Paris!

Bonjour! Paris is the world's most visited city
with 45 million tourists visiting per year,
It is famous for romance, food and beautiful buildings!

Our first activity in Paris was a one hour scenic cruise along
the Seine River, This was our chance to people watch and
admire the rich architecture of the city. During the cruise we
passed under the cities seven bridges and drifted by some
of Paris most iconic landmarks including Notre-Dame,
The Louvre and The Eiffel Tower.

Our next stop was to get up close and personal to the
Eiffel Tower. The tower was built back in 1889 and since
then has become one of the world's most recognizable
structures. It stands 81 stories high and was only supposed to
be temporary. The tower had a 20 year permit and was to be
removed in 1909, but was later kept for communication purposes.
Since than over 200,000,000 people have visited,
making it the number one paid attraction in the world!

You are able to climb the tower, either by stairs or a lift to the first
& second levels. The third and highest level is accessible by elevator.
Every night the Eiffel Tower lights up for a ten minute display. This
happens every hour on the hour. This looks spectacular and there
are exactly 20 thousand lights on the Eiffel Tower, This is a must see!

We sat on the lawn with a banana and nutella crepe and enjoyed
the light show, once there you will be asked many times if you want
to buy an alcoholic beverage by the street venders, they are everywhere!

The next day we went to the most visited art museum in the world,
Musée du Louvre! We were advised to get there early to avoid the
queues which seemed to work as we were able to walk straight in.

It is one of the largest galleries in the world, with 60,600 square meters
and 35,000 pieces of art on display. The most popular piece being
Leonardo Da Vinci's masterpiece, Mona Lisa. Now considered the most
famous painting in the world, it sits behind bulletproof glass.

We than headed to Notre Dame Cathedral, which also pulls a
huge crowd so again try to get there early. We ended up queuing for
about 30 minutes to go up to the bell tower which wasn't bad compared to
other days. This is because they limit the amount of visitors that go up
at a time. You will pay a fee to do this but it is worth it. It is free to enter
inside the Cathedral and luckily they do allow photography inside.

This beautiful Gothic church was completed in 1345 and standing
at the western front, there is so much to love about this building.
Including The two bell towers that stand 69 meters high, the beautiful
Rose-stain glass windows and off cause the Gargoyles!

We went up the 386 stairs leading to the bell tower and
got a close look at the Gargoyles. This is also one of the best
views looking back over Paris. There are five bells of Notre Dame
we went inside the southern tower to see the largest bell,
nick named Emmanuel which weighs 13 tons. This was also
where the story of the hunchback of Notre Dame was set.

It was then across town to Champs-Élysées, this is one of the
most famous streets in the world, full of boutique stores and rents
as high as one million dollars! As we strolled along the footpath
we approached the Arc De Triomphe.

This monument stands 50 meters high and is a shrine to those
killed during French Revolution. It is also a very busy intersection
of 12 main avenues, it is estimated that there is a car accident
every seven minutes and Insurance is void one you enter this round about.
We got the thrill of driving around the Arc De Triomphe several times
in a tour bus to the sound of Eye Of The Tiger stereo, it was awesome!

Whilst in the French capital I suggest you try the French Cuisine.
We visited a Parisian bakery for a freshly baked baguettes, croissants
and macaroons. Whilst out for dinner we had snails for entree, Frog legs
for main and creme brulee for dessert!

And for the best night out in Paris, head to see a cabaret show at the
Moulin Rouge! We had a great table near the front-side of the stage
and enjoyed a three course meal. The show now features 100 dancers,
as well as acrobats, magicians, clowns and a live orchestra.
There is a magical atmosphere inside and this has been a tradition since 1889,
there were many set designs, costumes, songs and titties...
as well as the famous Cancan! All up it was an entertaining show,
it is very family friendly now days, more than i was expecting.
Not as sexy as the movie version but well worth the price of the ticket.

Getting around Paris is best on a tour bus as it is a very large and
populated city and the attractions are quite spread out.
There is the metro train service which is good to but all the
signs are in French, most of the taxi drivers only speak French too
so you will need a good idea of where you would like to go.
But as you can see there is alot to love about the city of love...