Paris

Paris 

We went into Paris for three days, but we weren't actually staying in the city. We stayed in an apartment in the suburbs. Each day we caught a train. On the first day we went on a walking tour. In Paris it was really cold so we had to put layers of clothes on. Luckily we didn’t have to wait long for our tour to start. Our tour took us to the Paris parliament,  the Louvre, the Notre Dame Cathedral, and the first clock in Paris. At one point our tour guide told us about the curving building. They are curved because when people throw their waste out it doesn't land on other citizens' heads. Here’s a gruesome story that our tour guide told us, it will give you the chills. 

Once upon a time there was a butcher and a barber. The butcher cooked the best pies in the whole of Paris, even the king especially asked for these pies. The meat was delicious, but unknown. One day a dog outside the barbers store started barking like a crazy armadillo. People were confused at why this dog was barking but figured he would stop eventually. But the dog didn’t stop. 

Soon the police got suspicious and came to the barbers to investigate. They talked to the barber telling them that a dog had been barking outside his store for a while. They asked him if he had any idea why. When the barber said that he didn't, the police searched the building. 

At the back of the room they found a door that led them down to the cellar. Inside this cellar they found tables lined with dead bodies! But that wasn’t all… 

On the other side of the cellar there was another set of stairs, these leading into the butchers! 

It seemed that the Barber had been killing his customers and then the Butcher would cook them into his pies. When they were exposed the King was completely horrified.  

That was the gross story. Sorry if you never eat pies again.   

After our tour we met up with some family members from mum's side. They were mum's cousin, aunty and uncle. First we went to their accommodation where we all ate lunch, then they took us to the eiffel tower. We didn’t go up the tower as we had booked it for the day after. It wasn’t as busy as I had expected around the tower. 

After we got our photos we split off from our extended family and continued through Paris on our own.

We caught a taxi to the Arc De Triomphe which we would be going up. It was right in the middle of a ginormous roundabout so we had to go through an underpass. 

The Arc De Triomphe was built for Napoleon's troupe to walk through but Napoleon died before the construction finished in 1836. The Arc De Triomphe took thirty years to build but only because of pauses in the construction. To get to the top of the Arc we had to walk up sets of stairs. On the first two levels we learnt about the meaning and construction of the building before getting to the top of the Arc. From the very top we could see all around the city! We could see the Eiffel tower and were able to get some great photos. 

After the Arc De Triomphe we headed to a supermarket where we picked up some food suitable for a picnic. Then we went to the Eiffel tower and found a seat with a good view. At this point the sky was getting darker by the second and by the time we finished our dinner the sky was black. The tower lit up with sparkling lights which looked beautiful! It was a great end to our day. 

I had a really good time on our first day in Paris. We saw lots of different sights and had a really great time. It was super cool seeing the Eiffel Tower in person and it looked amazing when it was lit up. Paris is a really nice city and I hope to one day visit it again. 

By Mila and Ruby.