Eiffel Tower and a Brass Band

Ah, the Eiffel Tower. No matter how many times you see it, you will still take a million photos of it.

I was lucky enough to stumble upon a brass band rehearsing underneath the tower, and used the opportunity to snap some reflection photos, just like Berlin! Seems to be a recurring theme now.

You can see I enjoyed this band a lot. Heh.

The third and final appearance of the little Welsh dragon.

Being the middle of July and the peak of tourist season, it was packed! The queues to get into the tower were up to 4 hours long, and I couldn't believe people were waiting in them.

I had a great visit to Paris, and look forward to returning one day.

Eglise Saint Sulpice

This is the church of Saint Sulpice. You'll probably recognize it from the Dan Brown book, though the church has a prominent sign reminding all visitors that they have nothing to do with the Da Vinci Code and that it's fake. Either way, it's a lovely church and it's the second biggest church in Paris, after Notre-Dame.

This is the second church on the site, and the present building was constructed in 1646.

Having never visited the church before it lovely to see, even though the outside was covered in scaffolding - undergoing reconstruction.

Notre-Dame

Welcome back to Notre-Dame Cathedral, dear readers. I love this Cathedral, and respect it more than Westminster Abbey as it's free to get in. Yay!

Because I've already been to Notre-Dame several times, and have already gotten those 'standard' photos, I figured it was about time to be creative and take some different photos. So, I hope you enjoy!

The rose window.

Another appearance by the little Welsh dragon.

Paris

Last week I decided to take a day trip to Paris to revisit a city I love before I leave to come home. I took the overnight bus there, arriving in Paris first thing in the morning.

There are more posts coming up for some of the specific places I saw, but here's a post of some of the random photos I've got.

On the left is L'Arc de Triomphe, while on the right is a graffiti-covered tree along the Seine. The inverted pyramid at the Louvre. This is a little souvenir that Richard bought me at the Bay in Cardiff, and I discovered it in my bag in Paris (forgot to clean my bag out!), so I decided to take it on a tour. You'll see it pop up in some other photos...

A Day Trip Through South-West Wales

After our lovely morning at Tintern Abbey, our wonderful chauffeur Jon took us on a whirlwind trip through South-West Wales. Our first stop was this lovely beach in Swansea where we acquired some of the best ice cream I've ever had at Joe's. I had mint chocolate and you can read all about the awesomeness here.

After a quick drive-through tour of Swansea (and a quick view of Oystermouth castle, founded in 1106), we continued on to the Gower.

The Gower is a penninsula (and park, really), in Wales. It is an official "area of outstanding natural beauty" and houses 6 castles and some amazing views. Oh, an a dormant volcano. Snap! On our brief walk we only saw a small percentage of the park, and there is much much more to explore at a later day.

This is Pennard Castle. And here's a building tip for you. If you're going to build a castle on a sand dune, keep in mind this castle will sink. Case in point: Pennard Castle. Jon told us that up to 2/3rd of the castle is now below the sand. The large 'door' you see above is actually the top of the once huge doors, and would've been the point that the draw bridge opened up to.

The present building has been there since the late 13th or 14th century. And it has one hell of a view over what I think is Mumbles beach:

Damn.

(And you cannot see in this photo, but there are cows on the beach. Yup. Cows. It was a hot day.)

Pretty impressive castle. And quite a picnic location.

Onto our next stop!

Our next stop was Rhossili beach and Worm's Head (the name of the island at the top of the picture).

This was the view from our pub-lunch stop. Could've stayed all day at this pub, with a view like that.

Jon also pointed out that this was apparently the ruins of a Spanish ship. All you can see now is the bit that sticks out of the sand, the rest is buried far beneath the beach. No gold, though.

And see that little white speck on the top right-hand side of the picture? That's a beach house. You can rent it for 500 quid a week, and it sleeps 8 people. Who is with me?!

Wouldn't be a bad view to wake up to every morning.

Unfortunately that was it for our whirlwind trip as we had to make the drive back to Cardiff to catch the bus back to London. There were so many things along the way that I'd love to go back and see, so this is definitely on my to-visit list for the future!