France at last

Hello again!! We had a bit of a gap there, because we didn't have internet access for a few days. However I'm pleased to say that we arrived safely in Aniane on monday afternoon, as scheduled.

We arrived in Paris on Sunday, after a 2-leg flight from Mexico city via Montreal. We didn't get much sleep on the flight but we still really enjoyed Paris. Our hotel was close to the Eiffel Tower and after a quick nap and a shower we headed off to check it out. We were feelinng a bit energetic after being cooped up for so long, so we decided to climb up to the first viewing level. The air was fresh and smelt great, and the views were expansive - it almost made up for the fact that my legs felt like jelly for the rest of the day! We had a couple of good home-style meat and several veg-type meals, and wandered around our quartier for a while, stopping outside Les Invalides as well.

The hotel rooms were amazingly small. Just tiny. Literally just standing room only around the beds. BUT - we scored a room with a view of the Eiffel Tower, which made up for the lack of space (view pictured above).

We had forgotten how expensive Paris is. A small bottle of Pepsi in a restaurant cost $10NZ, and lunch came to $100NZ.

We saw lots of those cute little Smart cars in Paris, and most vehicles were pretty small. I don't think we saw one SUV. It was different from what I remembered from my last visit in the 1980s - people were friendly, and lots of them spoke English as well.

What else can I say about Paris - it's so beautiful, so elegant, I love it, I wanted to lie down and merge with the sand-coloured stones, I was sooooo tired ....