Yesterday, Ali had to work on some logistics for the coming stops, so Shafeeq and I decided not to waste the day and headed to Paris from Brussels early in the morning. 

It was our first visit to Paris and we wanted to make the most of it. We reached Paris at about 9:30am and – thanks to Denis O'Dwyer's primer on the city – quickly got familiar with its efficient metro system. 

The first thing we did was to visit Basilique du Sacré-Cœur which lies at the highest point in Paris. It was a great place to start since you can see the whole city from up there and also witness one of its architectural and historical wonders.

Later, we visited the Notre Dame cathedral, The Louvre, Arc d'Triomphe and, of course, the Eiffel Tower. This is where we spent most of our time, but in between, we got to see and photograph numerous other attractions.

I have seen hundreds of photos of Paris, so I tried my best to find other unique angles... 13 gigabytes worth of digital images will keep me busy for a little while, sorting and post processing them! Definitely the largest number of photos I have taken in a single day.

Running around the city for 13 hours straight can be very tiring, especially when carrying heavy photographic gear. But the time we spent in this magical old city was absolutely priceless.

• Some of our Paris pictures can be viewed in the Post-Tour section of the Photo Gallery.

Ammar Hammad