon. This did not receive any mention in my reading but houses the shrine of St Genevieve, patron saint of Paris, who was burned at the stake during the revolution. We then returned to our flat after it was cleaned, showered and set off to Montmartre via the Metro where we successfully navigated two changes to reach our final stop. We took a 2 hr walking tour of the area with Classic Walks of Paris. Our tour guide, Glen ...

... here can eat French fries with mayonnaise and not get fat). I then started mentally preparing myself to 'do the deed' and smoke some pot. The thought of doing this makes me nervous for some reason- as I am sure you can tell if you have read thus far- but my mantra is "I can be scared, but that won't stop me". So I walked off to find the 'right' coffee shop because after all, atmosphere is everything. Amsterdam has three areas where the gay bars are collected, and one of them ...

... to discover, such teeming does not begin until precisely nine o'clock. Spruikers call out continuously, trying to lure people into their restaurants. By midnight the area was almost deserted and in the morning there was silence except for the delivery vans edging their way down the narrow street and early risers greeting one another. We both felt a little ill this morning. Perhaps it was due to our having closed all the windows to shut out ...