From Donna & Clyde: We left Rome last night and travelled to Paris via Milan on an overnight train. Molly and Toby enjoyed their first trip in a sleeper carriage and arrived in Paris refreshed after a good night's sleep. Stepping out into Paris was a shock to the system after our first relatively warm/mild week in Beijing and Rome because it was VERY cold. We dropped our gear at our apartment, which is in a prime spot straight across the road from the Lourve, and raced off to the Eiffel Tower in an unsuccessful effort to beat the rain. By the time we got through the queue and up the tower, it was absolutely freezing, with driving rain but we still managed to have a good look around and take the obligatory photos. After that, we spent a bit of time looking round Galleries Lafayette with the thousands of others trying to avoid the cold and rain. Now it is time to kick back with some local vino and work out a plan of attack for the next few days, probably starting with the Louvre tomorrow if the rain continues.

From Molly:

We arrived in Paris today after a 10 hr train ride and it was absolutely positively freezing. I mean it was literally the coldest I had ever been in my life. After we dropped our bags off we went to The Eiffel Tower - it was HUGE (324m) but not as big as Auckland's Sky tower which stands at 328m high. But the highest tower in the world is in Dubai and is 829m tall. After that we went to Galleries Lafayette, a big shopping mall, and looked around for a bit then we took the Metro home.

From Toby: TRAIN EIFFEL TOWER AND DONUTS

We caught the overnight train from Rome to Paris. When we dropped off our bags at the hotel we went to see the Eiffel Tower. Half way through I saw some donuts, and I begged Mum to buy them. She did. French donuts are the best DONUTS in the world. Then we caught the Metro back to the hotel.