Paris

Despite the broken bone, I made my way to Paris on 1st June to meet up with Kurt, who I was going to cycle with in the Loire. Since I am now a damsel in distress (haha) there are plenty of people prepared to help me… so all is well. On arrival we booked into a hotel near Stade de France and then wandered around Paris to get a feel for the cité. This included visiting Notre Dame, Hotel de Ville, the Centre Pompidou although wandering through the streets and along the Seine was beautiful as well.

While it had been a bit drissly on the first day, the weather was hot hot hot from the 2nd onwards. We did a few more of the touristique things :

• climbed the Eiffel Tower taking in great views of the city and the Champ de Mars
• Viewed the Arc de Triomphe, comissioned by Napolean in commemoration of French victories
• Walked down the Champs-élysées to the Place de la Concorde
• Got lost in the Musée du Louvre (saw Venus de Milo but never did manage to find any Monet paintings I was looking for
  

Paris was fun although you definitely dont need to speak french to get around. Ive borrowed some of Emmas clothes so am looking decidedly untouristy at times, resulting in a few lost tourists asking me for directions ! At least I can speak english to them ! Theres still plenty to see in Paris so may have to have another look on the return from the UK.