Hello from Bath

 Well its been a few days since I blogged, and Terri & I are now in Bath.  We met up at the Wardonia Hotel in London on Monday evening.  The Wardonia is an old family owned private hotel close to St Pancras (that's why we booked it) our room was tiny and below ground, thank god it was only one night and we were both so tired we could have slept anywhere!!!

On Tuesday morning at 4:30am we headed to St Pancras to board the 6am Eurostar for Paris.  The train left on time and 2 and a half hours later we were walking out into the Parisian sunshine.  We couldn't have done Wang to Melbourne in that time!!!

A quick check of Google Maps showed us that our hotel - Hotel Luna Park on Jacquard street in the 11th Arrondissement was a 40 minute walk from Gare du Nord, so we decided to walk rather than grab a cab.  The walk was really eye opening, we went from sex shops to Rolex & Cartier back to cafe's and trendy shops before arriving at our hotel.

When we arrived the wonderful concierge found us a room straight away, rather than waiting until check in time.  We were on the 4 floor, no lift and a spiral staircase of 75 steps, thank goodness we had left our cases in London and had just taken an overnight bag each!!

The hotel itself was only rated 1 star, but it was clean, and for Paris spacious, we had a double and single bed, wardrobe, our own bathroom and a small foyer with a table and chairs.   The best part was the windows, 3 big beautiful double windows that opened fully and allowed the warm breeze to blow through. We were also lucky that the surrounding streets held an abundance of cafe's and restaurants.

                                        Just a couple of night shoots from our window

So with our bags stowed we set out to explore, our concierge set us on the right path to the Metro, which was about 200mts away, and in limited French and sign language we purchased a couple of 3 day Metro passes and proceeded on the M3 line to Opera to pick up the hop on hop off bus and see Gay Paree.

After purchasing tickets and a couple of Paris tee shirts so we could really scream out we are tourists!! we headed outside to hop on the bus only to be told that due to yet another protest all buses had been called back and tours suspended.  There was a Yanky tourist in front of us giving the poor chap that was explaining the situation a really hard time demanding to know when services would be recommencing and demanding that he be given a refund because of the inconvenience.  I felt really sorry for the chap as he was just doing his job and was being so polite (not the arrogant Froggy you would expect) Anyway the Yank went off in a huff and we spoke to the chap who said he hoped the service would recommence in a couple of hours, but of course couldn't guarantee anything.  He directed us to a nice restaurant where we could have lunch and then try again in the afternoon which we did.

Lunch was sensational, fresh produce prepared with care and so very tasty, especially when consumed with a glass of Rose.  So fortified we headed back to see if we could get on the bus, and luckily the company had recommenced the service, but only to the areas away from the protest.  Terri and  I sat up top and soaked in the sights, Eiffel Tower, Champs Elysse, Arc de Triumph etc. etc.

After a couple of hours sightseeing we headed back on the Metro to our hotel to shower and change, and to recharge after the early start.  Slightly rested we headed out for dinner and found a nice little restaurant just around the corner that was happy for us to order starters and desserts which were extremely tasty.  My sour cherry dessert was to de for. And then fully satisfied we headed back to the hotel to bed.

Day two started late, with brunch and espresso at a cute little bakery just across the street from our hotel. Once fortified we headed back to the Metro to take us back to the hop on hop off bus.  We decided to spend the day wandering around the Eiffel Tower area as we had booked a dinner cruise on the Seine.  This time we were spiffily attired in our Paris Tshirts.

A wonderful afternoon was had, shopping for presents, riding the carousel, and sightseeing before we headed back to the Left Bank for our dinner cruise.

And so ended day two in Paris.

Day three dawned bright and sunny, so we checked out and took the Metro back to 

Gare du Nord where we stowed our bags in a lock up and headed on foot to spend the day in Montmartre.

We had an amazing day, Montmartre really is a village, we walked from the Moulin Rouge - I showed Terri where her father was propositioned!!!  Then we braved the HILL to get to Sacre Couer. What an amazing place, we were both quite awed, and it's free to get in to (take notice UK)  Terri and I purchased a 24 hour votive candle and lit it for Warren, and others that we have lost.  I also had Wazzy's chain that I always wear blessed in the font.  Terri and I shed a few tears and lingered a while.

From Sacre Coeur we headed back down the hill and had a wander through the Montmatre Cemetery where noted Parisian's like Voltaire are buried. We then had to say good bye to Paris and head back to the Gare du Nord to catch the Eurostar back to London.