Day 7

                            QToday has been one of those days that, as an indivdidual, it changes you forever. I have not done much travelling but what I do know is that I am currently in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, Paris.

Before we get to that there are a few details about the flight.

As I had mentioned yesterday were an hour from boarding. Getting on the plane and taking off had no issues though it took a fair while, Sinapore airport is massive so it takes a while to taxi around the place. Once in the air the flight was fairly smooth with the added bonus the pilot let us know that the flight time was going to be an hour less than we thought.

We did think we were going to be in a little more luxury on the A380 airbus but alas it was just a bigger version of the one we had taken to Singapore from Brisbane in the beginning. Rhys seemed to think there was more space but it still felt cramped. I had actually rung up to see if we could upgrade to business class (or at least see if it was possible) but alas again the type of tickets we had didn't allow us to change them which in my mind seems a little odd, if we are going to spend more money with them why not at least consider it.

As was the norm they proceeded to feed us at around 12:30 am in the morning, we figure they just want to fill us up and send us into a food coma which usually works but for me I had a heap of trouble getting to sleep. Instead I watched a funny French film and a new release called divergence which was diverting but not exceptional. After that I tried to get some sleep but was very uncomfortable, the seats reclined ok but the base of the be seat also slipped forward a little. At first this sounded like genius, sort of like a fold out bed but it wasnt enough angle so all that happened was I got a really sore tail bone so spent the night trying to sleep on my side.

We were awoke once again for more feeding, starting to feel like those force feed cattle, trying to fatten us up for the slaughter, perhaps a little dramatised. :)

Kelly and decided to brave the coffee but regretted it the moment the liquid touched our lips. You know moss that grows on rocks in a forest? this coffee was like that, it instantly covers your tongue and mouth with this gross fur like substance, international roast use to do that too. We only got a few sips in when we gave up, here is the evidence that we at least attempted it.

We arrived in Paris on schedule and cleared immigration in record time. The bags took a while but again Singapore airport is a big place.

We decided to stop of a coffee at the airport before we headed in so I saw a great opportunity to order, entirely in French ... Was a mild fail BUT I tried. :)

Here is what I said:

"Bonjour monsieur, je voudrais tres cuppachino s'il vous plait"

I thought I was on fire but then I was served with only 1 coffee. So to the trained eye you should see where my error was, tres instead of trois. So directly translated

"Hello, I would like very cuppachino please" ... Hmm no wonder. I will admit my confidence was a little shaken but language is something you just have to be fearless with so I help my head high ... And correctly myself in English. :) The first of many attempts to come.

We were going to wait a little longer as it was going to be peak hour on the metro but we were all keen to get into our rooms and settled so we purchased our tickets to Paris.

This was the first map we followed, our task was to start at the left side bottom track and make sure we got off at Gare du Nord (station of the he north).

High speed picture on our way to Gare du Nord.

And after some awesome navigation by Yvette we arrived at our hotel.

Some advise for the notice traveller, be prepared to work when traversing the French train system, they have a lot of stairs to get to places. Kelly and my suit cases are pretty heavy so it was a bit of a struggle to get them to our destination.

Here is, albeit limited, view out the window of our room.

After settling in we were very keen to get out in hue he think of it so decided Notre Dame wasn't to far away so we walked. Here are some random shots along the way.

Panoramic of the Seine before crossing it.

Some assorted shots of Notre Dame, incredible. Notre Dame (which translate to Our Lady). 

Attempted panoramic of a very long wall with a single piece of art on it, incredible.

Some random architecture photos on the way back.

Had some late lunch before heading back to the hotel. This dish is called a Croque Monsieur, basically a fancy toasted ham cheese sandwich, awsome.

And yet another good coffee.

Once we were done we continued heading back to our room, came across this ... A real French sweets shop!

And finished the day watching stage 6 of the tour, what a day.