Down the steps of the apartment to The Paris Pass

We had discovered on our previous trip that ticket queues could result in lengthy waits. To avoid lines we bought The Paris Pass for 6 of us. The pass allowed us access to the metro, the big red bus and over 60 museums and galleries for two days. First stop was the Big Red Bus that was stopped by the Arc de Triumph so that we could quickly orient everyone to the layout of Paris. What this means is that we all sat up top in the wind so that we would have the best views.

The Eiffel Tower was where we jumped off the bus so as to let our feet touch the ground. Sam did the typical 'getting air' poses for our cameras. Later we explored Notre Dame before heading to the Louvre. Pictures will tell the story better than I ever could. The noted differences included the vast number of tourists, the large numbers of touts who were persistent in their endeavours and the remarkable cultural points of interest that we encountered in our first 48 hours together. Traffic is best understood by those brave enough to drive in Paris. It was not uncommon to see eight rows, notlanes of cars, trucks or bikes, criss-cross each other's path with horns honking but then proceed with safety on their way. I doubt that I would ever brave the roads as a driver myself. I take my hat off to those who do.