Day 25,

we were up early,

and this was where we were going, St. Panaceas station,

for the Eurostar train to,

Paris at Gare du Nord station,

it was a tad chilly, but Diana was all smiles,

so a coffee and a bit of breakfast,

and we were on our way,

but first I just had to stop to admire,

the beautiful architecture of the station, the first train arriving here 1868,

we made ourselves comfortable,

Diana with her scarf she bought in Scotland,

a quick selfie,

and we were speeding towards France,

what do you mean, I look like a tourist!

the Eurostar, taking a break before it's next high speed dash,

and we dashed across to the metro,

if you understand the London Underground the metro is the same,

we soon arrived at our hotel,

the Hotel Eiffel Seine, the Eiffel Tower just a short walk away,

it has a nice lounge looking out onto the street, which is great if you like people watching,

also a lovely display of flowers,

and the hotel cat, we both miss ours,

we decided to walk to the tower,

and just around the corner there it was,

as was this restaurant, so a bite to eat,

chicken,

for Diana,

salmon for myself.

our first close up look of the tower, just a shame about the metal fence around the base of it,

a quick pose,

I managed to miss the fence in this shot, but then the trees got in the way,

it was not looking good for our romantic evening cruise in a few days time,

there was so much flood water the river level had risen so much that boats could not sail under the bridges,

there were not many people about, the roundabout with no customers,

but from over here at least I could avoid the fence,

talking of no customers,

there were certainly none on the embankment, the water at the ticket office would have been up to my waist, the river level normally much lower than that,

there is a custom in Paris to lock your love with a padlock on one of the rivers bridges and throw away the key, apparently the weight of all of the padlocks was a concern, so the authorities removed them, but not to be outdone,

lovers will find any place to attach the locks, we did our bit the last time we were here,

we walked back to our hotel for a freshen up before going to eat,

the view from our room the train station was almost opposite, but close as it is we never heard,

time for our evening, we went to Le Bistrot de la Tour,

we shared a starter,

then on to the main course, pork fillet for myself

spaghetti bolognese for Diana,

and for dessert,

I had plain crepe,

with a touch of syrup,

but Diana went the extra mile,

and had bananas in hers,

when I saw the size of the beers I just had to try one,

the glass was huge,

and then I found a bigger one, the first came with nuts,

which was just as nice as the first,

the second with popcorn,

and a vodka for the road,

 the restaurants card,

with map on the back, what a great start to our holiday in Paris,

we made our way down the surprisingly narrow escalators,

and took the Metro back to the hotel for a good nights sleep.