Rain in Paris,

Upon coming out of the tube from Versailles I realize that its raining. I did take my umbrella (graciously loaned to me by Beccs) and make good use of it, but the rain here is really - well, wet!

My shoes get soaked as do my pants by the short time I make it from the tube station to my hostel.

Inside is Wren and Amanda and we chat for a bit while the rain slowly dissipated. Someone, dont know who, mentioned they would like to do a night tour of Paris, see all the buildings lit up. This sounds good to me. So I start making a walking/tube tour so that we can hit some big stuff.

This plan worked out perfectly- Nozomi got back just in time to come with us, so the four of us departed from the hostel, with the rain only sort of coming down.

Our first stop was the Arc de Triumph, but sadly the sky was only at dusk so it wasnt so lit up as we would have liked. No problem, we head down the Champs and really get to see Paris in all its beauty.

With the rain making the streets super shiny we wondered the now less crowded street, passing shops and people still (or just sitting down to) dinner. The temp wasnt even that cold so it didnt matter to anyone when we missed our first tube stop and had to go further down. This allowed us to stand in the middle of the Champs and get a picture of the Arc, now lit up properly- great photo op.

The metro stations in Paris are not well marked (quell surprise). But we did find the one we wanted eventually hopped it to Louvre. Once inside we were greeted by a lady playing the violin and were passed by a bride and groom getting late night pictures taken. About half a dozen men were in the square hawking little Eiffel Tower key chains, they are annoying saying '2 for 3 euro' over and over, finally I start bartering back- 'I'll take one for FREE!' They smile and shake their heads then repeat their bargain, I keep repeating mine "FREE, FREEE! Finally one gives me one of the stupid little key chains. I smile and give it to Amanda as I already got one for free earlier in the week. We take a few pics and marvel at the beauty, take a few steps and are accosted again by another guy with key chains- I repeat "I'll take one for free!!!' And I get another one! This one I give to Wren, dont think she got many souvenirs this trip. We're done with the Louvre and I try for one more key chain for Nozomi, but dont manage it.

Back on the tube over to Notre Dame. This building is almost as amazing at night as it is during the day. The square is empty all but for some young kids who are getting steadily drunker by the minute. Snap snap, cross the bridge to the next tube station and end up catching the RER to the Eiffel tower.

We get there and Wren has to use the toilet, so we decide to get something to eat. A pizza restaurant does the trick, and we order a fabulous margerita pizza, so yummy. But we cant linger because our goal is to hit the Eiffel tower on the hour to catch it sparkle. 11:45 pm we leave and head to a vantage point just off to the side of one of the base pillars. While waiting for the lights to go off I check out how much it would take to take a cab home, we are all really tired and not wanting to fight to find the tube station back.

I find its only 20 Euros and we all agree this is the best course to take, and just then- she goes off!!!

So cool to see that at midnight in Paris. It sparkles and glitters for 5 minutes. Then we hop in the cab and head for home.

Night tour- awesome idea.