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Published: March 19th 2011
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Hello all
Your intrepid travellers are on the march again!
The bargain basement trip from Qatar Airways - so far - so good. Flight was good - checkin a breeze, planes excellent, the changeover at Dohar too easy and landed ahead of schedule. The good is the comfort and layout of the planes. The bad - food. Ordinary, and each dish was tepid at best. But as I have often said, the definition of a GOOD flight is one that takes off and lands sucessfully. Everthing else is a nice-to-have.
My high risk strtegy of taking a D and F seats for the long haul worked well as the E remained empty and Chris and I had 3 for 2 seats. Great for stretching out.
We arrived in our hotel after 36 hours of travel (including wait time) and all considered, in fairly good nick. A shower and out for dinns (or should that have been breakfast???). It was raining in Paris for our arrival and out and back for dinner - but we can cope!!!
Novotel is OK - but not up to scratch with others we have stayed in.
Back and other ailments
survived the flight pleasingly ........ because Chris cant deal with the whingeing!
So to today. First day of tourism. We head off after a hearty breakky of weet bix - (brought over thanks to Phil who advised accordingly). We had no difficulty finding milk b4 dinns last night.
So early start. Chris had a swim while I slept in. Works for both of us. Then we hit the road running - well walking actually. After a navigational dispute (Chris had a surprising victory in the rain last night while we were walking round in circles in the rain looking for our hotel - Im never good with a wet bum!), it went to her head today. We were headed to the Bastille, and the normal order of things had been restored as she insisted on trying to follow the signs (normally a cunning move) whereas I was happy to follow my judjement ) particularly when I am looking at the monument - albeit 700 meters away - unfortunately 180 degrees apart. At last I could again gloat.
Anyhow, we set off on what turned out to be 19 kms - taking in the Bastille, the Place de
Replublique, Sacre Cur, MontMarte markets, the Opera (house - we didnt go inside), Galaries Lafayette (a shopping centre which we DID go inside), and the Champs Elysee and the Arc de Triomphe). We then again sucessfully mastered the underground to avoid the long trek home.
So the happy hour, this missive and a kip - then dinns.
Tomorrow, less walking.
BTW, did I mention that it is freezing here. I ventured today without beanie and gloves. Chris sensibly had both and wasnt prepared to part with either. Tomorrow will be different.
In all, a great day so far - notwithstanding that the sky is grey. The sun tried to poke thru at one stage but was unsucessful. Tomorrow who knows - but no rain is forecast for the balance of our visit.
Some pics of this delightful city. The architecture is fantastic and the history is thrown at you at every turn.
A great time so far.
Enjoy - and send some comments no matter how critical. Make the effort worthwhile.
All the best
Chris (asleep as we speak) and Ian
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Amanda
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Photos
Hi ma and da... The photos look great and you are having a good time. My only concern is that you have done so many things in one day (it seems) that you wont have anything to do for the remaining week and a bit. Joke!! Good to see you are making the most of it... All good here. Mandy.