Another basement photo from the Louvre!

When in France, do as the french do. Read museum signs in any language as long as it's french...

In between the Louvre and the Tuilieres Gardens is this very ornate mini sized monument (mini compared with the Arc de Triomphe anyway!) topped with someone driving a chariot and saying cheers. you might say this was the original drink-driving offence, not a new thing at all!

From the gardens we got this great photos of the Eiffel Tower, the next stop after the Arc de Triomphe.

Here is Karen and Fiona outside Shakespear's bookshop. Some of the books had obviously been there since he owned it but they had new books too.

After leaving the Louvre we walked through the nearby gardens and headed for the Arc de Triomphe, the large square arch in the background. In the foreground you can see an egyptian obelisk and a small fountain, looking up the Champs Elysee.

Rod and Steve risked life and limb in the middle of french traffic to get a couple of photos of the Arc de Triomphe. Thankfully they got back in one piece!

Closer view of the Arc de Triomphe.

This shot gives you some idea of just how large the Arc monument is. You can pay a fee and go to the top to see the view but we flagged it in favour of the view from the Eiffel Tower which is much higher!

The icon of Paris France - the Eiffel Tower was worth the very long wait in queues for tickets and lifts. This gives you an idea of the huge number of people they arrange into queues very well. We spent about 2.5 hours in queues, all up.

Rod's innovative Eiffel Tower photo. It's amazing how creative you get when you are bored waiting in a queue...

Here you can see the top viewing platform which is enclosed, although there is an open-air balcony as well. At nearly 300 metres high you get an incredible view and it was worth all the waiting and sore feet! Glass lifts up to the top were something to behold, too!!

Here we are on the middle level of the tower. The sun finally came out!

Paris city view from the top (1).

Paris city view from the top (2).

Paris city view from the top (3).

Paris city view from the top (4), this shows the odd street layout and the equally odd-shaped buildings as a result.

Paris city view from the top, building and gardens although we don't know what they are called. Have a look at the next photos to see just how large this garden is...

The maximum zoom photo - look how small the people are!

Another large building dwarfed by the Eiffel Tower's height.