Day 7 - due to a number of technical difficulties.

Bonjour, mon ami. Je suis Australien, et je suits embarrassingly bad at even trying to make a fist of communicating with the lovely people of France in their own tongue. The reputation that the French people have had in the past for being rude and arrogant is, based on our recent (and granted fairly limited) experience, completely unfounded. The people we have met so far have been, to a person, friendly, helpful and extremely patient - even apologetic for having the temerity to presume we could understand them as they launch into giving us directions, only to be met by our gaze of bewilderment.

The journey into Paris started early, and was incredibly fast and efficient. We were out of the hotel in London by about 5.45 for a brisk walk to the Tube. Cool but not cold, and very pleasant conditions. Usual efficient run got us into King's Cross with plenty of time to sit in the departure area and......well, sit. Seats on the Eurostar rather like aeroplane seats but without the capacity to recline, not that it is really needed, as the trip only lasted just over 2 hours. Incredibly fast - looking out at cars travelling on motorways going in the same direction as the train seemed to be standing still as we swept past them - and presumably they were doing at least 100 kph.

Arrived in Paris and eventually able to work out the Metropolitan (Metro - Paris equivalent of the Underground). Trains and signage not quite as good as in London, but thank heavens for different coloured lines on maps and automated ticketing machines which have in-built English versions. Managed to find our way to the rough vicinity of where our hotel was supposedly located and wandered around for about 20 minutes before eventually tracking it down. Dumped our gear and went down to the local shopping precinct under the hotel as Patrick's eyes had lit upon the golden arches. It turns out that McDonalds is equally bad in Paris as it is in Australia - probably worse.

Wandered up to the Seine (as one does) and caught the Metro to get to where we could catch the hop-on, hop-off bus, one of the numerous packages which Julianne had pre-arranged before we left Adelaide - thank heavens for her uber-organisation. Weather very warm, and I suspect we may have even got a touch of sun-burn sitting on the top deck of the open-topped double-decker bus. As we only had a couple of hours left we decided to just hop on the bus and leave the hopping off until tomorrow. As with London, and perhaps even more so, the array of architectural wonder on display was simply mind-boggling. And our minds were certainly boggled, not just by the grandeur and size of the usual icons (Eiffel tower, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame), but also by the everyday buildings and apartments. We are all looking forward to exploring these sites more tomorrow. [note to Sonya - the Cars Rouge bus was probably ideal for us as we are only in town for a few days, but the commentary left a bit to be desired - not particularly informative, but O.K. for us. If we were staying any longer I'd be suggesting the L'Open Line - no idea what their commentary was like, but they had 4 different routes (one price) covering a fair bit more of Paris].

One of the girls at reception suggested a place for dinner, and what a little gem - the restaurant, not the girl, although she may well have been, but it is not really my place to make such a judgement so quickly. We seemingly arrived about 20 minutes before the rush, and the place was packed when we left. The meals (2 salads and 2 chicken dishes) were enormous, and, to my mind were in the provencale style. Absolutely delicious, and not at all pricey if the prices in other restaurants we passed were anything to go by.

It has now been a week since we left, and the time has flown by. Patrick made the comment that he was surprised at how quickly the week had gone, and was hoping that he could continue to take it all in.