The Eurostar

Well we had a very existing trip on the Eurostar yesterday. The day stated of like most, got up around 8am, but we were leaving Paris so we had to get all our stuff together and check out of the hotel. We left Jill behind in Paris as she was taking a later train back to London than us. So off up the road with our luggage we went to the metro, that was fun, poor Mike had to take all my heavy bags down for me. We had two stops on the Metro then we were at Nord station where the Eurostar leaves from, we had some fun getting through the gates at the metro, so wish I had recorded Mike going through the gates, he was not impressed, so Peter and I had a good old laugh at that. By 11.15 we were all checked in for the Eurostar, the train was leaving at 12.13, we were all on by 12.05, so the train left early,

we were all going along rather nicely an hour out of Paris, well into our meal
when the train stopped, later realized that we had stopped on a siding. After around 30+ mins and a few announcements we were told that we had to go back to another train station and change trains as the engine in our train had issues and we couldn't go into the tunnel with this issue we had. So we had a 10min trip back to a station, were we exchanged trains with another train going the other way back to Paris,

that was fun, so all in all we were 2.5 hours late into London and had a good old time with the excitement.

Leaving Paris

Today we are off to London again and leaving Paris, we have really had a good time here and don't want to leave, guess that is a good thing that way we will have to come back :o)

Château de Versailles

Saturday was spent at Château de Versailles, we had a 30+ min train ride in a double decker train. The Château was so big and the gardens so beautiful and we didn't even get to see it all in summer. The place was so big we spent 7 hours there and still didn't get to see everything









From the Château we decided to walk over to Marie-Antoinette estate, what a walk that was, over an hour in the gardens just to make it to the edge of the estate, but what an amazing walk it was. The estate has a miniature farm and village on it

Chateau de Vincennes

On Friday we had a bit of a bad day, 3 out of the 4 monuments were closed to the public for viewing, but at the Chateau de Vincennes the guy was so nice to us because we were kiwi's he let us in free, so that made up for the others being closed

Pantheon and Louvre

Well Thursday morning started early for a change, we were up dressed and feed and at the gates of the Pantheon as they were opening. What an amazing building it was, built in 1758, by the order of King Louis XV

(Above photo not taken by us), in the centre of the Pantheon is a pendulum that tells the time, pretty amazing, it explains how the earth rotates around the pendulum etc.
Then it was off to the Louvre (Musée du Louvre),
this place is huge, but Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa not so huge, it was funny to see Peter and Mike's face when they saw it, there were so expecting something a bit bigger


There are just so many pieces to look at it was mind boggling. For my second visit it was still too much, so we kept to the thing we knew and wanted to see and will do others at a later date



There were a lot of artists in the Louvre painting paintings it was really cool to watch them

The Jules Verne Restaurant - Paris

A few months back before coming to Paris I managed to get us a booking at the The Jules Verne Restaurant which is in the Eiffel tower, it is very hard to get a booking and in the past it can take up to 8 months to get a booking, but they had been closed for renovations and didn't open again till Mid Dec and were not taking any bookings till Dec 1st, so luck me got in on the first day of bookings. Well what an experience, and for me is the high light of the trip, the service was unbelievable we had 3 waiters. And the food, I just can't explain the flavours. We decided that we would go the full menu and did the 10 course degustation. Our reservation was for 6.30pm and for the first 2 hours were pretty much the only ones in the restaurant and time just went so fast. The table had been set with the smallest knife and fork I had ever seen,
Mike was worried that the meal sizes where going to match, but he was very wrong. With 10 courses and all the fresh bread you could eat we did not go home hungry at all. The last 2 course were desert, the first one was a chocolate mouse and other treats,

and then there was a white chocolate and strawberry cake, the strawberries were so small, I had not seem anything like it before, and the flavour was out of this world

On the way out off the restaurant on the stairs down to the viewing area we got to see the kitchen in full swing, it is hard to believe that at 10.30 at night they are this busy


CNN have also done a piece on the newly open resturant

L'Arc de Triomphe and Champ Elysees

The L'Arc de Triomphe still amazes me. Standing opposite having a look just is breath taking

We walked under the road to have a look at the monument itself it is just so tall

The monument is kept very clean and is guarded like all there major monuments by armed troops. They also have a berried solider there from the 1st world war

You also get a great view of the Champ Elysees

from the L'Arc de Triomphe, the traffic just doesn't stop

Louis Vuitton

Well in Paris what should one do?...well if you are Helen you must buy Louis Vuitton. So after the Eiffel Tower we took the bus to the Champ Elysees to have a look around and to look at the L'Arc de Triomphe, while on the Champ Elysees we saw the Mercedes Benz shop, so we had to go in there for Peter to have a look around, but he decided against buying a new car in the end

After coming out of Mercedes Mike spotted Louis Vuitton, so off across the road it was to take a look

Unfortunatly for Mike the products were a lot cheaper than at home and Melbourne, so I purchased a new wallet

Don't tell Mike but there might just be another visit as there is another handbag I wouldn't mind!!!!

The Eiffel Tower

After a good night sleep we headed off to the Eiffel Tower, the queue was very short compared to other times I had been there, we only had to wait 20+ mins. Only the east pillar is open during the winter months and during the week only levels 1 and 2


The temp up on level 2 was really cold, and on the wind side must have been around 3 degrees but the view was well work it




After coming down from the Eiffel Tower Mike wanted to take a walk to get the post card shot of the tower

They are not too hard to find either, this one is my favourite