Paris!

Afraid this is a posting without pictures, as R had the camera - see below! J and I set out for Paris on the Eurostar on a fairly warm day from Cambridge, and by the time we had taken the Parisian subway we were fairly cooked. We went with one of his school friends and his mum. Thankfully we had airconditioned rooms, wonderful hotel (Hotel Neuville Elysées) which I can highly recommend and on last minute.com was only 50quid a night per room. They even gave us bfast for 12 euro, which sounds a lot until you realise they didnt charge for the kids cos they were under 12, anyone who has seen J eat will realise this was a serious mistake on their part (each bfast for him was 2 bowls cornflakes, a muffin, 3 madelines and a hot chocolate, hollow legs I think!) Our first full day was Wednesday, which was 38 degrees and appallingly hot. The hotel was on a direct 10 minute no. 92 bus trip to Eiffel tower via Arc de Triomphe which was great - got to experience the full traffic horror of the Arc without driving it. Went up to the 2nd stage of the tower, only had to wait half an hour, but by time we got down the queue was really really really long. And it was so hot they were blowing water over the queue. So we went and lay on the lawns of Field of Mars for the next 3 hours - sprinklers were going, kids got SOAKED, but dried off in about an hour! After 3 pm walked round to the Rodin Garden which J really liked - he likes sculpture and even recognised some of those in the National Art Gallery in Canberra (maybe some of it does rub off!). Then a walk to look for a merry go round proved too much, so we bussed back to hotel to cool off. Dinner at a great Italian (I know, but pizza is one of the few things J's friend eats) restaurant where the quality was great. Off to bed. HUGE thunderstorm that night, very spectacular. As we were at the top of the hotel J was a little worried. Next day a bit cooler, but still fairly muggy. Off to cruise the river on the Batobus, first stop Musee D'Orsy to see the Van Gogh in particular, but J more taken with the Monet, and the sculpture again, even recognised the copies of the Rodin's from the previous day - glad its not all a complete goldfish mind in there! Back on the Batobus, J had had enough, no interest in Notre Dame so we just cruised past while the others went off to look etc. Bus back stopped half way for some unknown reason so we walked from Arc d'Triomphe which we both enjoyed, then some cooling off before dinner. That night we watched a Western on TV (novelty we dont have a TV - it was in English) which was good fun. Unfortunately I started to run a temp of about 40 deg that night which wasnt much fun. This is when you become thankful that you have another adult with you. Next day managed to get back to Eurostar (via a brief and grumpy stop at the Arc, deciding we didnt want to pay 8 euro each to go up it!) and finally back to Cambridge. Cab home and then to bed for several days. But feeling better now and back at work. So a successful trip in all - J keen to go again next year to see all the things he missed, think I would pick a cooler week, like this one perhaps!