Paris

We joined our tour after 2 nights in London. The bus left London and headed off towards Dover t0 take the ferry crossing to Calais and then head on to Paris. We arrived on a Sunday so it was fairly quiet in the city (everything is relative remember!) As with London Zadok and I were amazed at the age and history of the place.

Our Hotel was very, very small, the rooms were miniscule and Zadok barely fitted in the shower, but it was amazingly located right in the midst of everything. This turns out to be the rule for the whole trip, when the hotel had a great location it was a bit squishy or more basic, when we were out of town the hotel as usually a bit nicer*.

On the first night Simone took those who wanted to go on an optional excursion** to THE REAL MOULIN ROUGE!

Unfortunately no photos can be taken inside. This was an amazing experience. We were all crammed in at these tiny tables (they serve you a meal before the show) and we had great seats. The costumes were stunning and the dancing was brilliant. The can-can was a highlight of course but the whole thing left me quite speachless.

The next day we toured around a bit then headed for the Eiffel Tower.

From this point of view the towere is beautiful but didn't look so tall. hen we got under the tower we realised what an amzing piece of arcitecture it really is. The fact that it was built over a hundred years ago is also amazing.

These photos are taken from the second platform looking to the top of the tower, the second looking out towards the spot the photo above was taken (get me?). In the background you can see the only 'other' high rise in Central Paris. Someone obviously knew someone special as there are laws against tall buildings.

We headed back to the hotel for a very quick siesta... Then off to Montmatre, the famous artists village up above Paris.

There was a whole square here with artists doing potraits, charactures and water colours. The view over Paris was beautiful.

As the sun set we cruised along the Seine River, past all the big Parisian land marks.

The Angel Bridge, the towers of the Notre Dame Cathedral and one of it's famous Rose Windows.

That was the day! Back to the hotel for the night, rady to travel throught to Lyon the following day.

*We selected a cost saver tour so the hotels were meant to be basic. It is possible to do a 'First Class' tour where your hotels are nicer and your included meals more varied. Having said that nearly all our hotels were nice and most of the meals were fine.

**When you book a tour your transport (ferries, bus etc.) hotels, breakfast, some dinners (10 for us) and an orientation tour are included. You then choose what you do in the rest of the time. Often there are organised optionals, you pay however much each one costs and go alomg for the ride. We did quite a few, especially in France and Italy because they were so well organised and gauranteed you saw what you wanted to see... some people did them all and some people did none.