Wasn't the best sleep ever - bed was a bit too soft and saggy in the middle.
Got ready early and headed out.
Stopped first at The Scottish Restaurant for a bacon and egg McMuffin (they don't do hash browns though).
Then into Gare du Nord to pick up a museum pass.
Then to the Eiffel Tower. I decided to go early, arriving there about a quarter to nine (ticket office opens at 9:30). Best. Idea. Ever. The line for the lifts stretched across the square, but the line for the stairs was only about 20-30 metres long. So when they opened the office I had my ticket within about ten minutes.
So through another bag check and xray (there's a bag check before the ticket office) and up the stairs. All six hundred odd of them to the second level. Probably quicker than the lift too, which doesn't really take all that many people.
Then another short queue to get the lift to the top. Getting there early certainly paid off, as you could actually move around fairly freely at the top. So that's another thing ticked off my bucket list :) It was getting pretty crowded by the time I left, and I went to the toilet at the top of the tower to add to my collection of cool places I've been to the toilet :)
View southwest from the Eiffel Tower
View southwest down the Seine
View from the Eiffel Tower
Modern city of Paris
Arc de Triomphe
Got the lift back down to the second level but didn't really stay there, as got my photos as the top. So got a lift to the first level (if you walk up the stairs you're allowed to get the lift down). Walked around there and looked down the hole in the middle at the queues snaking their way around the square. I wondered if those people would be there all day. (I got off the tower around 11:30).
People on the second level view platform of the Eiffel Tower
Looking up to the top of the Eiffel Tower from the second level
East pier of the Eiffel Tower
Queues for the east and south pier entrances
Next up tried to have waffles at a Dave2 recommended place but looking at my photos and the location, I don't think it's there anymore. The satellite picture shows a building that's been replaced by something else. But I didn't realise this at the time and went down and found some at another place that I actually thought was it. It was a very yummy waffle though.
Walked all the way down Champ de Mars, and then got on a train over to the Pantheon. Walked in the wrong direction from the station for a block or two because various other attractions had signposts but not the Pantheon, and I didn't want to get my map out and look like a tourist. But found it eventually.
Eiffel Tower
Statue of Joseph Joffe in front of Ecole Militaire
The Panthéon
Another place that needs better queue control. The queue was out the door, but museum pass holders can walk straight in. But you don't know that til you're there because of the queue being out the door and all. This city is hopeless at queue control.
But it was pretty cool inside with a huge pendulum clock and the crypt had the likes of Victor Hugo and the Curies and Louie Braille in it.
Interior of the Panthéon
Foucault pendulum in the Panthéon
Interior of the Panthéon
La Convention Nationale sculpture and Christ Showing the Angel of France the Destiny of Her People artwork in the Panthéon
Tomb of Marie and Pierre Curie
Had a bit of a walk through the Luxembourg Gardens.
Palais du Luxembourg
Walked to St Sulpice next to see the "Rose Line" as seen in the Da Vinci Code. There's a pretty funny note on the wall next to it -
Contrary to fanciful allegations in a recent best-selling novel, this is not a vestige of a pagan temple. No such temple ever existed in this place. It was never called a "Rose Line". It does not coincide with the meridian traced through the middle of the Paris Observatory which serves as a reference for maps where longitudes are measured in degrees East or West of Paris. No mystical notion can be derived from this instrument of astronomy except to acknowledge that God the Creator is the master of time.
There was a bit more to it too.
Fontaine Saint Sulpice and Saint-Sulpice
Altar in Saint-Sulpice
Brass line and obelisk of the gnomon
Interior of Saint-Sulpice
Roof of Saint-Sulpice
Continued on.
Sixty five nested Russian dolls!! Peterhof.fr
Tour Saint-Jacques and Theatre de la Ville
Was going to go into St Chappelle, but the queue was too long and no quick entry for museum pass. So went next door to the Conciergerie. I think I may have accidently cut in, it was all a little confusing as a bunch of people with passes were also being shown in through an earlier door. I did skip the bag check.. oops. Oh well.
Interior of the Conciergerie
Next up, Notre Dame. It's free entry, but the queue was all the way across the square again (going in a different direction today). It moved fairly quickly though, although that didn't stop a few people pushing in. Bastards.
Notre Dame
So Notre Dame was big and all, and you kind of just walk through it with the masses in a set route. There was a choir singing which was lovely.
Stained glass window in Notre Dame
North Rose Window in Notre Dame
Interior of Notre Dame
Interior of Notre Dame
Roof of Notre Dame
Continued on trying to find somewhere to have dinner. I wanted something reasonably priced with English subtitles. Not too much to ask right? hrmm. Eventually found a place near the Louvre which had two cassoulets. Decided to have one of them. It was basically just a cheesy potato bake, but was pretty yummy.
Chatelet Metro station sign
And so the Louvre. It was about 6:45 by this point (it opens late on Fridays). There was still a fairly long queue, but as it turns out, that queue is for people without tickets. If you have a ticket or museum pass you can jump the queue and go straight to the security check. Win! So walked straight in :)
Looking up the Pyramid in the Louvre
Got a guide and headed for Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa. I was actually surprised how uncrowded it was. I was expecting to have to queue for like an hour to see the Mona Lisa, but while the room was fairly full of people, they were only about four deep in front of the painting itself. So got a photo and ducked out again.
Venus de Milo
The Wedding at Cana by Paolo Veronese
The Mona Lisa
Crowds viewing the Mona Lisa
The Coronation of Napoleon by Jacques-Louis David
Walked all over the museum finding different things. This place is *enormous*. I tried also to find the boat that had been taken from the temple in Edfu that our guide said was there but couldn't find it. It was kind of weird seeing all the Egyptian stuff in a museum, and I'm like, meh, I've seen the original locations .. heh.
Western courtyard of the Louvre with the Pyramid
Gabrielle d'Estrées et une de ses soeurs (Gabrielle d'Estrées and one of her sisters) by an unknown artist
Taureau androcéphale ailé - human headed winged bulls, from Assyrian Palace of Sargon II
Le Louvre médieval - Medieval Louvre Castle
Serviteur funeraire du roi Sethi I - Funerary servant Sethi
Cartonnage qui enveloppait la momie de la dame Tachéretpaânkh - Mummy cartonnage bearing the name of Tacheretpaankh
Galerie d'Apollon - Apollo Gallery
I stayed til the museum closed at 9pm then waited for like half an hour outside waiting for the sun to set and it to get dark enough for them to turn the lights on. But they still hadn't by 9:35 so abandoned that idea and headed for the Eiffel Tower again.
View through the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel to the obelisk and Arc de Triomphe at sunset
The Louvre at sunset
It was 10pm by the time I arrived and the tower was already sparkling. So raced into a good position and saw the last couple of minutes. It was pretty awesome :)
The Eiffel Tower by night
Ecole Militaire (Military School) by night
And then trained it back to the hotel.
I found an electrical adapter today (yayyy) so got that working first up (it took a bit of poking). Then I had to book a hotel in Amsterdam, because I forgot to do it in London :( Amsterdam is crazy expensive. Eventually found one that was reasonably priced and not too dodgy, but it has a shared bathroom, and I don't even know about internet. Oh well.
So bed after midnight.
Distance covered on the GPS: 39.9 km
Steps walked: 38450
Photos on the Canon: 370
Photos on the Sony: 115
Videos: ?
EUR Spent: 83.10