Paris - 8th to 10th October We took the Eurostar across England, under the English Channel and across France directly into the heart of Paris, late on Friday afternoon. Despite ducking and dodging the rain drops, Melanie and I easily found our hotel. Up nice and early on Saturday we ate our fill at the buffet breakfast of crossaints, then headed out to explore Paris. As we were in the North part of the city we headed up to the Sacre Coeur, were hasseled by guys trying to sell thread bracelets and quickly made our way up the steps into the church. It's really peaceful in this church despite loads of people. Unfortunately the weather was turning cold and we weren't warmly dressed for cold winds and the occasional spot of rain. So we made our way down the market and cobbled streets and onto the Metro. Confused, yet willing we purchased tickets and hopped on this busy, bustling underground train system to The Louve. Well we eventually found it thanks to maps, but despite us walking in completely the opposite direction - opps :) A bee-line for the world-famous painting, The Mona Lisa, the crowds were fairly minimal for what we had expected. But given my vertical challenges, I had to push my way to the front press up again the barrier to get a good look at this renowned painting. Many a previous visitor had warned me that the painting of Mona Lisa is smaller than everyone says. So naturally I had reduced my size expectations and was pleasantly surprised. Mona Lisa is a perfect portrait size, encased in a bullet proof case and has timber and steel barriers that hold the crowds back at least 5ft from the wall on which she hangs. Cameras are snapping away, flashes blinding her eyes and sunlight creating reflections on the glass, one wonders how much of this painting you can actually see. Pushing and jostling tourists make it difficult to stay too long, so I fulfill my tourist duty and take a few photos on my camera, yet I refuse to use my flash. A flash on glass is just going to cause an ugly white splogg across my photo. However the perfect timing of one of my snaps is captured just as another tourist clicks his photo with a flash. Moving along, Melanie and I wondered a few other parts of The Louve, taking in African Art, Renaissance tapestries (we expected paintings in the Renaissance section of the museum), and a few others. After nearly three hours we decided we were museumed out and needed some fresh air.