Europe Trip - Paris (20-23 Oct)

Tuesday, 20 October 2009

When we arrived in Paris, we had to turn our watches on an hour, and was now back on SA time. After dinner we took a Contiki bus tour of the City of Lights. The photo here was taken at Napoleon's Tomb. There are 10kg gold on the roof...





















Wednesday, 21 October 2009

We overslept!!!!! We forgot to correct our cell phone's clock, so we woke up an hour late.... We missed the group photo, for which we already paid EU11.00, but luckily Sarah bought the photo from us... And, I am very sad to admit, but we also missed Palace Versailles. If I ever go back to Paris, I will definitely go to Versailles.

Instead, we took advantage of a "free" day in rainy Paris, and went to see what the Louvre has to offer. And don't let anyone tell you the Mona Lisa isn't as spectacular as everyone makes it. When you see her, you will understand what all the fuss is about!

And I got to see, touch, smell and lie on the underground pyramids - which I've always wanted to do since I've read Da Vince Code.









Some of the Paris Metro entrances are very beautifully made up. This one has all these silver & coloured decorations. Near the Louvre.











That evening, I fell in love with Orangina!!! A wonderful orange soda drink, but comes nowhere near Fanta, which, by the way, is yellow in Europe, and not orange...






Thursday, 22 October 2009

We got an early start and went to a French Perfume House. Very impressive. Traffic on the way there was just terrible...


























The sun was out today, and we stopped by the Louvre again to take some pics.















After that we went to the Arc de Triomphe, took some photos and a video, which still amazes us. If you see the way the French drive, you understand why every car has a dent or scratch!





























We stopped by the Eiffel Tower, but was a bit too scared to go up, and the line was ridiculously long...
























As this was our last night in Paris, Mark, the tour manager, organized the bus to take us to Montmarte. The Sacre Couer cathedral is there, and a wonderful view of Paris and the Eiffel Tower.

We had some Spaghetti Bolognaisse, just a pity it was in the "wrong" country! :)

Friday, 23 October 2009

Notre Dame. Ahhhh! I can hear the angels singing. And to think we nearly missed this as we thought we won't have time! This is the most amazing building. The architecture, statues, soul & feel to the place, just makes this worth visiting.













































































Scale model of the Cathedral.
















We had lunch on a park bench right next to the Seine river, with a beautiful view of Notre Dame. Just perfect!

















Later we took a shuttle to the train station, and boarded the train for the 15 hour ride to Rome. This was how small the cabin was. Thank goodness I shared with Wer...