Contiki Day 3 - Paris

Still catching up on all the days we've been out ... currently in Nice and its a gorgeous day. Anyway talking about Paris.

Today we have a free day in Paris. We also had to try out public transport as our bus driver was given the day off. Contiki gave us train tickets into Paris and back out again so this was all good.

We jumped on the bus at about 8am in the morning bound for Paris, the bus ride was short and soon enough we were at the train station trying to figure out which train to take. Luckily there were only two ways to go, either away from Paris or towards Paris so it wasn't that hard to pick the right train.

Once in Paris we headed for Notre Dame. It had taken about an hour to get into town and then about 3/4 hr to walk to Notre Dame, so by now it was 9.30. We walked into Notre Dame as it was free to look around. It was amazing to look around and view inside a famous building. It was truely amazing... I know I'm saying that alot, but things truely are.

We spent around about 3/4 hr looking around the cathedral, then the decided to go up to the top. This cost us about 14 Euro. But the views of the city were great. Row remembers that there were about 422 stairs or around about that. They were very small and wound around a column, it was also raining and the stairs were made of stone so they were slippery.

After taking lots of photos, we climbed down and got lunch. Instead of taking public transport we decided to walk to where Napolean is buried. This took a bit of navigation, which I had worked out. Except after walking part of the way there, Row told me that the place I was going to was not where Napolean was buried, so then I got us very lost and a lovely French couple who spoke english stopped and helped us. So finally on our way in the right direction, then it absolutely poured with rain. Now I mean bucketed down, we got drenched. But we decided we could either stop and wait for it to stop, or continue as we were already wet. So we did just that.

Finally we got there, and luckily were wearing clothes that dried out pretty quickly, well except my shoes, Row was wearing jandels so he was alright. The good thing about the weather was that there were no queues. Went and had a look at the tomb. Aparently Napolean II was very full of himself and to look at his tomb you either look down from the second storey or look up from the ground floor.

Rowan wanted to go and have a look in the Museum for world war I and II. I didn't really care much for this part, so i watched a few videos and had a look around. Row says it wasn't worth going in. The NZ ones are far better (Waiuru).

By this time we had dried out, which was good except that it had started raining again. We brought an umbrella, which was a blessing. We wondered down the Champs-Elysees, which is the place to shop. We stopped in at a supermarket and got some food for lunch the next day. We also got a bottle of gin and wine.

We were then going to walk back to the Place de la Concorde to take photos, but it was too wet. So we decided to find the nearest train station and train back to the camp site. By now it was 5.30pm. We were going to go to the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa, but decided that when we come back, we'll spend a day wondering around, and give it the time it deserves.

The closest train station was next to the Arc de Triomphe so we took some photos and then jumped on the next train. It was easy to find our way back, except our tickets didn't work on the bus, so we ignored the fact (as they were suppose to work) and got on the bus.

Back at camp it was still raining... but we did get back in time for dinner which was good. After dinner it was down to the bar (taking our own drinks) for a brew and then back to the tent to pack our packs and get ready for the drive tomorrow.

It was definitely fun walking around Paris, finding our own way around, but the night tour the other day definitely gave us a good idea of where things were and made it easier.

All in all, we could definitely have spent a week here in Paris.

Hope everyone is doing well, and working hard. We're both thinking of you. Lots of love
R&M