Getting ready to go to the Versailles palace, after a good sleep-in. Yesterday we went right to the top of the Eiffel Tower. It didn’t really impress me at first glance when getting out of the underground metro, because it was nowhere near a glossy & shiny as in all the photos & magazines. It also looked reasonably small, but as we were walking towards it & I realised we were much further away than I realised, it really was rather impressive. Standing underneath it was very impressive indeed. Buggered if I can see how they constructed it, I will have to read about this when I get home. We went all the way to the top, as far as you can without going through the security shield fence, which means about 10m from the top. We took the lift because there was much more walking for us yet to be done. Fortunately the weather was still very kind to us so we could easily see everything, but the photos I took aren’t particularly impressive as you really need a wide angle lens. Morven taught me how to say “Il fait du vent et très froid”, which means “It is windy & very cold”, and it certainly was so we went back down to earth pretty quickly!

After we got down we walked away from it to be able to take a photo of us in the background. Amazingly, the younger couple we asked to take our photo for us happened to be from Adelaide! What are the odds!?!?!?

After this we kept walking to try & find another Metro station to get us to the Arc de Triomphe. Morven got us lost (we weren’t really trying too hard, we were happy to get lost & explore the city). We ate baguettes & pain chocolat (chocolate croissants) from a bakery, & then

caught a Metro to the big Arc. This Arc is about as big as the base of the Eiffel Tower (Morven disagrees & is probably right but they’re both big enough that you need to walk back a long distance if you don’t want to risk a stiff neck). We didn’t climb to the top of it because having just done the Eiffel Tower we didn’t really see the point, & wanted to walk down the

Champs Elysee & Avenue Montaigne (two of the poshest shopping streets). We spent a long time in Lacoste, Chanel, & Peugot, but neither of us could afford anything. Even buying an ice cream was ridiculously expensive with our Aussie dollars, but I guess you get that when in Paris. Proving to be a very expensive holiday!! :S

We then went back to the hotel for a rest, before going out again to go to an art exhibition building called the Centre George Pompidou. Unfortunately the one day of the week that it’s closed on had changed since Morv’s guide book was written, so we couldn’t actually go in, but that was okay because she was just really happy to see it from the outside, all lit up. The whole idea of this building is it’s designed to be “inside out” anyway.

After admiring its unique architecture, we went to the pancake restaurant (the one we saw on the way home from the vegetarian restaurant) and had savoury pancakes. They were reasonably tasty, although my spinach & goats cheese (feta) would have been tastier if it was mozarella. I don’t think I had ever eaten feta cheese melted before. Morven decided we required a sweet blackforest pancake to share, which was an absolute chocolate taste sensation. I enjoyed drinking a delicious French beer over the main course. We then retired for the night, & planned our next day’s journey to the Versailles palace, & our Valentines Day dinner at Hédiard restaurant (attached to a gourmet food shop), bus night tour of Paris illuminated, and river cruise of the bridges over the Seine all lit up in the night. I am very concerned about the fact that Thursday in itself will cost me an entire weeks pay, but that’s all part of going to Paris for Valentines Day, right? Right???!!

Now I’m writing from Versailles palace waiting for Morven to progress through the queue for the female facilities. We’ve just finished about five hours of walking around the palace and gardens. I can’t believe how massive the place is. When we got to Versailles, there was a several hour queue to buy tickets, so we just went for a few minute walk to the tourist information centre and back to buy the tickets, and saved loads of time. We wouldn’t have worked it out if Morven couldn’t speak French, so I am very grateful for that! I’ve taken many photos, and look forward to uploading them, but bandwidth is costing hundreds more than normal when overseas, hence no photos on blog yet! The highlight of Versailles for me was the sheer scale of construction of the buildings, as I can’t imagine how long, difficult, and expensive it would have been. The highlight of Versailles for Morven was the amazing gardens. She asked me if I would buy her a palace – I said no. We’re both fairly exhausted from being on our feet all day, and are on our way back to the hotel.

That’s all for todays blogging, will perhaps update after we’ve been to the underground Catacombs tomorrow.