Day 2 - Sightseeing

Our first day in Paris ended with an as per usual wonderful dinner at the restaurant next door to the hotel. We slept like babies nearly all night except one of us who spent some time surfing the net due to being fully rested at 3 am.

We missed our set deadline to be out of the hotel hitting the streets early due to some hair care and few minor beauty routines, but after breakfast it was decided to start with the Eiffel Tower as the day was super clear and the promised rain nowhere to be seen. After buying our Metro ticket in the ticket vending machine with no English translation which made us feel pretty good, leaving other non-French speaking tourists behind trying to work out how to get some tickets out of the machine. A few Metro changes later we arrived at Trocadero to turn around the corner to get the breathtaking view of the tower. It doesn’t seem to matter how many times you see this magnificent tower, it is just amazing every time.

There was a few hundred people before us in line to buy their tickets which we thought would take forever but before we knew it there we were going in the glass sided lift 120 metre up.

Unfortunately level 3 was closed due to upkeep to the lift, so we had to make the most of level 2 which is not too bad on any given day. We spent plenty of time admiring the view from every angle taking lots of pictures just like all the hundreds of people on the tower.

Next on the agenda was Montmartre and Sacre Coeur, a bit far to walk to, so back underground to catch more Metro trains.

Before any more sightseeing was done lunch was served by very a friendly English speaking waiter, who served us Roasted chicken, Leek pie and Ravioli washed down with a lots of water and of course some house wine. Now we were ready for to have a quiet walk through the beautiful church on the hill Sacre Coeur and to watch the spectacular view over the city with a few (hundred) other tourists.

Only a few hundred meters away from the church and we enter the artist’s heaven the plaza of Montmartre where there are more artists scribbling, cutting, drawing and painting in everything from charcoal to watercolour than you can imagine. Salme who is pretty good with her oil paintings was off checking out each and every one of the artists and Peter took off to take some more pictures leaving Yvonne to stay put so Salme could find her (she admits of not having the best sense of direction) at one of the many outdoor bars surrounding the plaza enjoying a very expensive glass of wine (Yvonne must have had TOURIST written on her forehead)

More photos later and no purchased paintings it was time to make it back towards home just had to dip into the local supermarket for some refreshments, more water, wine, local cheese, olives, fresh fruit and a few other essentials.

After a few hours rest we were ready to go out again to find a restaurant to enjoy dinner and after looking at many eateries a decision was finally made where escargot were on the entre list for Salme but not the others followed by some splendidly cooked steak and dessert and coffee and yes we did again enjoy some local wine. This was a dinner enjoyed by all and we were all eager to get home for some well-deserved sleep to recharge our batteries so we can be ready for more adventures in the morning. Au revoir see you tomorrow