04-22 Paris, France Eiffel Tour to Notre Dame

04-22

Location: Paris, France

Weather: Cloudy, 16c

Today we begin by travelling from Avignon to Paris via TGV (journey time approx 2hrs 50mins). I think the train travels of speeds over300km/hr which is a strange sensation leaving us a little queasy bythe end of it. Many times we see people travelling with their pets. At Avignon TGV station a man in his late 40's ambled past us carrying a tote bag (it looked like a large padded sewing bag) over his shoulder. Out of the opening of the bag a small dog looked eagerly around. He sat not far from us and the bag fell open to reveal two dogs - not one!! Anothertime I was surprised to see an ordinary gym bag next to lady except it had a plastic see through window in one end. As we passed it a large grey cat with yellow eyes was sitting quietly in it peering out. Idon't think Buffy would be sitting so quietly... It is not unusual to see people taking their dogs out to a restaurant - they sit under thetable - the dogs, not the people. From Gare de Lyon in Paris we caught the metro to our hotel. Nice room except it is on the 6th floor and there is no lift. It was early afternoon by the time we had settled in and freshened up so we caught the met to the Eiffel Tower, thinking to walk back to the hotel. It was a pleasant afternoon and we sat in the large park at the base ofthe tower and enjoyed a bagette. Finally we walked to the tower andpaid euro 3.80 to take the stairs halfway up. It is very impressive and we must of stayed up there an hour or so, there are many displays and shops). After that we walked along the north bank of the Seine towards our hotel. We passed the Louvre, the Musee D'orsey, Jardins park, Pont deAlexander III. Many tour boats run up and downthe river. It did not get dark until about 9:30pm and we stopped at the Louvre and took some photos of it lit up. The Eiffel tower is lit at night as well andevery hour it sparkles for 10mins. We walked to Notre Dame and also took some photos of it lit up until the lights went off at midnight. Many people were picnicing on the river and it was very festive. Caught a taxi back to the hotel (about euro8) and slept very well.