Woke up to our last full day in lovely Paris. Off to explore more of our surroundings around our hotel. We are just off the Place de Republique. The other day there was some sort of demonstration. In anticipation of trouble there were at least 5 police riot vans and a cluster of riot police all waiting at the corner. Took a taxi to Galleries Lafayette - wow. Beautiful building and so much merchandise. Saw some of the same brands that I buy at home for a fraction ...

Spent a terrible night trying to sleep and woke up with a big, red puffy eyelid. Luckily it wasn't sore, only uncomfortable and ugly! It might have been due to an allergy to the snails, the wine or all the dust in the air before yesterday's storm. Had our roll and croissant for breakfast then a taxi to the Eiffel Tower. We had a walk around the base but decided not to go up as the lines were far too long. After soaking it all up we headed to the nearby Batobus s...

A beautiful 29c day today. Breakfast down in the breakfast room, the setting a bit less luxurious and the breakfast options a lot less than @ London County Hall. But the croissant was French so that's all that mattered! We did some shopping in the department store behind the hotel, then bought our lunch and had in the courtyard gardens of one of the church/museums. Beautiful setting - what I imagined Paris would be like. Off next to the doll museum. Finding it w...

Off to Paris today. Attempted to catch a train from Waterloo station to St. Pancras but the ticket lines were lengthy and it wasn't a straight route so caught a taxi instead. Arrived with plenty of time to spare. Waited until we were allowed to check in and, right on the allowable check in time, were told that there was some sort of problem with the tracks. Anyone with non essential travel was told to postpone as the delay was "indefinite". There was no help desk...