We enjoyed a continental breakfast in the hotel before going out for the day. The decision is to join the L'Open Tour bus to see the sights. Yesterday's walk was difficult for John so we will spend more time sitting and getting off where we want to see something or change buses. Our ride starts outside Moulin Rouge.

The bus takes us back to the Gare Du Nord (station) where we arrived yesterday to Place De Madeleine. It was interesting listening to the history of different buildings throughout the day. The next bus took us past the Louvre to Notre Dame. Even though the main sights are interesting it was amazing to just see all aspects of Paris. The people, traffic, buildings, restaurants and shops are a real eye opener. The major tourist sights are complemented by everything else.

The grounds of the Louvre are huge and you enter and leave through arched walls. The bus could only just get through the arch as it was so narrow. The Louvre surroundings were massive. We would need a few days to look inside so decided to bypass it. The lines to enter many of the attractions are very long so we only entered the churches.

Notre Dame is on an island and is a massive church partly built in the 12th century and completed in the 14th century. The interior has many arches and stained glass windows. There was a mass going on and a choir singing. The visitors streamed round the perimeter of the pews and quietly looked at the different parts of the church. We were able to take photos but no flashes. Dee and I lit a candle in memory of family that have passed away. What a spectacular church with many sculptures both inside and out.

From there we went over the Pont de L'Archeveche. Here we attached our lock along with 1000's of others. Just before we left Australia one of the panels had fallen into the Seine River and has been boarded up. It is amazing to see how many locks are attached to the bridge and that more panels haven't fallen off from the weight. There are quite a few bridges with locks attached to them.

We enjoyed lunch overlooking Notre Dame and the Seine. Next door is the Shakespeare and Company bookshop. This is very famous as the original owner opened his house for anyone to come in and read books. The first and second levels are wall to wall books and apparently if you read a book a day you could stay for nothing as long as you wished. There were many people just sitting and reading. Even a dad was reading to his daughter on the second floor.

As part of our ticket we could take a cruise on the Seine. We caught the boat at Notre Dame and had a 60 minute round trip sightseeing tour passing the Louvre and Eiffel Tower. There were many house boats and floating restaurants along the river. Many boats passed up and down the river.

Unfortunately when we arrived back from our cruise we had a 40min wait for our next bus. In comparison to what we have already seen in Paris we now saw the modern 20th and 21st century buildings. It looked odd seeing modern with old and looked out off place.

The next leg took us past many of the famous sights in Paris such as the La Concorde at one end of the Champs-Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe at the other. Preparations are already taking place for the end of the Tour De France. The Parisians make their own lanes on the road so in places there are 10 lanes in one direction. What a shemozzle!

From there we went past the Trocadero and the Eiffel Tower again but it was worth a last look. The trademark grey multistorey building with shrubbery on the balconies lined the streets. We returned to the La Concorde via the Grand and Petite Palaces. The La Concorde has two roundabouts one inside the other. Unfortunately there was a holdup in the direction we were going and our bus and a few others were blocking the roundabouts. It was fascinating watching the lengths drivers and bikes would go to get round us. We were in one spot for 30 minutes, horns were blowing and cars were even doing 3 point turns to get past. They were even making more lanes but unfortunately the street we were heading for only could cope with 2 lanes. What a thing to see! This was the highlight of our day after Notre Dame.

Due to our delay we missed our connecting bus back to the hotel. We took the Metro but didn't have to change anywhere. Unfortunately we had to barge our way on the train and were packed like sardines. Good thing that the station at Abbesses has a lift.

What an exhausting day. But we still have more to see before we leave tomorrow.