In 1994, the Eurostar opened and suddenly there was a direct train from London to Paris. The next year, Mum took me to Paris for the day for my birthday. It was such a good idea, I did it a couple of more times!

Since then, I’ve been to Paris some more times. I went to see the twins when they were little, I went on an overnight photo taking trip, I went and stayed at the British embassy (to babysit Ms T!).

Paris is always great but I haven’t done a day trip for a while, because it’s quite expensive and it’s different for me to be away for long periods of time. Then in the summer, Eurostar had a sale and Christelle and I decided it would be rude not to go to Paris for the day.

That day was yesterday

It was an extremely early start but great to wander around. We headed for the Tuileries and the Louvre.

And then wondered down the river to Note Dame.

It’s an interesting thing, a church that is also a national monument and a tourist attraction. I was a bit shocked to see a shop in the church itself, the card machines to take the 2 euros to light a candle and it felt much more like an exhibition space than a church.

Westminster Abbey and St Paul’s have the same issues. Notre Dame has lots of the old Catholic things that were destroyed or whitewashed in English churches during the Reformation. So I was fascinated by the colour and the painting. I have a much better idea of what the Victorian Gothic revival was trying to do now.

We then wondered some more in search of a new pair of shoes for Christelle. She was wearing her comfy walking boots that for some reason turned on her! So new shoes were required!

That done some more walking and a metro back to Gare d’Nord

We had lunch at Terminus Nord, which had great food and the best ceramic floor I’d seen in ages

Then the train home with some champagne. (And yes some French sweets!)