Paris

In between our two visits to Troyes we managed to fit in six nights in Paris which was really nice. It actually worked out well not having the car as what we saw of driving and parking in the capital would have made the whole experience quite stressful.

We did all the usual sights; Notre Dame, which we didn't find that impressive from the outside but was incredible on the inside with beautiful stained glass. The Eiffel tower (boy the wind was COLD up there), The Louvre-massive, The Pantheon, The Arc de Triomphe, Musee d'Orsay (Eva's favourite with all these Art Nouvea rooms), the Catacombs-morbid, Pere Lachaise cemetery and Jim Morrison's grave-even more morbid, and lots of wandering in the streets and boulevards.

We have heard so many negative things about Paris but we found it clean, friendly and, of course, romantic. Something about the cafe lined streets screaming out for you to have a coffee or a wine suited us to a tee.

One of the most impressive things about being in Paris when we were was that the one time we are without private transport there is a nationwide transport strike.

We were staying at the end of one of the metro lines and the services were cut from one train every two or three minutes to one every half/one hour. It was absolutely incredible! Luckily we don't mind being around a lot of people in a very small space but we saw at least one girl pass out and were literally smashed against the doors one one memorable journey, squashed frog style.

It wasn't just the metro though, when we had to get back to Troyes to pick up the car the intercity service was cut from 14 a day to one. We all had tickets and everyone was grouped around these heater things on the platform waiting to find out exactly which platform our train would be leaving from. As soon as the number flicked over the race was on. It was nice that everyone seemed to be good humoured about it, laughing as we jogged along to try and get on the train.

We saw a lot of police over these few days, holding back the crowds at the busier metro stations and there were some riots (not sure if they were related- I think it was students) so we really got to see a bit of French culture. We heard one quip that striking is the second national sport of France after petanque.

For an idea of what the metro was like check out this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Y-lzvWEqmk

Photos: The Paris Catacombs, The impressive interior of the Musee d'Orsay, The predictable crowd around the Mona Lisa, We visited the Arc de Triomphe on rememberance day, Us in front of the Louvre, Seeing the Eiffel tower for yourself really is something although don't come expecting to bring your scooter to the top!