Paris

Our airbnb apartment in Paris was teeny-tiny but perfectly located, just a block from the Pompidou Centre in the 4th Arrondissement. It was about as big as my childhood bedroom including a kitchen and bathroom, but it was perfect for us for a few nights.

We got up early-ish and arrived at the entrance of the Catacombs a respectable 20 minutes before they opened but there was still a line around the corner! The Catacombs are disused underground quarries below the city that have been filled up with skeletons from overflowing cemeteries in Paris a few hundred years ago. The are about 6-7 million skeletons down there.

The bones are stacked uniformly in places to make patterns and there are various memorials but they are mostly unmarked. The open section goes for about 2km underground and they only let 200 people in at a time so it is quite eerie.

Back in the fresh air we made the most of the sunshine and had lunch in the Luxembourg gardens before wandering along the river to the Eiffel Tower.

We knew the lineup would be crazy, and it was. Nothing like peak season, but easily the longest thing we have waited in line for on this trip.

View from level 2

We hiked up the stairs to level 2 because the stairs line was about half as long as the elevator line. Then another elevator takes you all the way to the top from there. While we were up there a young guy proposed to his girlfriend and she appeared to say yes, although 2 minutes later they just went back to what they were doing (after getting me to take their photo of course).

View from the top

We weren't done walking yet so we headed in the direction of the Arc de Triumph which was of course partially covered by scaffolding.

And then walked home along the Champs-Elysees.

Just down the road from our apartment was Notre Dame cathedral so we stopped by for a quick look. Didn't spot the hunchback.

Onto the Metro for the short trip to Montmartre just north of the centre. Thankfully a large Police presence kept the Gypsies and African string sellers to a minimum. There was a mass going on in the Sacre-Coeur Basilica which was a little awkward but no-one else seemed to care. There was a great view of the city from the top of the hill and the Montmartre neighbourhood had a really cool feel to it.

A quick baguette in the park and it was off to the Louvre. We've kinda had our fill of art over the last few weeks but we had just enough mental capacity left for one more gallery. Luckily they have more than "just" renaissance and religious stuff so after the obligatory look at the Mona Lisa we headed for the Ancient Egyptian and Greek sections.

Crowd around the Mona Lisa

Mummy cats...yes really

I'll photoshop that family out later....

This pedestrian bridge was completely covered in padlocks with couples' names engraved on them. Looked pretty cool in the setting sun.

We caught another night train home to Munich which are great except that I'm 6'4" tall and the beds are about 5'6" long so I can't actually stretch out for 11 hours. The train driver greeted us with a friendly "we know there are pickpockets on the train tonight, so look after your bags" and we were off home!

- Joe