Thurs 8 Dec Chris woke up with a runny hose and I had a sore throat. Set off with a plan of what to see and how to get there. First stop was the George Pompidou building, which did not open until noon – oh well saw all its colourful pipes and ducts on the outside, which is its main feature.
We then walked down to Notre Dame just as a service began. The seating for the service was completely packed!
We then walked across the bridge and on to the Parthenon – the crypt turned out to be very interesting, with a number of famous military and public figures buried there, including Pierre and Marie Curie and Louis Braille. Lunch at McDonalds – first since arriving. Wandered through some narrow Latin Quarter shopping streets. The zip on my bag broke and I tried looking for a similar one – but not at the prices on offer!
We walked back to Notre Dame and came across some Roman Ruins underneath the street level. There was also a school excursion of 6 – 7 year olds down there, with their teachers doing a lot of shhh-ing.
We headed back a bit earlier, had dinner (€1 for 180g of brie) and then headed out again to see the Christmas lights on the Galleries La Fayette department store and then the Eiffel Tower at night. Also looked at the hand bags – nothing in the whole store was affordable!
Arrived at the Eiffel Tower just before the hourly lights were turned on at 9 pm.