Crepe stand across the street from the Notre Dame line.

Long, slash, boring post ahead. Writing this a few days after having left as well so some of it is probably completely made up. In fact I might not have even gone to Paris I cant remember.

Paris…third time around. Drove out of Lourdes at around 6:30am and headed for Toulouse airport. Landed at Paris CDG airport and purchased my metro ticket to get in to the city and eventually my hotel. Got to my hotel and met up with my sister, really the only reason to be coming back to Paris again, that and the TdF. Hotel was pretty nice, great location too, right near the Opera. Headed out that afternoon and went straight to the Arc di Triomphe. Went up to the top and the weather was quite good so I was able to get some good photos. Walked from there to Trocadero to check out some break dancers do their thing, and also some preppy french lad being a spanner and having a ‘dance off’ with the local ‘crew’. He failed. Went over to the Eiffel Tower for a bit then just went back to the hotel to get some much needed sleep.

Next day I was finally able to tick another thing off that had eluded me for the two previous visits to Paris, the Catacombs. Arrived before it opened but the line was still about an hour long. Was worth it though, the place is pretty awesome. About 2km of the tunnels are open to the public, filled with skulls and bones everywhere. They limit the amount of people that are allowed in the tunnels at one time and its really good, its not crowded at all and you can move at your own pace.

Another thing I have now ticked off the list is going up to the top of Notre Dame and seeing all the gargoyles. The line is always massive so I have never bothered to wait before. But this time we decided to wait, and it took us two hours. About ten minutes before we were let in a young French couple just stood behind us, completely pushing in in front of everyone else. We couldn’t believe what just happened and that there are actually people that do that. Anyways, made it to the top through a small spiral staircase. The view from up the top was awesome, could see for aaaaages. Took a few postcard shots with the gargoyles in them which im quite happy with.

Went back to hotel and had dinner across the street which is quite a nice restaurant. Pizza, again. Chilled out for a bit and then went to the Eiffel Tower with the aim of heading up to the top. After waiting in line for about 30 minutes we get to the ticket office and are made aware that the top of it is closed and you can only get to the second level. Oh well, we go up anyway (vie done it three times before so it didn’t bother me that much). Walked up the 700 or so stairs and snapped a few photos of the city below. Went down and started to walk to the closest metro station when we came across a bit of a commotion. Walked over to the edge of the bridge and on the stone/marble ground below us is a body with pools of blood coming out of his head. It was one of those things where you should look away but you just cant. We couldn’t believe it. Still have no idea what happened, either fell or jumped from the bridge above. Eventually there was cops everywhere and it was covered up etc. So yea that was an interesting end to the night.

Next day was the Tour de France which ill cover in another blog. So that left Monday as the last day in Paris. The last thing left of my list of things to see in Paris is Versailles, and like most things for some reason the main Chateau is closed on Mondays so we decided it wasn’t worth it go out there and miss out on that. So instead we decided to go to the cemetery and see a whole bunch of famous graves. Went around and saw James Morrison, Fred Chopin and Oscar Wilde, among many many others. To fill in the afternoon (and the hole that Versailles left) we went to the Luxembourg gardens, which were actually quite good. Watched a few games of bocce, and one of the old french dudes try and pick up some young girls. Good times. Had dinner then walked around at the Louvre taking some night photos. Headed up to the Arc di Triomphe but by the time I got there it started pouring rain, so that put an end to my stay in Paris.

In the morning I caught my first train on the way to Lauterbrunnen in Switzerland. Arrived there sometime later that day having been on four trains.