Under the English Channel - Bonjour Paris!

Day 21- We said goodbye to London and bonjour to Paris! We caught the 8:30 am Eurostar train out of London for Paris. The train is only 2 hours, but we also lose an hour in the process. Boarding the train in London was pretty crazy. There are several checkpoints you have to go through and it took us about an hour to make it through. I know there were some people for our train that did not make it. If you are taking the train, be sure to be there early. Arriving in Paris was a different kind of crazy. You can just get off the train and walk out of the station without any passport check. However, the train station is full of people running scams and very few people there to give information. The safest bet on leaving the station is to stand in the very long line of official licenses taxis. The rate ended up being less than an Uber and we knew we were safe. We stayed on Rue Cler near the Eiffel Tower at Grand Hotel Leveque. When planning where to stay, I had a difficult time finding an affordable place in a good location with air conditioning. This hotel met those needs. I had heard that Paris can get hot in the summer and air conditioning is a luxury, but one that could make it much more bearable. Rue Cler is a wonderful street that is pedestrian only. It is lined with shops and cafes and it feels very French. Our hotel door was between a cafe and a wine shop - too perfect. We set out to walk to the Eiffel Tower while we waited for our room to be ready. It was on this walk that we realized it was much hotter here than any place else on our trip. We took a quick peek at the Eiffel Tower and then back to a cafe for some lunch. Once our room was ready, we decided to enjoy the air conditioning and catch a nap. Around 7pm, we woke up to get a little sight seeing in. We started with a delicious ice cream on Rue Cler, then a walk to see the Eiffel Tower at night, and finally to the Champs Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe. While we didn't see as much today, it was pretty exhausting.