Joyeuse Saint Valentin

Woke up in our beautifully French hotel room feeling much more refreshed but a little too late to miss the crowds at the Eiffel Tower so we made a change of plan and headed for the Louvre. As true tourists do, we got through the entrance hall and headed straight for the Mona Lisa, took a few snaps and wondered why it was so much more popular than the other photos. Turns out it was because Mona Lisa was one of very few portraits that Di Vinci painted and it was his favourite work, taking it with him everywhere he went. We then dawdled around for a while watching artists at work with their eisels doing their own versions of famous and not so famous paintings.

As we'd missed breakfast, we headed for brunch at a quaint restaurant full of workers on their lunch. It was intended as just a quick bite but turned out to be a two course lunch, with two bottles of water costing £18, ouch!

Next stop due to slight rain was Musee D'Orsay, by far my favourite gallery of the two. The Museum is an old railway station with large clocks at one end that you can peer through and see the city (pictured). We took in a few exhibits, the boy bought an inappropriate postcard for his best mate and we headed for Notre Dame. Again a few snaps, a trip round the place and got the Metro back to the hotel for a well earned Valentines sauna and swim (a rose lay on the bed for our return, not the boys doing but the hotels, I will thank the porter upon leaving the hotel!)

Moulin Rouge was the plan for the evening. Very much what we were expecting from the outside but not inside. With it's true French decor and dimly lit tables it felt very alluring but then the show started...hmmm. A bit Butlins-esque cabaret at times, the acrobats and dancers fantastic, the ventriloquists and Shetland ponies not so. We did enjoy ourselves though, hard not to with a bottle of champers but if you're thinking of going don't expect Cirque Du Soleil!

A beer in a Irish pub, a quick plan of the guest list for the wedding and we were in a taxi back to the hotel via McDonalds, a little less classy than we intended but it was fab x

P.s. The boy forgot my valentines card, but I don't feel I can complain with a holiday of a lifetime and a ring on my finger!