10^th October, 2013 – a beautiful day in Paris.

We enjoyed the French breakfast included in our hotel rate – we filled up on coffee or hot chocolate, pastries, and chewy sourdough-style bread with soft cheese. Then on our way to the Metro underground railway station near the hotel (stopping to look at some fabulous shops along the way) and in to the middle of Paris.

So much to do and so little time! Where to start? 

We got off the train at the Tuileries Gardens, a lovely spot for a morning stroll.

We decided to go to the Louvre fairly early, as we’d heard a lot about how busy it gets and we wanted to allow time to queue. We got there about 15 minutes after opening time and were able to buy a ticket and walk straight in, under that pyramid at into those amazing galleries.

We saw some ancient Babylonian pieces including a large stone carving from around 1770BC, containing lists of laws and punishments, written in cuneiform script carved into the rock. This is considered an especially important item because it is one of the oldest known original pieces of writing of a significant length that can be understood today.

We made sure we got to the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa – these are clearly the biggest draws at the Louvre, and even in the time we spent looking at each, the crowds were starting to gather more heavily. It’s a big thrill seeing such familiar sights “in real life” – especially the Venus de Milo, where you can walk all around and see different details and angles.

While we were at the Louvre, we went to look at some French works from the 16^th and 17^th Centuries, because – well, why not? Even just looking at the galleries and the ceilings is worthwhile.

After a few hours, we headed back out – under an inverted glass pyramid that turns everything into rainbows.

Another trip on the Metro to near Des Invalides where we walked to a market to buy some lunch food. This market is in a fantastic location, with views along the parade to the Eiffel Tower. There were stacks of interesting looking foods including a huge range of mushrooms.

Here are some of our picnic purchases.

We found a picnic spot near the Eiffel Tower, then visited a playground nearby.

After lunch, we popped up to Ile de la Cite – an island in the Seine containing Notre Dame cathedral.

We walked all the way around the island, past several bridges including some completely covered in “love locks”.

There is a lovely flower market on the island.

There is also the very imposing Palais de Justice court building.

When we had walked all the way around the island, we took the Metro around to the Avenue des Champs Elysees, the famous tree-lined street of luxury shopping. The Swarovski store has a crystal-filled glass staircase.

At an intersection of this street and about 4 other streets is the Arc de Triomphe.

It was getting towards evening by this point. We made our way back to Montmartre and had a couple of rides on the funicular – a fairly pointless but fun cross between a train and a lift near the top of the hill.

After that, we were ready to head back to the hotel for an early night, since we won’t be getting much sleep for the next few days!