Paris - 9th to 12th of October 2008

Utilising another wedding present - this time from Candice, we jumped on the Eurostar after work on Thursday for the 2 hour train ride to Paris! We arrived too late to do anything, but were up early on Friday to beat the masses to the Eiffel tower. After only a 15 minute wait, we walked up to the second level then got the lift up to the very top. Despite the fantastic day, the view was spoilt a little by what we guessed was smog, but still well worth the trek up. A quick underground ride to the Louvre (again no queues!!) for a quick wander around, taking in its most famous residents, the venus de milo and the mona lisa. Then over the Islands in the middle of the Siene for a walk through the Notre Dame to check out the gargoyles.

Out in town on Friday in the Latin quarter, hanging out with the students that populate the area, until we had to leave to get the last underground back to our hostel. Saturday morning we had a bit of a sleep in before heading off to the Invalides to check out the war museum and Napolean's tomb (very impressive).

Followed this up with a walk up the Champ Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe before jumping on the underground again and heading up to Montmarte to see the Sacre Coeur, a church with possibly the best view over Paris.

There were all sorts of markets surrounding the church so we found some wine and some snails and sat on the grass watching the sun go down over Paris - a great evening. We stopped in on the way home at a spot just over the river from the Eiffel tower for some great night time shots of the famous landmark.

Sunday we were up early and off to some markets (mainly food but had a few clothing stalls) before heading out to Versailles to the Chateau de Versailles. It is apparently the biggest Chateau in France, and from the outside you would certainly believe it! We sat out the back in the amazing gardens next to the canal (basically a manmade lake) for a few hours and read our books until it was time to head back to Paris for our Eurostar back to London. Totally amazing weekend - Paris totally rocks and hopefully we will get back there at some stage!