After mailing the post cards I headed towards the Champ De Mars south east of the Eiffel Tower where I had a close up look at the Wall of Peace. The Wall of Peace monument (designed by French artist Clara Halter and architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte) has a bunch of touch screen displays where you can read about the monument in many different languages. You can also leave a message of peace or read ones left by others. After reading all the others (at least those in English) I tried to the leave my own but the touch screen was a bit off so I don't know if it worked. There is supposed to be a website where you can also access these messages, but I haven't been able to find it.

While I was at the Wall of Peace, several folks came by on Fat Tire Bikes and on Segways. They were part of 4 hour Paris tours that run regularly from the base of the Eiffel Tower. I'll have to give one of those Segways a try next time I'm here.

After leaving the Wall of Peace I sat around the Champ De Mars for a while. Just enjoying the nice weather (the best so far on my trip) doing some people watching and browsing through the travel books for my up coming stops.

Later I took a couple day time pictures of the tower then caught the metro to Sacre Coeur the Roman basilica on Montmatre. The inside of Sacre Coeur was impressive and the view from the dome was great, although it was quite hazy so it was hard to take good pictures. The neighborhood around Sacre Coeur was the worse I've seen so far, somewhat run down. Also, I was surprised by the climb to the dome. The stairway and the area up near the dome was filled with graffiti and had lots of trash lying around along with many strange smells.

After the visit to Sacre Coeur I returned to my hotel where I got to try something new. I learned how to use a French laundromat. I didn't really need to do laundry yet, but I decided I may as well since there was a laundry facility just across the street from my hotel. I don't know when it might be that convenient again. While at the laundromat I had a chance to share what I learned about using the machines with a lady from Tennessee. She and her husband where staying in my hotel taking part in a 5 day Paris tour put on by Rick Steves. While waiting for the laundry to finish I had a chance to swap stories with her and her husband about Paris and London (they also stopped in London on there way here). Aparently the was a young couple from Calgary on their tour staying in our hotel, but I never had a chance to meet them.

After the my laundry was done I went off for dinner at a local restaurant. While there I noticed the fellow next me talking English to the waiter so we started talking. It turns out he is from Genoa, Italy. He travels to the US a lot on business, so his english was quite good. That was great because he gave me a bunch of information about travelling in Italy and in Europe.

Travel Tip: If you want to meet people in a place like Paris, just look for others speaking English or carrying a Canadian flag - there are plenty of them around!

In the morning I will be leaving Paris by train. If I can get an overnight train to Madrid I will do that, otherwise I will reserve one for a few days from now and I'll head to the Loire Valley in the mean time. I don't know what kind of internet connection I will find at my next destination, so don't be alarmed if you don't see my web site updated for a few days.

Here's a few pictures from today.

The Wall of Peace.

A Fat Tire Bike and a few Segways.

The Eiffel Tower.

Sacre Coeur.

The main dome.

I went up to that area just below the main dome. If you look hard you will see some people in there.

The Notre Dame cathedral is in about the center of the picture a quarter of the way down from the top.

The Eiffel Tower.

The Eiffel Tower is on the left, the Arc De Triumphe is just to the left of centre and about a third of the way down from the top of the picture, and Le Defense (a new big modern arch on the edges of the city) is on the far right of the picture.