CONTIKI - PARIS
Trip Start
Apr 05, 2009
1
15
48
Trip End
Aug 12, 2009
Paris,
Île-de-France,
France
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Today I was up at 4:30 and we left London at 6:45 and traveled on the bus for two hours to the port to get on the ferry. Our Contiki has 42 people with about 20 of them Aussie. I met over 50% of people on the tour already, primarily the Aussie people. Us Aussies have taken over the back of the bus; the 'cool kids';) The mix is about 50/50 male female I would say. There are people from New Zealand, USA, Australia, Canada, UK and one Singapore. We saw the white cliffs at the port and took the ferry for about 1.5hrs from England to France across the English Channel. Then we drove through France for two hours, before we had a break. The funniest thing happened in the store. The ladies at the checkout had items that would not scan, so they got out binoculars out from under the counter to look across the store to see the prices; how funny! Had a fast food burger that was awesome, the cheese was the best. We then traveled another couple of hours to arrive in Paris. We are staying at a Contiki village in cabins, which aren't bad. Had a taste of snails and French champagne with the group and a couple of welcome drinks, then a communal dinner. We went out on a bus tour around Paris to see the sights. We stopped at the Eiffel Tower and took some pictures. There were people trying to sell little tower key rings everywhere, and they are so pushy. We then hit the bar at the village. €5 for beers, which was stupid. I had a few beers, JD mixers, tequila and ended up drinking sparkling rose bottles at €14 at the end of the night. It was a crazy night and so much fun. We played drinking games including an oldie 'have you ever', just getting to know each other. As the night progressed, another tour joined us and we were dancing and all had a great night. We met a couple of girls from the other tour and Chris and I were hanging out chatting with them until about 4am. It was a long day, but it was an awesome start to the tour and I've had fun from start to finish!
DAY 2 - PARIS
Today we got up around 8:30. I was not feeling the best with a hungover, but I'm sure I'll get used to it:) We got the bus into Paris to explore on foot. First I went to the Lourve, which was amazing. Apparently they only display 5% of their art at any one time and to walk the whole thing is 18km. It was very cool and defiantly worth doing! I saw Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo. A few of us then went to lunch. Cheese baguette and French onion soup(full of cheese and bread). Large lemonade was €6.80, wow. We then went to the cathedral Notre Dame, which was impressive. Then Andrew and I got the metro to Champs Elysees, which is like a big expensive shopping strip. I saw a bracelet at Cartier for €30000! There was also retail shops promoting a few car manufacturers, which was different. It was wet all day, but still great. I also saw a few other things like the Arc De Triomphe and the Petite and Grand Palaces. Touch parking over here is mental. They just drive into the cars in front and behind them to fit in and get out. I've got the funniest picture of a van between two cars:) We then went back for dinner and got €13 bottles of spirits at the local shop, after spending €70 the first night at the super expensive bar. We had dinner then went in to Paris and went up the Eiffel Tower on dusk. It was a 40 minute wait for the elevator, but well worth it. I went to the top and took day and night pictures. Then movies of the tower light show from the second level and the ground. That was awesome! Up the tower was when it felt like I was really in Paris. It sort of sunk in looking over the spectacular lights of Paris! Racha and I had a chocolate crepe, YUM. We then headed back to the village and I had a few quiet drinks before retiring at about 2:30.
DAY 3 - PARIS
It is the morning of day 4. I just sat up from laying in the back seat of the bus:) We are all not feeling the greatest today, but we did have the most amazing night! Yesterday we went to the Chateau Versailles palace. It has 700 or so spectacular rooms and was absolutely massive. The cue was extremely long, so we took shifts. The mirror hall was the main attraction inside with 17 big mirrors along one wall, portrait ceilings and crystal hanging everywhere from the roof. Then we went into the Versailles gardens, which were well worth viewing. From here we went back into Paris. I had the best cheesy bread cheese filled hot dog! Also a very strong alcoholic Grand Mariner and sugar crepe:) We spent ages trying to get to the Catacombs, but were too late to get in. I briefly went to Notre Dame again, saw French accordion and double bass on the street playing French music and went window shopping for a bit. I JUST caught up to the group to head off for our Parisian dinner. The place was very nice, with an accordion player and plenty of red and white wine. The snails and duck were the nicest dishes. It was strange to eat a piece of cheese between dinner and desert. By the time of leaving, most people were well on their way to being a little drunk. We got the bus to a real cabaret show Nouvelle Eve, walking past Moulin Rouge on the way. Here we had French champagne included:) This was by far the best live, anything, I have ever seen and absolutely cannot be missed if you are in Paris! Girls dancing the Can Can, topless, comedy, contemporary, ballroom performances, and more. Scott and Martin were up on stage for a couple of the acts and we were all cheering like crazy. It was so amazing and in the end my hands were sore from the endless clapping. We all then jumped on the 'party bus ride' home, which was insane. The music was loud, everyone was very drunk, up on their feet singing and dancing around the bus. Phil was crowd surfing along, with everyone thrashing back and forward from the movement of the bus, holding on. It was so much fun. We then partied on back at the campsite for a few hours, burning up the dance floor and singing along to Will playing his guitar. We met a heap of people from another Contiki, who will be in the wine region with us. It was a big party night and very crazy. The night was massive! I headed of to bed around 4:30am.
