Paris - 13 to 16 July

Well this city deserved a whole section to itself...Paris! Yet again we managed to arrive in a city for a festival, this time of year right across Europe its festival crazy and in Paris it was Bastille Day (French day of independence). Its incredible how much you can fit into 2 full days when you get your mind to it. Bastille day started of with a trip to the Arc De Triomphe (with no cars allowed to enter as it was closed of for the parade). It is the most dangerous roundabout in Europe with 12 roads leading into it and an accident every 8 minutes and to top it of cars that enter are not covered under their insurance.

That day also included a window shop down the Champs Elysee, no purchases for Dee although a visit to Louis Vutton explained why.....500 - 2000 Euro for a purse alone! It was a massive store and probably 1 in a 100 people in there were actually legimately shopping and not checking out the prices.

Next on the agenda was the Louvre Museum to catch a glimpse of the Mona Lisa. Good day to pick to as it was Bastille Day the museum was open for free which meant no lines for tickets. Every man and his dog was taking a picture of Mona, flash and all. James managed to catch a photo aswell, as you can tell by the pictures. Following on from there we went to Notre Dame Cathedral. Dees highlight of the day was fullfilled when we ate Crepes perched on the bench over the Seine river. The day was finished with a picnic of salami, cheese and wine under the Eiffel Tower to watch the Bastille Day fireworks with 500,000 others!

Day Two was a little less jam packed, but never the less busy. With a visit to the Sacre Couer (holy church) with a climb to the top of the very narrow 300 step spiral staircase, to see some spectucular views of Paris. Following our hiking efforts we ventured through the cobblestone streets of Montmarte where we shared some more drinks and watched the portrait artists in action, amazing! Our visit to Paris was capped of with a night time bike tour with a crazy Texan tour guide. As he would say we 'dominated' the streets and perhaps pissed off alot of french drivers with our pack of riders crowding the streets. The ride also included a night cruise along the Seine with yes once again more alcohol, this time red wine.

We return again to Paris on the 26th July, hopefully to see the end of the Tour de France...