Advertisement
It was an early morning for us (wake up call at 4:45), but the day proved to be well worth the ungodly start. We boarded the coach and drove to Dover. On the way we got to see some old castles as well as the observatory where Greenwich Mean Time is kept and the time zones were first calculated. The white chalk cliffs of Dover were beautiful and stretched for many miles. Once in France we had a really good drive through the French countryside. Our tour guide was excellent, and we had a very fitting, though somber, tour for Canada Day through Vimy. We saw many military cemeteries along the road as well as a highlight of every Canadian history course- Vimy Ridge. Much was said on the tour of the Canadian contribution in the war, and we Canadians on the bus I think felt very proud.
We arrived in Paris mid-afternoon and were dropped at our hotel, in La Defense- just outside of downtown Paris. I think we have all been overwhelmed by Paris. It is immense and absolutely filled with things to do and see. As we only had one full day there, we thought it
best to get started. We had a good dinner together with the rest of the tour at a French brasserie downtown. From there we departed on an evening tour, beginning with a river cruise of the Seine. This was incredible. Julia literally couldn’t take pictures fast enough. If she was shooting something on the port side, she was inevitably missing something on the starboard side. The weather was beautiful (a very welcomed change from a soggy, cold week in London) and the sun was just beginning to go down as we disembarked. Then we got back on the bus with our special French our guide for an evening drive around the city. The highlight was seeing the Eiffel Tower at 10:00pm when it lights up with white flashing lights for 10 minutes, making it look like a giant sparkler. Then it was back to bed on possibly the most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept on. We’re staying at Sofitel, and apparently they are famous in France for their beds. There is even a catalogue in the hotel room where you can order the mattresses from- they are that good.
-Erica
Advertisement
Tot: 0.278s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 8; qc: 56; dbt: 0.044s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
leslie ann
non-member comment
Canada Day
Wow.... what an awesme way to spend Canada Day....the white cliffs of Dover and Vimy Ridge!