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21st August 2011
Sunday
Early morning this morning!! We had to be downstairs at 6am to have our bags weighed and to checkout of the tour. This was the start of our CONTIKI trip to see ten countries in 25 days.
We jumped on board the bus and we were France bound, we travelled over the channel by Ferry to find ourselves in a lovely warm France!! Bonjour!!!
... Cont... 22nd August 2011
So we got to Paris and we settled into our hotel which was located in the ghetto of Paris. There were flea markets down the street and I thought I was going to be shot getting money out of the ATM. We had a dinner at the hotel followed by a bus tour around Paris at sunset. We were given a surprise by our tour manager and were give some french champagne and escargot (snails). I had had a few drinks so just ate it but didnt appreciate it, so from this experience all i can tell you is they are drowned in garlic. We then tried French cheese - it was SOOOOOOOOOO good. Then it was on with the tour, we jumped off the bus at the Eiffel Tower. The sun had just gone down and the tower was lit up. It was amazing! And Dean - wish you had of been here ='[
After a few icon shots of the Effiel Tower a few of us decided to climb it, we chose the stairs and went to the 2nd level. The line for the lift was huge so we had a few photos and descended back down. The view was beautiful!!
After getting down from the tower we regrouped with a few other people and found a quiet place for a drink and a banana split... Best... Banana... Split.... EVER!!
The following day we had to ourselves to explore Paris. Little Spoon, Big Spoon, Jackie and myself. Our first stop was the Louvre. We had photos with the Pyramid thingy out the front and then the search was on for the Mona Lisa. The paintings in there are amazing. We found the Mona Lisa but didn't think to move around the room to check that she was watching us the whole time. After paying her a visit we went to the Egyptian exhibit and found a gross as Mummy. It was laying down and I was half expecting it to sit up like in a horror movie.
We walked down the River to the Notre Dame and stopped off for some lunch. cheese and wine - not the best idea for lunch but it was so yummy, the blue cheese was out of this world!!
We went in the Notre Dame, so pretty!! So many stain glass windows. These churches and cathedrals are sooooo big! It amazes me that cranes weren't around back in the day.
Following this we hired bikes and rode back up the river in search of the Arc De Triomp (or however you spell it). Along the river was cobble brick paths, it was a bumpy trip but there was no chance we were joining the French on the road. My drink bottle bounced out just after we went through a tunnel full of homeless people sleeping. I made a sqwark/scream and jumped off the bike to pick it up, scared for my life the homeless were going to run up and mug me because I had woken them up. We rode up past the Eiffel Tower then along the roads (yes we braved the roads eventually) and we rode up to the Arc took a few photos and headed down the street on our bikes dodging heaps of people because I'm pretty sure we were meant to be on the road. This particular street is only meant to walked down one way, not sure why but we made sure we went the right way. We then stopped for a drink and returned the bikes and met the rest of the group to head back to the hotel to get ready for our night out.
We headed out for dinner in the red light district of France, yes that's right near the Moulin Rogue (I will have to rely on other peoples photos for this as I have none and I'll explain why shortly). For dinner we were treated to a Rose (wine) which was amazingly delicious, then ample red wine. For dinner I had escargot for entree, duck for main, some cheese then this amazing chocolate cake. Now I can tell you what the snails were like, yes, again they were very garlicy but they had a leathery texture, and that's when it actually hit me that I was eating a snail.... It wasnt a nice texture but I ate all 6 of my snails.... When in Rome... Or France in this case..
Following this the group went to an additional tour option of a cabaret but I wasn't keen on spending 75 Euro on that. So a couple of us went in the bar beside the Moulin Rogue for some drinks until the cabaret finished where most people from the group came. Let me tell you PICKPOCKETERS PARADISE!! People on our tour were catching people opening other people's bags. I unfortunately when helping a girl who vomited on me get to the bus (gross as!!) had my party camera stolen ( thank goodness it was the camera I had brought with me to trash on our nights out but will hit up travel insurance for it and this is also the reason why I had no pictures of me at the Moulin Rogue and why I will have to rely on the photos others took.
So it was a rather early night for me 1.30 I think I was in bed.
As I type this we are on our way out of Paris and off to another part of France, the bus will be very quiet this afternoon, it's a long day of traveling almost 8 hours on a bus!!
Bye for now!!
Jo xo
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