(Sorry, there’ll be no clicky links for the next few days as I’m doing this from my phone and it’s far too painful trying to search Wikipedia on my phone. So my apologies for any spelling mistakes or typos.)

Woo hoo! Paris! After freezing in the line for the Eiffel tower we finally made it into the lift and were on our way up. A quick change at half way and we were on our way to the top of Paris - 365 metres up.

Unfortunately it was a little cloudy up the top, so the views weren’t quite as good as they could have been. Never the less it was still impressive. There were so many people waiting to get the elevator back down that I ended up taking the stairs from half way to the bottom.

After the Eiffel tower we walked to the Arc de Triomph, built by Napolean for his victorious armies to march through on their return to Paris. Around the Arc is a huge roundabout that is fed by 12 roads. Traffic here is just crazy, entering vehicles have right of way and apparently all insurance is void if you have an accident while on the roundabout.

Next on the list was a walk down the Champs Elysées - also known as the boulevard of diamonds and rubies because of the endless lines of headlights and tail lights. At the end of the Champs Elysées are a set of gardens, full of statues, that lead to the Louvre.

The Louvre houses such masterpieces as the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa along with thousands of other statues and art work. The building(s) that house all of this are just enormous, originally being the royal palace of one of France’s kings.

Just on from the Louvre is Notre Dame, a huge gothic cathederal and once home to Quasi Modo.

After a nice French dinner it was back to the Contiki camp ground for a few drinks and then bed.

Early start followed by a day on the bus. Had a quick bite to eat then a drive through Paris to see the Eiffel tower and heaps of other things.