Paris and Beyond

Finally, after 16 years of waiting....I have been to Paris! For those who dont know the story, my first trip to Paris ended before it began back in 1988 thanks to a dodgy english travel agent who failed to advise us that we needed a visa for France (in his defence, they had only just changed the rules) but I never got to go to Paris and I've never trusted travel agents since to get things right.

But we made it to Paris and had a fantastic albeit rather cold time. We stayed in a little apartment in St Germain on the Left Bank which was within walking distance to the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame. We were so impressed with our apartment (thanks to Rafi at www.yellowstay.com) - it even had a view of the Eiffel Tower from our bedroom...and you cant ask for more than that.


Our View!


Our View at NIght!

We started each day with a lovely french breakfast - fresh croissants and pan-au-chocolat from the boulangerie, 30 seconds down the road, washed down with yummy hot chocolates.




Lily in the smallest lift in Paris

On our first day we took a wander over to the Eiffel Tower - it was amazing to see it up close. But we decided not to go up as it was a really windy day


On our way to the Eiffel Tower


The dome on L'Hotel des Invalides

The next day, we walked through the streets of St Germain de Pres to the Seine and the famous Pont Neuf, on our way to Notre Dame.


Dad at Pont Neuf


Notre Dame


One of the Rose windows in Notre Dame


The famous flying buttresses at the rear of Notre Dame


Notre Dame gargoyle

After a quick lunch of fresh crepes (yum) we wandered up to the Louvre to find it was closed on Tuesdays so it was onto the metro to go home - we love the metro!



The next day dawned with lovely blue skies so we decided to head up to Montmartre to see the Basilica de Sacre Coeur


The classic metro stop at Montmartre


On the slide at Montmartre


The view from Sacre Coeur, worth climbing all those steps for


A Lilycam view of Sacre Coeur

Our last day was devoted to seeing the Louvre. We loved the I.M. Pei pyramid - we thought it was a wonderful addition to the classic old building. Having read the Da Vinci Code on the flight over, it was fun to see some of the original artworks mentioned and reconstruct things


The Louvre


Lilycam at the Louvre


The chalice and the blade ;-)


After a while, Lily went off to sleep and we had time to slowly make our way through - it would take months to see everything properly but we saw some of the highlights.


Another version of Amore and Psyche


Diana the Huntress


Winged Victory


Venus de Milo


The crowds looking at La Joconde - the Mona Lisa


The lady herself!

We sadly said goodbye to Paris after 5 days and made our way back to London. We were really happy with our cheap Easyjet flight


Lily liked Easyjet's baggage allowance policy!

After a long drive from Luton airport we stayed the night with Ursula, Tony and Xavier. It was great to catch up with our old friends and Lily and Xavier got on really well


Xavier and Lily - kindred spirits in pj's!

So after a few days with Great Grandma Joan we are heading home again - Dad is looking forward to getting home to his web design and development and Expat France forum, Mum is ready to go back to Italy and Lily doesnt seem to care where we are so long as there are quack-quacks and woof-woofs. Wish us luck for the flight home as Lily is cutting her eye-teeth!!