Today was finally the day we visited the Louvre. We had planned it originally because it was supposed to rain but instead it was a good day to go because it was so hot - 30 degrees! We joined a fantastic guided tour in English that took us through the labyrinth that is the Louvre to all the famous works. We saw the walls of the original Louvre fortress, the Venus the Milo, Napoleon's ancient Greek statues room, the Mona Lisa, the giant David painting of Napoleon'...

This morning we walked across Pont Neuf onto the Ile de la Cite to see the Notre Dame Cathedral. It is a beautiful church with intricate stained glass windows, the height of the ceiling seems to go on forever and there is so much history woven into all of it. There are so many chapels inside the cathedral itself, my favorite being the chapel for students. It was a beautiful place to walk around for a while. We moved underground next, down into the crypts where w...

Today was a very exciting day as we visited the Palace of Versailles, the extravagant Palace built by Louis XIV during the 17th century. We were amazed by the opulence of room after room. One room was made simply because Louis XIV received a lovely painting and it needed to go somewhere. There are also so many rooms due to royal etiquette which meant the King, Queen and Dauphin all needed a series of rooms that lead to their bedchamber, where different people cou...

Today we went to the Eiffel Tower and unfortunately the stories of huge lines were entirely true - even when we made it through the line at the bottom we still had to queue for a long time coming up and down each level of the tower. The views were definitely great and we couldn't come to Paris without visiting it, but the Eiffel Tower definitely something of a box ticking exercise. We have also been blessed by gorgeous weather and it should continue for the rest ...

Yesteday was the day when Mum and Dad finally arrived and we surprised them by meeting them at the airport and with a bottle of champagne in their hotel room! It was great to catch up after a couple of months apart and needless to say we had a lot of stories to tell each other. After a good nights sleep for them we headed out today to explore the area near our hotel. We are staying right near the Arc de Triomphe and Champs Elysees which was a great place to star...