A wonderful trip to Paris

Paris was wonderful. We arrived on Monday late in the evening after a good flight from Doha although the descent into CDG airport was very long and gave me considerable pain in my ears.We took the Air France bus from CDG straight to the Arc de Triomphe and from there it was a 5 minute walk to our hotel.
Our hotel was 2 minutes from the Champs de Elysses and we were soon walking down that beautiful avenue.We bought bus tickets for the hop on/hop off tour bus service and really made good use of them for the first 2 days there.We were hoping to escape from the heat of Doha but the temperature was above 30C for the first 2 days although it did cool off on the 3rd day.That morning we were woken at 4am by a severe thunderstorm but it soon cleared and we decided to go to the Louvre.
Later that afternoon we made our way to the Arc de Triomphe to go to the top and take some photos.On the way up it started to rain, by the time we had climbed the 285 steps to the top the rain had got heavier.We were only at the top of the building for 2 minutes when there was an enormous flash and bang-it had been hit by lightning! The sirens went off and the security personnel evacuated everyone from the top of the Arc.
On the last evening we sat near the Arc de Triomphe and watched the light and laser show coming from the Eiffel Tower.

Progress as of Aug 1st

I thought I would be well on the way to finishing this third page but I hardly seem to have been home the past 2 or 3 weeks. I decided to take a trip to Paris and the UK and I have been running around sorting out passports,visas and travel arrangements.Getting the Schengen visas was frustrating-everytime I went to the French Embassy there was some problem,either the visa allocation numbers were finished for that day, or I didn't have enough photocopies of my trip details and then to be told that Hussain's passport had to be renewed because it only had 3 months validity. Just physically getting into the embassy was arduous,you have to park your car on some rough ground and walk across and through piles of rubble and dust in 40+ C heat, dodging construction workers flaking out on the lawn in front of the building or taking shade under the trees.
I am so looking forward to seeing Paris in summertime,I just hope it won't be too warm. The last time I went to Paris was in 1983 and it was wintertime and bitterly cold. I am also looking forward to going on Eurostar from Paris to London- I wrote my college dissertation on the Channel Tunnel and the effects on the economy of Kent way back when the tunnel was in the planning stages!
I will be leaving for Paris on Monday 4th August,then to London by Eurostar on Friday 8th August for a few days up north to see my family before flying back to Doha on August 14th.