And so today we moved onto our final destination, Paris.
We finished our packing this morning before meeting our driver just before 10am to take us to the airport.
We checked in and got through security. The queues were long for security but we lucked in and managed to get in a newly opened queue. Once through we found a Starbucks for a drink and breakfast. We chilled out there until it was time to leave.
On arrival into Paris, our welcome driver was waiting for us and quickly whisked us away and into the city where Zohra, our host, was waiting to show us around. She gave us a tour of the apartment (it is very big – 4 large bedrooms and living over 2 floors and very Parisian) and imparted some local knowledge. She has everything here we could need and was very thorough with her introduction.
Once we had unpacked, we caught the Metro to the Arc de Triomph. We had tickets but it was a little early to go in so we took some photos, had a look at the Rugby World Cup Merchandise and went for a walk up the Champs Elysees until it was our entry time. We then found our way under the road and skipped the big line as Mark had bought our tickets prior to leaving and walked up the stairs to the top (the kids were delighted by the prospect of more stairs ?).
At the top, the sun had just recently gone down so we had some great views of Paris lit up. The lights twinkle on the Eiffel Tower on the hour for 5 minutes so the place was jam-packed with tourists waiting for the lights to twinkle. Fairly soon people started moving away (well once they had their 100 shots and got the perfect instagram image) and it was easy to get a good spot. We watched the end of the lights twinkling and had a look at the rest of the view before walking down.
We wandered to find a bistro for dinner and eventually ended up at a little place, Ducale Cafe. We then gave the kids the news that we were headed to London for the day on Thursday and spent the evening discussing what we would do. The kids are really excited to go.
We enjoyed our meal and drinks before heading home on the metro.