Travels: Part 2 (Paris!)

From England I flew to Paris, and spent 3 nights there, exploring the 'City of Lights' (or should that be the City of Darkness?) - can't say I was particularly impressed by Charles de Gaulle Airport - generally confusing and not that well organised (and not just because all the signs were in French!), though other than that my impressions of Paris were good. It's a huge city - takes forever to walk anywhere - though the Metro is well-organised and extensive. Not as easy to use as the London Underground though! The stations are quite well hidden, though once inside they are much nicer than the London stations. Paris as a city is extremely picturesque - just about all the buildings are beautiful (with the notable exception of the SA embassy!), and there are famous sights everywhere. We visited the Eiffel Tower at night, climbing to the second level, climbed the Arc de Triomphe twice (once at night, and once in the daylight) for a great view down the Champs-Elysees to the Louvre...we visited the Louvre, but got so exhausted walking around it we couldn't appreciate it as much as we should have (and I really can't see what all the fuss is about with the Mona Lisa!)...also got into the George Pompidou Centre (any architecture fundis will know why that's special!), the Hotel des Invalides (which is where Napoleon, among others, is buried), walked around La Defense, the new Paris business district (with very impressive modern buildings and modern counterpart to the Arc de Triomphe), Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur, Sainte-Chapelle, the Conciergerie (where Marie Antoinette was imprisoned before execution)...the list goes on, simply because there is SO much to see and do in Paris. It was impressive, beautiful, interesting, exhausting and COLD - the coldest I've been since leaving SA. Definitely worth another visit in summer... And of course we had French bread and cheese and a meal at a bistrot; we also dined with the rich and famous (well, sort of) at Cafe Angelina, sampling their world-famous hot chocolate (and it was amazing)...the list goes on, and in the end, I was quite content to get on a plane and go to Germany for a bit of a break after the frantic sightseeing that was Paris.