Bonjour from Paris, we arrived safely in this beautiful city. Please dont worry about skimming this blog looking for the section where Mike proposes on the eiffel tower....you wont find it here.

Our hotel is a lovely little spot that overlooks the sacre coure. In fact its an amazing view as we are on the top floor. At first Paris was slightly overwhelming for us as it is the first country we have visited where we are expected to speak in a language other than english. we have conquoured the basics along with the metro system!

on the first day we arrived we slept for an hour or so and then went on a hunt for a grocery store where we bought the ingredients for our first baguette and yep you guessed it.... we had a great time exploring the supermarket as we always do. we think there is a niche market for tours such as these!!!

We ventured to the sqcre coure and were greeted with an amazing viez for such a short walk from our hotel. Paris is huge!!! in the evening we went out for dinner and got a 3 course meql for 17 euro. and bec got to try her escargot. mike wasnt to keen but he even tried it. for a boy who is afraid of mushrooms i was very impressed he tried snails and they were not to bad at all!!!

the following day we got up and had breakfast in bed french style...delivered to us by a french speaking woman with a tray of croissants, hot chocolate; french coffee, baguettes of course and cheese. we were also quite excited to see steve kapps our friend from Perth that afternoon and we were waiting for his call in the arvo.we headed off for our free walking tour. our guide was an expat who filled us with lots of interesting information and some amazing sights. we were quite amazed at how much we learnt. after the tour we went and visited the arc de triumph and then made our way to the eiffel tower. as we got to the metro stop we needed we ran into Steve. talk about perfect timing....he had been trying to get in contact with us for ages but our phones were not working so we were all in the right place at the right time. so now the three of us ventured to the eiffel tower. being the tight backpackers that we all were we decided to walk to the top rather thanpay more and line up longer on the lift line. it was a work out and a half even for steve who is a personal trainer. it was worth it for though because of the views!! next stop on the trip was le louvre..we decided to go on the friday night because after 6pm it is free four people under the age of 26. we got to see the mona lisa, venus de milo and napolean the thirds apartment. that was our favourite part even thought it took us half an hour to find!!! the museum was also really quiet so we were glad we didnt have to wait in line. after this we went off to try crepes which were delicious. i had nutella on mine

Today we had a sleep in and enjoyed another breakfast in bed...we could get very used to that! we also saved our baguettes for our morning tea. We went to notre dam where we climbed the tower in search of quasimodo.. no hunchback except for mike who had to bend to climb the steep stairs. the views were breathtaking and rivalled the eiffel tower. we then walked through what looked like a cook off for french bakers and cheese makers, PERFECTO. we paid three euros and got ourselves a baguette and a selection of cheeses and then finished it off with the worlds best french tart. we then went to the catacombes but the line was to long and we would not havz gotten to the front of the line before it closed so we went home and waited to meet up with steve to go check out the moulin rouge which is on the same street as us. after that we went out to dinner and then said goodbye to steve who we might meet up with in amsterdam.

we are now off to bed so we are ready for our first busabout trip. this is a bus that does hop on and hop off stops all over europe. our first step is belgium...famous for its beers and waffles.. this could get messy!!

thanks for all the messages and emails. Lauren we hope you are coping with roxy, give her a kiss for me. Phantom, stay off my side of the bed!! Dave we hope you have recovered from the tour guide job and you havnt had a call from the car people. we also want to know if you fancy moving in with us when we move to london?

We have also added a new segment to the blogs called pointless yet useful information we have learnt on our travels, you will recall the point abount the babies eyes. FACT number 2: the saying *rule of thumb* comes from the 1800s when it was legal to beat your wife with a stick as long as it was no thicker than a mans thumb!!