Janet, The Happy Wanderer: Paris

Paris! A grand city. I got a real feel for it as I negotiated my way through the streets from St Denis. There were people everywhere, and with the help of good old google maps I made it straight to the hotel, late (9.30pm) and very weary, having tramped along tarmac for most of the day. I had a hotel in the Montmartre district and spent the first day wandering around doing chores and sightseeing in the process.

The first chore was the washing which was easy as there was a laundromat just around the corner. My next chore was a little more difficult and in fact I never resolved it. That was to try and sort out my technology problems. No one could help me at the stores I went to, and since then it seems to have fixed itself, so here's hoping it stays that way.

My third chore was to find a guide book to get me to the city of Tours, which I found, but via Chartres, which I never did find. However as I wandered from place to place, store to store I saw many interesting things.

The final chore was to buy some sandals and a summer weight skirt. Again, no success until I decided to stay an extra day because I was so late leaving. I stopped at a cafe to have some breakfast and use the WiFi to find a hotel on the other side of the Seine. Here I had an interesting diversion chatting to a woman from Abu Dhabi. A brave woman as she was waiting for the birth of her twins any day, and she was doing some final homework on her verbal PhD thesis presentation. She was hoping that nerves didn't bring on the birth during her exam!

I stayed that night on the edge of Montparnasse and wished that's where I'd stayed the whole time. I also had success with the clothes I was looking for as I found an amazing camping shop. I actually went there in the hope that I would pick up the elusive guide book but no luck. This camping shop was not one, but many small shops and I kept being re-directed down or up the street or around the corner on the right or left!

On my second day in Paris I visited a couple of monuments and took a boat trip on the Seine. I went to Notre Dame, and decided that I really didn't want to see inside that much because the queue's stretched across the square, but later in the day when I was passing the queue's had gone and I went straight in.

Out of curiosity I measured how far I walked on my rest days in Paris and each day I walked just shy of 20kms. At least it was without a pack!

Enough words from me. I'll let the pictures tell the tale.

The Cité des Sciences is a place of color, interesting play spaces for young and old, and full of life.

Opposite my bedroom, on the fifth floor, it was moving day (above and below).

Galleries Lafayette is not just one shopping store, but a number, linked. This was the sight inside one of the buildings.

The Conciergerie (above and below) is one of the important buildings in Paris. It was initially part of the Royal Palace, then housed the prison. It was here that Marie Antoinette was imprisoned and met her execution.

Also part of this former grand Royal Palace is the extraordinary gothic building called La Sainte-Chapelle, built by Louis IX. The stained glass windows in this building are wonderful.