After Amiens we headed for Paris. It was already afternoon so we just got on a toll-way. The toll from Amiens to Paris (a bit over an hour driving, if I remember correctly) added up to around 15 euros, but it was indeed a good road. Our atlas had a good map of Paris, so we managed to find the right “porte” (entrance into the city), which took us on a rather narrow road through half the Paris towards our hotel, which occupied the top floors of a building near Place de Republique. (Once you entered through the door you had to immediately go up through a narrow cork-screw staircase, before reaching the receptionist.) The hotel was cheap and clean but likely setting a world record in the “smallest room” category. (As we read in our guidebook, Paris is one of the few large European cities where you can get cheap hotels downtown, precisely because the legal limits on room sizes are very low.)

We went out to Place do Bastille that night, but it was dark, so no pictures.

Next morning we walked to Cité, passing Centre Pompidou, an extremely strange structure, especially in the midst of rather somber Paris. It reminded me a bit of Hundertwasserhaus in Vienna, though I liked the latter more.