Paris by Holly

Paris By Holly

30 June - Paris - Sunny and warm. Today we had a great day at Paris. Our first full day. This morning we went for a little walk around Paris and saw a lot of things including The Louvre and the Seine River.

We saw the church Notre Dame. It is a massive (Gothic I think) building. The person similar to the Pope (we think the Cardinal for France) was giving a blessing to lots of people. The church was full and there were heaps of people sitting in rows of chairs in the big outdoor area. We watched the service on the big screen outside and listened to the beautiful singing and the ceremony.

After that we walked around a bit looking at the buildings and the river. On the way there was this place that sells crepes. I got a nutella one. Elodie thought she ordered a caramel one but when we got home we looked up "creme de marron" and worked out it was chestnut! Mine was so nice.

Then we went on a Seine River cruise called Les Vedettes river cruise. We saw lots of different places including the Eiffel Tower up close, Notre Dame again, the Louvre and the Museum de Orsey, the Trocodero and lots of bridges. When we got off it we got an ice-block called 'Happy' (it is just like a lifesaver ice block).

We went back to our apartment and had lunch and a rest for about an hour. Then we walked down to the Eiffel Tower.

We walked through the Tuileries Gardens on the way. They were beautiful with ponds, and formal gardens and paths. There was a carnival next door.

We also walked through Concordia Square where several hundred years ago bad people used to get their heads cut off with the guillotine. A king and queen were beheaded here.

We looked along the Champs Elysees with the Arc de Triomphe in the distance.

We walked across the river to the Eiffel Tower. It was incredible. When you look up you can see the sides come together at a point. We walked around it for a while and then sat down near it on the grass for a while and took heaps of photos. Elodie, Erin and I were playing while dad went to get tickets.

We got tickets for all of us and we were only in the line for about 30 minutes. We walked up the tower stairs. The first 30 stairs were like a spiral.

We walked up to the first level and had a walk around looking at the scenery. Then we went to the second level. It is about half way to the top, we counted 700 steps up (well, we lost count a couple of times so had to read the numbers on the stairs) and 700 all the way back down. I can't imagine how many it would be all the way to the top.

In a few days time we are going to catch the lift to go all the way to the top. We had amazing views. I wish you could be here to see it. Erin and Mum went down before Elodie, Dad and I. When we got back down to the bottom and you looked up it did not seem like it was that high but it actually was very high. We also saw army guards walking around with machine guns.

We walked back home along the river and through Concordia Square and the Tuileries gardens again.

The sun was going down and the park and river with The Louvre at one end and the Arc de Triomphe in the distance at the other end looked beautiful. When we got home we had dinner. After dinner we updated our blogs and that gets you to where I am now. We are having lots of fun in Paris and we have seen lots of things already!!! In a few days we are going to Disney Paris, so we are very excited but we still have 1 day before that.

From Holly

PS - We were on a bridge today. I think it was called a love lock bridge. It had wire fencing both sides and there were millions of padlocks on the wire with people's names on them with all the people that are in love. We saw quite a few with my name, one Charlotte and one Paige and an Elodie.