Who doesn't love any early morning, particularly after a late night??? Well, when the early morning is to go to Paris, I've got my bells on! I may have also been carrying luggage under my eyes, but who cares, it's Paris!!!!

We were at the train station in St Albans by about 5:15am, early enough so that we could get a hot chocolate at St Pancras International before we got on the Eurostar to Paris. It was all a bit exciting, so much so that the girl who sat in front of us attempting to sniff everyone in the carriage up her nose, could not detract from it all!

Once we come out of the tunnel we are going through farming areas dotted with little towns that look like they are straight of the pages of story books. All the ones we passed on the train had a church surrounded by the houses. Looked amazing.

When we arrived we began our adventure by purchasing enough train tickets for the metro to get us everywhere on the checklist that Claudia had prepared for me. It was going to be a massive whirlwind of a day! I was busting for the bathroom so went to find one. When you go in there are two ladies sitting at the door doing change because it costs € 70 cents to pee!!! What the heck! I paid my money and spent about 5 minutes trying to work out how to flush the damn toilet. A pedal at the back of it!!! Crazy times!

Enough toilet talk, for now. We jump on our first metro train and head to Sacre-Coeur monument. We may have taken a while as we worked out the map, but we got there and it was spectacular !!! The gardens were gorgeous but the building itself was just exquisite. The view from the top was something else as well. Simply breathtaking!

We head back down to the metro to go towards Notre Dam. Along the way we see several amazing buildings that are almost incomprehensible. The work that went into them, words cannot describe. Check out the pi s I have posted to see what I mean. Notre Dam was no different, although the pungent smell of pigeon poop kind of makes you want to get your pics and run.

We decided to walk to our next stop. It was a beautiful day and we walked alongside the River Senne. It only took about 10 minutes to get to the Louvre. Now this is one spectacular sight. It was massive and soooo much detail. Everywhere you look there is more. We head in and I immediately get sucked in by this dude asking me to sign a petition to save some African village or something, so I sign and he tells me I have to pay €10! b****** got me, but I knew for next time!!!

The sights as you walk through certainly don't get any worse. We take the customary photos of the glass cube sand continue our walk through the gardens and taking in all the sights, and there were a lot of sights to see. The Eiffel Tower is in view from many of our stops so I was getting excited for our visit there.

We eventually get to the Eiffel Tower and have baguettes for lunch sitting under it. The place was packed! I went on my second toilet adventure. Couldn't find the flush!!!! This one was camouflaged on the top, same colour as the top and about half of it. Stupid toilets, at least we didn't have to pay here!!!!

We head over to the Eiffel Tower entry and go through the security checks and get herded into a lift. We wait in the lift for about 20 minutes, taking in the pungent body odor of some of the people in it and trying g to hold our breath. We then get herded out due to a technical issue. About 5 min on we get herded back in, wait for 20 min in the box with no air then get herded back out. Eventually wearer taken to another lift and finally begin our journey up the Eiffel Tower. It stops at level 2 and you have to line up to get on another lift to the peak. The second lift you can see out from every angle and it was a little confronting. We get out and the view from the top is indescribable. You can see for miles and the city looks unbelievable. We walk around taking pics as we go and oh what do we see???? A champagne bar! Of course we get a champagne and happily sip away at the top of the Eiffel Tower. It was tough I tell you! We came down the lift, Jen with her eyes closed again, but this time I watched, it was fun!

At the bottom we decided to get in a peddle can to take us to our next stop, we were starting to run out of time. It was a fun ride and gave us a chance to rest our feet. We arrive at Arc de Triomphe and yet again are not disappointed. It is awe inspiring! We were running a bit short on time and Jen had also had her fill of heights for the day so we made our way back to the metro to get the Euro Star home. When we got back to the train station we cheekily upgraded to first class and I grabbed a couple of last minute souvenirs before my final toilet adventure. Another freaking hidden flusher! Seriously, why can't they all be normal! This one was a pedal at the front, a teeny tiny little brass pedal. Thank goodness no more toilet adventures, so I thought anyway.

We get on the train, take our seats in the comfyness that is first class (reclining seats, tables, head rests, leg room, magazines). Not long into the journey a meal is brought out and it was delicious! Lamb with Greek salad, a roll and a apricot and rosemary tart. Yum! This was all washed down with a small bottle of white wine, French of course. By the end of the trip we had drunk 3 of those bottles of wine each. We were a little jollier than before!

Off the train and Jen asks if I feel like I drink. I was hungry, again, so we went to a champagne bar in St Pacras of course! We had the yummiest burgers and a bottle of champagne while we chatted with the bar staff. They were sooooooo nice! They even let me have a pic with a MASSIVE bottle of champagne.

On the last train ride for the day, back to St Albans we are surrounded by Arsenal supporters on their way home from the game. We have a good chat with those sitting around us and the trip flies by. Before we know we are back at Jen's and the day is catching up with me to the point that my eyes don't want to stay open any more. It was yet another epic day on my little holiday. Great sights, great places, great memories and most of all great company!!!!