First thing to do this morning was to find somewhere to have breakfast. We walked around the corner and found a nice cafe and sat down to a hearty breakfast of a croissant, coffee, orange juice an omlette and some toast - ready to attack the day!

Off we walked to the Eiffel Tower - this looks rather unimpressive from a distance, however, once you are up close, it is an amazing structure. There were crowds lined up everywhere to go up the tower, so we gave it a miss - we will book a ticket for tomorrow so as you can avoid the queues. We then caught a train to the Notre Dame. This is free to enter - although you pay a voluntary amount when inside to support the restoration of the building - which will be 850 years old next year -and to light candles. A very impressive cathedral and Dad, you will be happy to know that I lit a candle for you!!

After the Notre Dame, another adventure on the local train system and we found ourselves at La Fayette - which would be one of the tallest, if not the tallest buildings in Paris. It has an observation deck which has the most panoramic views all across Paris - it really is the only way to appreciate how big this city is. It was like watching the Tour De France all over again - except this time we were here....the views are stunning and hopefully you will enjoy the pictures to appreciate how lovely this City is.

At 4pm local time, which was mid night Melbourne time, we had a drink to celebrate Nadeen's 40th.....the first of many celebrations but what a great place to start!

A quick train ride back on the subway and we were back at our hotel preparing for our evening out.

The subway system here is very similar to Lodon's although Paris's underground system is much older - trains are not air conditioned so therefore they are not as comfortable. However, once you work out where you want to go, the system is quite reliable and a cheap way of seeing the city.

Tonight we went on a 3 hour river cruise down the Seine. Due to time constraints, we decided to catch a taxi to the pier where the cruise was leaving from and again, no problems with the local taxis. I knew that all of that studying French for the first four years at secondary school would come in handy.....absolutely not!!! Apart from hello, goodbye, and thank you my French is somewhat limited. The french they speak over here is so different - and they speak so quickly - however, we are getting by.

The cruise included dinner and drinks and took in all of the sites of Paris - a great way of celebrating Nadeen's birhday. The food was good and the wines were going down well - we even met an Aussie couple on the boat. We can certainly recommend a cruise down the Seine for anyone visiting Paris.

After the cruise, we caught a cab back to our hotel and crashed -again the cab driver was very good - even pointing out to us all of the local attractions - which he was describing in French and we could hardly understand a word he was saying......but still, it was the thought that counts and we picked up on the major words so we knew roughly what he was saying.

Nadeen is loving the local cafes and food stalls here - they have stands on a lot of the street corners selling crepes and Nadeen has already found her favourite - Grand Mariner - and let me tell you, they pour a fair sprinkling on each crepe.

Tomorrow, Nadeen's birthday again......we are off to the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, then to the Moulin Rouge for a dinner and show.