To Paris

It was a long day in the bus as we sped through the Swiss and then French countryside. The weather was about 18 or so. The scenery from Lucerne to the French border was nowhere near as spectacular as we had seen as we entered Switzerland. France was nearly all rolling plains, nothing mountainous, just kilometre after kilometre of rolling hills, farms and the occasional castle.

We arrived in Paris late in the afternoon and went straight to our hotel which was about 4 kilometres from the city centre. The hotel looked grand and the room was quite comfortable. But we were given plastic disposable cups to drink from and the very minimum of 'extras', quite disappointing as the tour director told us it would be great. We were in Paris so that really did not matter! After a minimum of time to settle in, we were back on the bus again for a quick look around. The bus dropped us at the Arc de Triomphe. We were given about enough time for a quick explore and to buy ourselves our evening meal!

We walked down the Champs Elysee with eyes bulging. Restaurants and exclusive stores with people bustling back and forth. Restaurants intruded onto the streets (this we later discovered was the restaurants section for smokers). After a 20 minute walk around we decided upon a restaurant and went in and were taken to our table. I had a cool beer (AUD$19+) and we each had a main course. Most of us had Beef Burgundy which, though extremely rich, was melt in your mouth quality! It was a great experience.

We headed back to the bus and then down to the River Seine for a river cruise. There was a bit of a chill in the air.

On the cruise we passed gorgeous buildings:


Notre Dame:


Paris' Statue Of Liberty facing towards the east toward the more famous one:

The Eiffel Tower:


This photo of the Eiffel Tower below was taken later at night just as the lights had come on:

We climbed into our beds after a very long day, but we had more to see and experience tomorrow!

Our hotel breakfast matched the quality of our plastic cups! Most believed the breakfast was disposable too! Back on the bus for a guided bus tour of the city. We passed restaurants where famous writers always ate, Hemingway and others. We saw the spot where Princess Dianna had died, we saw the hotel the ill fated trip left from and we saw many interesting 'areas' of the French capital city.

Our first stop was to climb the Eiffel Tower. Being a bus tour, we had preferential treatment and the group went straight to the near the head of the queue. It is a grand structure and the view from the mid level landing was quite spectacular (see below). Again we were left to our own devices to spend time as we wanted at the Tower. I am not keen on heights so after having a good look around it I decided to get my feet back on the ground. Near one of the Tower's legs was a bicycle which had been parked by its owner and on the bike was a knapsack. Police investigated the bike and quickly confiscated it and carried it right out of the area. You never know what might have been in that knapsack!


Back on the bus again and next stop was Napoleon's Tomb. The French revere Napoleon as one of their greatest ever leaders. His body is 'buried' within 6 coffins! It makes me wonder how a man like Napoleon, who had caused the death of many, many Frenchmen, not to forget the hundreds of thousands of others he killed in cause of trying conquer all of Europe, is revered the way he is. The man was a war monger, yet here in France he is seen as a hero! I guess we have different values. But as I have said before, it seems people all over Europe have been killing each other for over 2000 years now!

Next stop was the Louvre. We were going to have less than two hours to visit a place which should take several days to explore properly. Again there were many famous paintings of Europeans killing each other. However it was interesting to have a guide who pointed out some of the stories which went with the paintings. Remember to click on the photos for a larger view, then click on "Back" to return to this page!

The Mona Lisa:


Venus de Milo:


There was an AUD$500 per couple optional tour that evening (a show similar to the Follies Bergere) which we opted out of and those people were going back to the hotel to prepare for the big night out. Trish and I were left to our own devices so we decided to stay in Paris for a bit more of a look around and we would make our own way back to our hotel later on the Paris Metro. We enjoyed a cool drink at a restaurant as we made our way up to one of Paris' largest department stores (Les Galeries Lafayette) for a look around. As you can see from the photo below, it is an impressive Department Store! On the way we saw The Paris Opera House (see above left).


We travelled back to our hotel on the Paris Underground, (an experience in itself) and spent some time exploring around our hotel. Right next door was a huge water sports centre with some shops. It was here we enjoyed our evening meal.

The next day would bring our tour of Europe to an end. Trish and I would still have a full day in London before boarding the plane to fly home.