Paris, day 1

Yesterday we woke up to our alarms at 5:30... Sleepily, we dressed and made our way to the station where we caught a train to St. Pancras Station-where our Eurostar train ride was setting off from for Paris. Because we had to be there 40 min early, we got to the station at about 6:15 for our ride that started at 7am. 2 1/4 hours later, we arrived in Paris, after I caught up on some more sleep-what else can you expect to do when you are sitting in train? Because of the time difference, it was now 10:15am...first thing we had to do was get out of the station and drop our stuff into some storage lockers (because our hotel wouldn't let us check in until later). This part of the day was simple, and we didn't get lost putting our bags away :) I did however do a very silly thing, I left my scarf and umbrella in my bag. Not so helpful given that it was a bit chilly, but fortunately it didn't really rain so it wasn't a big problem leaving my umbrella behind :). So once we put our bags away, we went and found a hop on hop off bus tour, and started on our journey around Paris. First stop was the Eiffel Tower. Here, because the queues weren't too long, Sonia took me up to the viewing platform where there was a magnificent view of the city. It was amazing! So many buildings everywhere, one huge difference I noticed was that there really isn't much grass at all anywhere. Yes, I know it is a city, but no one really has a backyard and even the parks don't have much grass-and Sonia said that those that do have grass are restricted so you can't actually sit ON the grass...so no nice picnics in the park :(. Instead, they just have many, many bridges and canal side places where you can sit and enjoy the views of people passing by :). After spending some time up the tower, Sonia and I walked back down the steps and found a nice little Parisian cafe for lunch. I had French onion soup and then a chocolate/Nutella crepe for dessert, very yummy :) while Sonia had carbonara, done the right way with no cream, but just cheese and egg yolk and ham (it was quite cool because the pasta came with the cheese, egg and ham on top, but not mixed in so it was kind of DIY mixing of the food :) ). After lunch we hopped back on the bus and traveled round Paris looking at all the famous places, Louvre, Notre Dame, Arc de Triumph and the opera houses and squares etc. the Louvre is huge! I had not realised the size of this place! Sonia told me that if you want to see everything inside it, it would take a week! Of course, it was closed because it was a Tuesday (we didn't know this) and so we didn't actually go inside, but I enjoyed the outside just as much as I would have the inside :). It must have taken tens of years, maybe even hundreds! It was developed over the lives several famous people, one of the kings, Napoleon, and some more people, who all added the styling from their era... It is just so fancy and huge, with heaps and heaps of intricate carvings all over it! After going around Paris for a while, Sonia and I hopped off the bus for a while at one of the main roads coming off the arc de triumph, Champs Élysées. This is a very popular place to be, with many cafés and restaurants all along it, as well as clothes shops and shopping malls too. We wandered this street for a while, before dropping into laudree for afternoon tea. This is a very, very good patisserie, where they also serve full meals as well as coffee etc. they have so many pastries to choose from, and I found the decision very difficult, however in the end I think I made the right decision. I had the 'Généreuse religieuse à la rose et à la framboise.' Which is two choux buns on top of each other, filled with a rose flavoured party cream and raspberries, while Sonia had a chocolate version with chocolate pastry cream and no raspberries. They were absolutely delicious! The raspberries gave freshness, and the pastry cream was the perfect consistency, not too runny, and the perfect thickness to hold up when you cut through the buns. I loved it and will definitely attempt to make something similar, or at least with these flavours in it :). 
By now it was about 4-5 o'clock, so we decided to go and get our bags before finding our hotel and some dinner. We made it back to the right station in the end, but got very lost along the way, it was hilarious! We got stuck inside the station as we snuck in behind someone, thinking we were getting out, but ended up using our tickets to get in somewhere and it was all very confusing! Anyway, we eventually-with much laughter and hilarity, made it to our bags and found the right way to go to find our hotel :). Once we dropped our bags at the hotel, we wandered outside to try and find somewhere for dinner. We ended up in a French restaurant called the 'Grand Brasserie'. The hi light was probably the dessert, which was delicious, however made me feel a little ill later on because of its richness. It was a chocolate dessert. When they brought mine to the table, it was chocolate mousse surrounded by a chocolate done which they then poured a dark chocolate sauce over which melted the dome, causing a dramatic collapse-it was so rich and delicious, I think Sandra would just love it! Sonia had creme brûlée, which they brûlée at the table by pouring over some sort of alcohol before setting it alight, which caramelised as it burned the alcohol off - very flash and dramatic, and she said it was delicious. After our delicious meal we walked back down the road to our hotel where we had a good sleep before our last day in Paris.