Paris

Today was another very busy day, a very hot day, which although it didn't go as we planned, still turned out well and probably may have been better.

We started the day with the guided tour of the Eiffel Tower we had booked for 9:15am, with the tower due to open at 9:30am. At 10:30am it was still not open and we were in a queue 150m from the first security gate. Our guide was told there was a 'technical issue' and it could be up to 2 hours before it was resolved.

We figured we could wait and potentially not do anything else today, or give going up the tower a miss and still do everything else we wanted to do. We decided to go, rather than risk queuing for hours. We think we made the right decision but have no idea when the tower opened.

So we jumped on our 'hop on hop off bus' tour and did a lap of Paris. It is probably not looking its best at the moment as many buildings and monuments are covered in scaffolding as they are being 'tarted up' for the Olympics next year.

Halfway around we got off and climbed the Arc de Triomphe, which was very special. We were glad we didn't miss this. It gave us great views of Paris, so the only thing we missed with the Eiffel was the experience of going up it. Never mind.

After finishing a lap of Paris we went on our cruise up and down the River Seine, which was a highlight.

Tonight we join our 22 day Insight tour of France with a welcome dinner.Læs mere