Paris Under a Temperamental Sky

We went to Paris yesterday. (It may sound like I'm saying that casually, but that statement is followed by many exclamation points!) We rode the Eurostar train from London, going under the English channel, which went by so fast, I'm not even sure when it happened. (I was sort of dozing after getting up at 4 am).

The weather was a little rainy when we got there, but our good weather karma followed us and it stopped shortly after our arrival. After lunch on the Eiffel Tower (about halfway up) we went on a riverboat cruise down the Seine, which runs through the middle of Paris. On a sunny day it would have been spectacular, floating past the Louvre and Notre Dame, etc. but our glass roof was covered with rain, so it made it a little difficult to see, but still a lovely ride. Later we went to the Louvre (though we didn't actually go through the museum, as we only had about an hour, so decided to save that for another trip to Paris. Our tour guide told us that if you stared at every piece of art in the Louvre for 3 SECONDS, it would take you four MONTHS to go through the place.):

Dan Brown fans might recognize this spot:

Anyway, it was an interesting day, but a bit long, as we had gone to WICKED the night before which was fabulous! (And interesting! At intermission the crowd went to the lobby for ice cream and beer, ate in the theater and left the remains on the floor!) But as many of you know - what a fantastic show!

Friday, we had a lovely lunch with a fellow writer, Sarwat Chadda, who also writes young adult novels and just had his first book come out last month. Sarwat is a fellow member of our group blog, The Enchanted Inkpot, and lives in London, so it was fun to get to meet him in person.

Also on Friday we rode the London Eye, which is down on the Thames across the river from Big Ben. It looks like a ferris wheel, but those are actually observation cars that carry about 15 people. The ride takes about half an hour and you have spectacular 360 degree views of all of London. As you can see, it was a warm, sunny day too! =)

Today is Sunday here in London and we're being lazy (SOME of us are still sleeping and it's noon!) as we didn't arrive back at the hotel from Paris last night until midnight. We had an old Scottish bus driver on the way home though, who knew London like the back of his hand, and he was brilliant, giving us lots of interesting nighttime sightseeing. I had the chance to ask him all sorts of questions about travel times to get from here to there so I would know if they make sense in my books, since as you may recall, I'm here doing research. =) Today I have to find out if the royals have apple trees in the 46 acres of gardens in Buckingham Palace....what a life!