Wednesday 24th October-Paris

Finished our continental breakfast after having a chat with a family from Mexico who had joined their daughter for her marriage to a Frenchman on the weekend. Father was a little upset that she was going to be living so far away from them all as she was staying in Paris to be with her husband. However they now had a home to visit in Paris in the future.
We set off to visit the Eiffel Tower so caught the metro to Champ de Mars having now mastered the ticket systems(thank Marisa).
After a pleasant walk along the Seine we were standing under the Tower. Tourists everywhere. Hundreds of Japanese, Koreans, Chinese and every other nationality you could imagine.Queues at every leg except for the west which was under maintenance. The visibility was not good so we decided that it wasn't worth taking the trip to the top. Also we would have had to wait for a long time in the queues. Unfortunately as I no longer had a camera I was unable to take the usual touristy snap shot to record our visit.
We then set off across the Pont Denin(?) heading for the Arc de Tromphe and then to walk down the Avenue Des Champs Elysees along with every other tourist that was in town, I'm sure.
It was great just to be there and to be able to sit in one of the sidewalk cafes (as in all the photographs) and enjoy a cup of coffee and watch the world of Paris pass by.We stopped by one of the largest outlets I have ever seen selling every perfume and make up that came from France. As we walked through we were sprayed and talked to by many of the beautiful young girls and (sweet young men).
Out into the fresh air once again we walked to the metro to catch the train back to Gare du Nord and our Hotel Bruxelles Et Du Nord. It was rush hour and we were squeezed and jostled, not the best time to be travelling but we did feel Not the best hotel but just what we wanted as it was only a two minute walk to the station on Thursday when we catch the Eurostar.