Day 9, London, England to Paris, France

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Day 9: Saturday, December 5th, 2009
London, England to Paris, France

We met at the hotel lobby at 6:45am (along with 2 other Contiki groups) to get our bags weighed and hop on board our Contiki Coach. The bags couldn't weigh more than 20 kilos (everyone here knows metric but me) and mine came in at 19- yes! I said goodbye to Kristina since she was on a different tour, and got on board my bus which was the "Contiki European Vista Winter" group.

The coach is really nice. The seats are like airline seats, only comfortable, and there are huge bay windows along the side so you don't miss anything. Lights and a fan overhead if you want them. There is a toilet on board but we're told that it is an emergency only- try to wait for a rest stop or ask them to stop earlier. I guess they have no way of emptying it until Florence and that it doesn't hold in smell very well. So whatever someone does in there, we'll all be smelling it for days.

So everyone piles on board and I end up getting a seat to my little lonesome. Fine by me, I'm sure once I meet up with my next roommate I'll start sitting with her. We first head to Dover, England where we'll take a ferry over to Calais, France. Dave, our tour guide (see, I learned his name already!), told us to pull out our passports for Customs in Dover. He said that there had only been one other time when they had just waved the bus thru so we should all get ready to file out, say "Bonjour" and "Merci" and file back in. Well, he gets to add a second time to that list because they just waved us thru. Then the same for the bus/luggaged inspection, we were waved on thru. He warned us that for those going to London after Amsterdam (tour technically ends in Amsterdam but they are offering rides back to London for those interested) that they will be stopped and inspected then. He said that between the busses being registered in Amsterdam (home of the hash) and the fact that it's a Contiki bus that says "for 18 - 35's", they always get stopped.

So we get in line with all the other busses and cars and only have to wait about 30 minutes before we start driving onto the ferry. While we drive down the pier to get on the ferry, Dave starts playing "I'm On a Boat". Once on the ferry, everyone else heads inside and I go scouting for the perfect shooting location. I find a pretty good spot on the starboard side (I'm nautical!!) and get some shots of the White Cliffs of Dover as well as the castle that's above them. I then head inside and take some quick shots of the ferry that has it all: duty free shopping, arcade, restaurant, different food kiosks, currency exchange, etc. Honestly, the topper to me was the lilac scented soap in the bathrooms, but I'm easily pleased. There are LCD's everywhere and the one I settled by was showing Tom & Jerry. I didn't stay awake long enough to tell you which episode- but I think it was the one where Tom was trying to catch Jerry but Jerry kept tricking/escaping him.

We get off the ferry at Callais, France and Dave points out some old bunkers that were there. He's very good about telling us the history of whatever area we are going thru or that we will be going thru. Unfortunately, my brain is not good about retaining history so I'll remember the info for about 5 minutes then start thinking about how much I like string. He'll also give us heads up for destinations down the road like this interesting tidbit about Prague: There is a public bathroom in Prague that weighs you when you first walk in, then you do your business, and they weigh you when you are ready to leave. The cost for using the bathroom depends on how much weight you lost.. He swears he's not joking, that he used it once but hasn't been able to find it again (he's planning on sneaking in bags of water that he'll then dump down the toilet so that when they do the "after" weight he will have lost many pounds.) Disgusting story, but one that makes me laugh and I too hope to find this ridiculous bathroom. Anyone read the Harry Potter books where Dumbledore confesses to finding the Room of Requirement once when he really needed a bathroom? I'm picturing a place like that 😊 (Sorry movie HP fans, you shoulda read the books!)

The drive to Paris is uneventful. There is a LOT of fog so for the most part we can't see much. When we are able to see, I can describe it as looking very much like Western NY. However, then we get into the rolling mountains and vineyards on both sides of the road (and the fog has prevented me from taking any shots of this.) It seems whenever I get on a bus or ferry, my brain gets bored and goes "sleep now". Well, it either does that or freaks out and reminds me that I'm trapped. So I'll take the "sleep now" command.

We arrive in Paris and go straight to the hotel (Holiday Inn Garden Court) to drop off our bags. And, for those of us traveling alone, to find out who are roommates are. I get into the hotel ahead of most and grab my room key and see that the name "Natasha" is listed under that room as well. I head on up and toss my backpack on the bed and I'm in the process of looking for an outlet for my laptop when all the lights go out. I hear exclamations in the hallway so I know it's not just my room (and it's not my fault- I hadn't even plugged in my converter yet.) As I dig at the bottom of my backpack for my flashlight, there is a knock on the door and it is my new roomie- Natasha! Gorgeous girl from South Africa, and we instantly start chattering away.

The lights were only out for about 10 minutes so we have some time to unpack before we head down to dinner. We sit at a table with some folks who we end up becoming a group with: Luna (Toronto, Canada), Mana (Japan), Kent (South Africa), Ashton (South Africa) and then later on, two sisters from South Africa: Lauren & Taryn. It ends up being a perfect pairing because (as I write this log many days later), we are all laughing our asses off.

After dinner, we hop back on the bus and have a nighttime tour of Paris. It's raining, but not heavily so we're still able to see the views. The traffic, however, was insane. At the Arc de Triomphe roundabout, Dave started playing "William Tell Overture" over the bus speakers. Very fitting. After driving for about an hour, the bus stops at the Eiffel Tower and we have the option of getting out and exploring it at night or staying on the bus and going back to the hotel. Our group decides to explore so we hop off.

We instantly run into a line and we stand in it for about 10 minutes chattering away. Luckily, a couple from the group looked around and pointed out that the line we were in had a picture of stairs next to it. We all turned to Luna, the only one of our group that speaks French, and asked her what that was about. "Oh, we're in the line to walk up the Tower." Hell to the no. We all go over to the other line where you can take an elevator up. Luna has been in Paris before and done the Eiffel Tower thing so she stays on the ground and scopes out the crepe situation for us as the rest of us head on up. The view up there was amazing and very pretty. I took some video so hopefully that'll do it justice because I don't think my pictures did. I was standing with Kent and noticed a couple try to take their own picture. I offered to take a picture for them and they returned the favor by asking if Kent and I wanted our picture together. I said "of course we do, we're on our honeymoon!" This probably would have been funnier if I had given Kent a few more days to get use to my humor instead of just a 2 hour warning. The guy who took the picture probably thought we were the most awkward honeymooners ever.

The wind is pretty wicked up there and mixing with the night cold, we decide to head down. This, however, takes forever. It was faster to get up that friggin thing than to get down it. We were all packed in like cattle and the elevator door would open and people would surge inside and pack in even more. It reminded me of a Black Friday 5am sale (which is not a good thing). We finally make it down and find Luna who gives us the 411 on the crepe stands "This stand offers this but charges this; this stand makes the same thing for less but it doesn't look as good; this one offers..." She's great. Very organized and a good leader so I was thrilled to have someone else take the reins for once. This next part will hurt me to write 'cause she'll read it someday, she's also funny. I got a little bit of indigestion confessing that, I hope she appreciates it. We head off to the best stand and it was awesome. We have someone snap a picture of us eating crepes under the Eiffel Tower. Oo la la!! That was also my first introduction to Nutella. Oh. My. God. Love it!

So, since we ditched the bus, we have to take the metro back to the hotel. We all look to Luna the French Speaking Leader and follow her to the closest metro. Unfortunately, it's closed. So she asks someone where the next closest one is and we head out that way. The metro station is typical, the smell of urine greets you wherever you go and graffiti is never legible in any language. We hop on the train and get back to the hotel without any dramatics, just a lot of laughing. Then sleep, sweet sweet sleep. Unfortunately, I did do a bit of sleep walking/talking and woke myself up staring at Natasha's watch that she had on the nightstand between our beds. My "sleep" brain couldn't figure out if it was friend or foe. My "awake" brain called my "asleep" brain a dumbass and told it to go back to sleep and luckily it (I) did.

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Photos

White Cliffs of Dover
We took a ferry from England to France.

Eiffel Tower
Yup, did go up. Pretty.

Now referred to as "The Gang" eating crepes under Eiffel Tower.
L - R: Me, Luna (Toronto Canada), Ashton(South Africa), Mana (Japan), Kent (South Africa), and my roommate Natasha (South Africa.

View from our room. Lovely, no?
Downside to Contiki Tours being affordable, your hotels tend to be in the middle of nowhere and you get to use metro and buses.

Our bathroom
Cause I know you wanted to know.

Comments

[Chris]

You joined a Parisian gang?
You;re supposed to put the crepes on ON the tower. It's tradition.