Tuesday was a long day! 5.30 am saw me in St. Pancras International train station - at least that is a clean and impressive station, unlike some in London.   I was taking a day trip on the Eurostar to Paris. At 6.00 am we met the tour guides and got our tickets; then it was through the ticket barrier, security (not quite as bad as an airport, apart from anything else one could take coffee and food through), passport control (two of them, British and French) and so onto the Eurostar at 7.00 am. A very good train, comfortable and quiet, and the journey to Paris is less than 3 hours, that's less than it takes a train to get from London to the north of England, but then in reality it isn't as far. I was also surprised at the frequency of the Eurostar trains to Paris and Brussels.

 10.30 am Paris time (Britain keeps itself an hour behind the rest of Europe for some reason) saw us at the Gare du Nord in Paris and getting on a coach for a whistle-stop panoramic tour of Paris, though there was so much traffic it was more stop than go. We passed a lot of landmarks, familiar and not, but did not stop. (I have been in Paris once before, 50-odd years ago as a student, so to all intents and purposes this was the "first" time!)

Then it was up to the first level of the Eiffel Tower for a light lunch with champagne. Fortunately this did not take long so there was time to look around the Tower, and admire the tremendous view from just the first level; goodness knows what it wold be like from further up. Also there are a number of glass panels in the floor of this level through which you can see all the people on the ground, looking like ants. The first level is 57 m. above the ground.

And as you can see from the picture the Tower is doing its bit to promote the French Open.  

The other picture just proves I was there!
  
Next it was down to the Seine for a 1-hour boat trip. This was probably the least pleasant part of the tour, as the boat, like most of them on the Seine, was very large, it could hold 400 people, though it wasn't quite full; but there was a school party and la lot of youths who kept whistling and cat-calling to people (girls!) on then bank, which spoiled it. 

Back on the bus, we set off to Le Louvre. Since this was Tuesday, Le Louvre was closed, which we knew. If it had been open, I think we would have got a fast-track entry, which would have been necessary as I imagine the queues would have been indescribable. I wasn't too bothered that we could not go in, I saw the Mona Lisa 50 years ago, and I understand that now you can't get near it for other visitors and "artists" copying it. Instead I took a short walk in the Tuileries, then found a café for a cuppa. Back on the bus and back to the Gare du Nord for the return train ride to London. Got back at about 8.30 pm London time, tired but having had a good day.

 A plus was meeting some really friendly and funny Americans, and a couple of Australian girls on the tour, and we had an hilarious time on the train coming back!