Paris 10 July

Our flight departed at 1:30am headed for Paris. It was a long haul and we arrived in Paris at 8:20am local time. Some of the group met up with the tour leader and we headed out to the coach for the trip to the Crowne Plaza Hotel. The traffic was unbelievable but we were told this was normal. On the trip we were passed by 5 Gendarmes vans, about a dozen Police bikes & an Ambulance all under sirens. Very interesting watching them try to make their way through the full lanes of vehicles. There seems to be a rule of anything goes on the roads. Many of the old buildings we passed were rather dirty, old stone churches were locked up & squats could be seen under the bridges where the immigrants congregate.

Traffic at 10:00 am

We finally made it to the Hotel at 11:00am and were able to get into our rooms straight away. We had a shower & a bit of a rest up before heading out to see a few of the sights. We headed out to see the Notre Dame Cathedral.

Cathedral of Notre-Dame

 

The queues were so long we didn’t bother going inside. I think we would have been there until next week. So we continued wandering around the streets before returning to the hotel to get ready to meet the rest of the group. There are 19 in all on the tour with one couple leaving us in Venice to go on a Mediterranean Cruise.

We congregated in the lounge downstairs for a meet & greet followed by a drink. We then headed off for dinner separately. We went to a little place called Au Royal Couscous for an enjoyable meal of sirloin steak & chips followed by a traditional Crème Caramel. We were amazed to find it was still light at 9:00pm as we headed back to our hotel for a much needed sleep.