Arrived in Nice after a 5 and a half hour train journey straight down the middle of France. B&B was fairly easy to find; admittedly, it doesn't look like paradise on the outside - far from it. It's right next to the train line and the main highway to Monaco. Once inside though, we were greeted by a very friendly owner and her cat, who immediately set about sniffing our bags and being a very friendly cat. The B&B is fantastic - very clean, spacious, well e...

Leaving Paris this morning on the TGV to Nice. As nice as Paris is, it is mega expensive and more places than not are really grim. Most of the rail system, especially the metro, and a lot of the less touristy bits of town have a real graffiti problem, but I expect that's the same in lots of the places we're going to go to. We're sat on the top deck of this train, so we're hoping to get some good views of France. The station announcement jingle is very French - 1-...

Went from Catacombs to Notre Dame. Weather very hot this afternoon, and we sat outside the cathedral with the baguettes I ordered in French. The vendor insisted on speaking to us in English. Went in Notre Dame, but too tired to really look at many things, so it was a fleeting visit. Walked from Notre Dame to the Louvre and managed to get in free (EU citizen under 25). Very busy this afternoon and inside the pyramid is like being in a giant greenhouse. Did the us...

Les Catacombes. A 2 hour queue but unique and extremely macabre. After descending 21 metres down a narrow spiral staircase, you wander through a long abandoned quarry tunnel, which eventually leads to the ossuary filled with the bones of people moved there when the cemeteries became full. The walls are lined with leg bones and skulls arranged in rows. Allegedly the bones of Jean-Baptiste Lully are there somewhere but there could be no way to identify them among t...

Waiting in line for Les Catacombes