Howells in a Castle

Monday 19^th September 2016

Weather today has remained a pleasant 19° with overcast sky possibility of a shower or two.

After a bit of a sleep in and breakfast at 9:00am we caught the Hop=on-Hop-off bus and went to Les Invalides, which is where Napoleon Bonaparte in entombed. We have now seen the complete Bonaparte’s life. Saw the house where he was born in Corsica last year and now where he is buried in Paris. There is also an extensive collection & display of armour and weapons dating to the 1500’s. We also went into Cathedral St Louis

Got back on the bus and to complete the circle of the city then walked back to our hotel for a rest before going on our tour of the Eiffel tower, which was excellent.

The tower is an amazing structure. It was built for the 1888 World Expo as a temporary structure and was supposed to be dismantled after 20 years, however, Charles Eiffel wanted it to become permanent and in order for that to happen he needed to find an ongoing use for it. Eventually he was able to convince the French army to use it as a radio transmission tower. As it now had a useful purpose it the tower was able to become a permanent structure. The tour started in the “Bunker” below the tower to see the lift mechanism the up in the lift to the second floor, which is the first viewing platform. The view of Paris was excellent and we spent a bout 4 hours up on the tower. The queue to go to the very top level was very long so Lynne & Heather went up while Michael and I waited below, had a drink and waited for them.

We left the tower at 8:15 and found a lovely little restaurant “Le Castel” for dinner. We had Boeuf Bourguignon (beef burgundy), which was excellent followed with crème caramel for me and crapes for Lynne.

Back at the hotel is was time to pack ready for the next leg of our journey to Mayenne in country France.