Sun Apr 21 - Paris Our transfer bus delivered us to the Novotel Tour Eiffel Hotel, in the final stages, through a warren of dark passageways, strewn here and there with the trash, odors and wikiups of the homeless. Not an auspicious introduction. In the early evening we assembled with the rest of our Traflagar tour group for an introductory dinner at the “Chez Clement” restaurant on the Champs Elysees, just half a block down from the Arc de Triomph. Our companions were an eclectic bunch. Five were Canadians including us and a delightful threesome from Saskatchewan.There were twenty-six or so Australians, a couple folks from New Zealand, eleven Chinese and six Americans. Our “tour director” was a young French woman named Cindy Cartier. She was to demonstrate extraordinary levels of energy, organizational skill, leadership ability ... read more