We popped to Paris at the weekend, flying with easyJet again. You arrive at Charles de Gaulles Terminal 3, which is, as far as I can tell, a specially built cheapo terminal with minimal facilities. But, this is budget air travel, so you can't complain! We got the metro into Gare du Nord which takes about half an hour and costs 7.50 Euros one way. Can't grumble at that! What I can grumble at is the fact that there were only 2 people selling tickets and the queue was about 50 people deep! It took AAAAAGES to get the tickets. Also, there are a few ticket machines but they don't take notes! So unless you have 7.50 Euros in coins on you (doubtful if you've just stepped off a plane), then you're stuck with queueing up.

The first thing we did was head for the shops. Seeing as we were leaving the next day, and shops tend not to be open on Sundays on the continent, this made sense. We checked out Galleries Lafayette and Printemps - the main department stores. Fairly average stuff, really. The sales were on, so they were HEAVING. I always like a look around the foodhall in places like France, Germany and Italy coz they have so much lovely stuff which you just can't get in the UK, or at least costs 3 times as much! All those lovely sausages, hams and cheese.. mmm mmmmmm!
Word of warning: perfumes are stupidly expensive. Believe it or not, they're actually cheaper in the UK!

So, that was the shops done. We took a wander down to the Champs Elysees, first to the Place de la Concorde, and then all the way down the Champs Elysees itself to the Arc de Triomphe.
Then we headed to our hotel to dump some stuff. Our hotel was called the Beaugrenelle, situated about 10 minutes walk from the Eiffel Tower. Decent enough place. 3 star, and out of the centre a bit, so you avoid the noise and pollution, close to the Dupleix metro station.

Next stop was the Eiffel Tower itself. The queue was moving fairly fast. It only took 20 minutes or so before we were on our way up to the 2nd floor. Once there, you have a pretty decent view all round. The queue to get to the very top was at least a half hour wait from here! As it was time for food, we decided against the wait and went for some pizza instead! All in all, a wise move! You can see everything from the 2nd floor, anyway. It's just that from the top, everything would be just that bit smaller!

After food, we walked down the banks of The Seine, crossed over the bridge in front of the Eiffel Tower, and walked up to the Musee de l'Homme from where you get a great view of the illuminated Eiffel Tower. Then, at 10pm, the Tower started sparkling! (See a video of this in my Paris Gallery). I have no idea if this is a regular thing or what, but I've never heard it mentioned in any guide books.

The next day we decided to save our legs and get the Batobus (boat) down The Seine. It costs about 11 Euros for a one day pass where you can get on and off all day long at any of the 8 stops. We got off at Notre Dame and wandered around there a bit. Then we got back on and just stayed on til we got back to the Eiffel Tower.

It was all getting a bit much by this point, and it was very hot, so we just sat in the shade, and chilled out for a few hours before finally heading back to the airport, and finally arriving back at Luton at around 10:30pm.