25th July 2009 - Paris
We were up at 0930hrs and set off to flag a taxi to get myself Tara and Andy to the Eiffel Tower to meet Ray & Celia. We had arranged to meet by the leg closest to the river!?! - When we arrived it became apparent that there were two legs equidistant from the river but we found them all the same. The Eiffel Tower is an awesome construction! To beat the queues we decided to go on foot and climb the South East leg to the first platform. Let's just say there is a lot of steps! I suffer from vertigo so I decided it was probably not a wise idea to try and count them. The view from the first platform is excellent - which was a relief for me as that was as far up as I was going! I thought I would be able to manage the second platform but after one look over the middle at the crowds in the distance below I realised that my body would just not let me go any further! We had some refreshments, walked all the way round and admired the view and then made our way back down the South West leg, myself, Tara and Andy on foot, Ray and Celia opted for the faster route and took the lift.

What a view!	Long way down - didn't help me!



Next plan was to take an open top bus tour of the city, we walked up to the Palais De Chaillot, bought some tickets and hopped on a bus. You are each provided with a set of earphones when you board the bus so that you can listen to the commentary in your respective language - I maybe in France but my French really isn't that good! This worked really well for those of us sitting on the left side of the bus, nice and clear, soft operatic music playing between the commentary, but for those on the right side, ie Andy, Ray and Celia it was muffled and crackly! Oh well we all still enjoyed the tour of the city on a beautiful sunny day. Off the bus two and half hours later and after a quick baguette and drink we walked through Place De La Concorde and down to Musee Du Louvre. The glass pyramid is very impressive inside and out but unfortunately on a warm day it makes the entrance to the Louve very, very warm, and to be honest I was not particularly impressed by the fact that you walk down into the reception area (underneath the glass pyramid) and then have to climb two lots of stairs to get to the galleries! Looks impressive but not practical - moan moan ;-) Mona Lisa and Venus De Milo were the two items of interest, you could spend hours in this place, but we were short on time. Next it was time to flag a taxi and head back to our respective accommodation, Sanity for myself, Tara and Andy and hotel for Ray and Celia to freshen up before heading out for a meal.



I had a sneaky suspicion that we may be heading back to wrong berth and I was right, Eric had been to see the Capitainarie and we were allocated a berth on the opposite side of the marina and so in our absence Eric had relocated us to a new home :-) After some initial thoughts and playing about on Google Earth we decided that we would stroll across the river and eat close to the marina. Ray and Celia jumped a Taxi from their hotel and we met on the Pont De Sully bridge. The meal was superb, we sat outside and indulged in plenty of good food and wine :-) The short walk back from the restaurant enabled us to see Paris by night, including the many thousands of lights that illuminate the Eiffel Tower, it was spectacular. We walked along the river bank which was lined with weekend party goers, floating restaurants and barges hosting private functions. A great and thoroughly enjoyable evening had by all.
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