Blue skies in gay Paris

Up and out early today to catch the Eiffel tower before the rush. A half hour queue and we were boarding the lifts to the third floor of the tower, I was delighted to find large radiators around the edge of the viewing platform, it was bitterly cold. The boy got the map out and tried to spot the Parisian landmarks while I snapped away eagerly so we could be back in the warmth asap. Visibility wasn't brilliant, the reason why the blip photo isn't taken here but it was well worth a visit.

We had no time to waste as the boy had another action packed day planned, so we headed for the subway passing the Eiffel Tower keyring sellers and magician con artists, next stop Montmartre. The sun came out and moods lifted, no more wishing to be back in Rio, the beautiful city of Paris was now our friend. We climbed the masses of steps up to Sacre Coeur, and I fell in love the place. It has to be one of my favourite buildings, it had so much presence and grandeur, not being religious, I don't want a church wedding but if the Sacre Coeur was in my price range I would snap it up for my wedding straight away!

Next to the Sacre Coeur is an old village square, Place du Terte, where artists set up their easels, a little touristy as most do caricatures but nevertheless very picturesque and very French. We wandered around the cobbled streets, bought the necessary Christmas decoration and fell upon one of the few original Metropolitan stations with art nouveau railings still intact and two remaining windmills which inspired Van Gogh and the Moulin Rouge (translated to 'red windmill'). The guidebook told us to where we could find Van Goghs apartment, we found it, we snapped and we hobbled (feet hurting at this point) back to the Metro station.

Next stop, Place Des Vosges, the posh part of the Paris, yep I could happily live there! Then onto Saint Germain Des Pres/Latin Quarter for dinner and beer, before retiring to the hotel. Phew, we were out over 13 hours but was well worth it.

We tried to blip at the hotel but the computer was not a qwerty keyboard, the boy attempted one sentence and gave up (back blipping today!).