I checked out of my lovely hotel in Dubai at the horror time of 5:30am and caught a taxi to the airport, who to my delight actually decided to use his meter. I got out at terminal three, which is the terminal Emirates fly from. Up until now I had only seen terminal two, which is a bit of a poxy excuse for an airport. Terminal three was pretty impressive, it had so many flashing lights outside it, one could have mistake it for a casino.

I checked in and the lady who checked my bag almost didn't let me get on the plane, because I had a one way ticket to Paris and she thought I needed a visa with my EU Passport. Silly woman, an EU Passport is like a wildcard, I could move to Paris and it would be ok with this thing. As always though, with people in the travel industry, I kept smiling. This is one industry where the saying, Smile and the World smiles with you, is particularly apt. You never get anywhere while you're traveling, but getting narky with people.

I went though passport control, thinking this will be my last passport control where I have to stand in line and other people get to go through. I then exchanged the last of my Omani rials and had McDonalds for breakfast. Mercifully there was no breakfast menu at this airport's McDonald, so I had a Big Mac. To my surprise, despite my hunger I couldn't finish it.

I went down to the gate and boarded my next A380, annoyingly all I could see out the window was a giant wing. Oh well at least I'm not near the galley like last time, I thought. The flight took seven hours and was pretty uneventful, except for the fact that my in-flight entertainment system did not work. This would have been a major hassle if I had not had my laptop with portable hard drive with me.

We landed at Charles de Gaulle airport and I watched all the Arabs get in the foreign passports queue, while I proceeded to walk straight through in the EU Passports line, the lady at the desk barely even looked at my passport photo. As if I needed a visa! I collected my luggage and then went to catch the train to central Paris where I would be staying.

This was a fairly simple process, I firstly got the RER, the regional train to Chellet les Halles, on the way a man with an accordion got on the train and played us all lovely French music while we traveled, I couldn't help smiling. I changed for the metro to get to Bastille station which is the area I would be staying in. Once I figured out how the ticket machines worked and the fact that they were in English I realised this would be the way I would be getting around the city.

I reached Bastille station and walked up the seemingly endless stairs and corridors with all my stuff and then popped up right in the Place de la Bastille, the very site of the French Revolution. I turned down Rue St. Antoine and then down another side street and found my hotel, Baudilare de Bastille with no trouble.

I checked in and then had to walk up three flights of stairs to get to my room. The hotel reminded me of something out of the movie SAW and I have playfully dubbed it the Fun House. All the walls in the corridors are bright red, the corridors are narrow and its like a maze to get to my room. The entrance to my room only just fits me in it, its also the entrance to two other rooms besides mine. My room is small but clean and has a window which opens outwards and overlooks the pretty little street. I immediately decided to get changed into some more summery clothes and have a shower as it was actually quite hot. Ahhhh Europe! The shower was so small I really didn't even have enough room to turn around. That's pretty normal on this continent though.

After I had freshened up a bit I headed out, I soon realized I was the scruffiest person on the street. No one else had shorts or even short sleeves on. The mind boggles as to why. It was really warm and the locals were walking down the street in coats and jackets. I had never felt so under dressed in my life!

I walked back the way I had come, towards the metro and had a look at the site of the old Bastille, which is now the site of Paris's new opera house. There is also a monument in the middle of the round a bout with a gold statue on the top. On my way I managed to get a Starbucks, funny how even Starbucks coffee is better in Paris.

I walked up to the huge intersection and picked an offshoot. Which was Henri V Boulevard and went for a stroll. The street crossed the Seine and pretty soon I was walking down the river looking at stalls selling water colours and various out of print books. I kept walking along the river and before I knew it I was looking at Notre Dame. The church was spectacular from the outside it had a very ornate gothic spire and a huge rose window. It also had huge buttresses coming off another area of the cathedral. I couldn't believe my dumb luck in running into something so spectacular. I stood and looked at the church for ages, there was a busker playing an accordion and I was mesmerized by the moment of being here, in a place I had always wanted to visit.

At this point I decided to walk back to the hotel as I had actually gone a fair way and it was starting to get a bit chilly. Once back at the hotel I went on the internet for a bit and got changed into more suitable Paris wear. I put on my red skirt with tights, a black top and my check coat over the top. I then caught the metro a few stops to the Champs Elysees. It was really wonderful with the lap posts either side all lit up, designer stores everywhere and Napoleons Arc de Triomph at the end. I decided to have dinner in one of the restaurants on the Champs Elysees, oh boy did I pay for that. Twenty euros for dinner! I actually would have been angry about that, that is if it hadn't been worth every cent! The atmosphere was something you couldn't buy and the food was beyond amazing! I had beef bougenion and boiled veggies, which I really appreciated after all the fast food.

After dinner I went and had a look at the Arc de Triomph and marveled at its sheer size. I'm not sure I've ever seen such a huge arch, even in Rome, I'm not even sure the Arch of Septimus Severus in Leptis Magna in Libya could compete.

I could see the Eiffel Tower in the distance all lit up and decided to get a bit closer. Unfortunately, it was a lot further away than it looked, so I decided to save this for tomorrow and head off back to the hotel so I could be fresh for the days exploring tomorrow.