Visiting Paris in a more leisurely manner for two days, rather than the day trip last year, avoided the need to get up at the crack of dawn to get the first EuroStar to Paris! So this time it was a cab to
St Pancras International rather than
Waterloo now stripped of the the "international" tag.
The last time I visited the
Eiffel Tower I was 8! I remember we'd been on holiday in the France, and learnt that
Lord Mountbatten had been blown up by the IRA earlier that day while we stood on the tower - not quite like remembering what I was doing when Kennedy was shot...
The tower was a great excuse to switch to my recently acquired fish eye lens
Then to the reason for being in Paris on that particular weekend - the traditional laps of the Champs-Élysées. Even getting to the course at 11 in the morning only secured a second row position - those at the front had been there a couple of hours already!
First the caravan of advertising - no less bizarre from knowing what to expect from the previous year.
Then after hours in the baking sun the riders arrived - and before the second last lap I got lucky and someone in front of me had to leave and I got a precious place on the railing...
Hours of standing and a small dose of sun burn - a small price to pay for a enjoyable weekend.
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