Paris at last!

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The last city on tour, and the one most people were looking forward to. Thankfully the drive was not that long. Only a couple of hours.

We stopped for lunch in Orleans. We had burgers from Quick (like Maccas). We’ve sure had a lot of burgers while we’ve been away! After lunch we did some grocery shopping and looked around the shops.

The traffic came once we hit the Paris area. We saw 3 accidents in the space of 20 mins. It’s crazy! Actually yesterday in Poitiers we saw a guy parallel park between 2 cars and hit the one behind him. He didn’t even care. Todd and I walked past with our mouths open. It was more than just a scratch!

We finally arrive at our Paris hotel (another Ibis). It’s a HUGE hotel but with even smaller rooms than Poitiers. It’s literally a bed in the middle and half a metre around it. With our suitcases inside and open it’s even smaller. Our room is a mess in minutes. We’ve got clothes everywhere!

Tonight we have our farewell dinner even though the last night together is tomorrow night. Todd and I spot a Laundromat down the road so gather up our dirty clothes and quickly run down to wash clothes. After some time watching others and reading some strange instructions, we finally work out how to use the machines. I leave Todd there and run up to get ready for dinner. By the time I’m ready he returns with the wet clothes and I hang them up all over the room. Our room is even messier with 2 clotheslines running from the tiny closet to the front door via the picture frame.

About 30 people came to the farewell dinner / Montmartre excursion. It was a bit disappointing that more didn’t come but we still had a fantastic time. Probably one of the best nights out.

Before dinner we went to Montmartre and Sacre-Coeur church. Montmartre was beautiful. Cafes on top of a hill with painters painting and selling their work up and down the streets. I wanted to buy some (or just one!) but they were pricey! Besides, how would I carry that home with all the other stuff?  I settled for having my photo taken there. The view from Sacre-Coeur was amazing. People were just sitting on the church steps looking at the Paris view. We could also see the Eiffel Tower in the hazy distance.

With the excursion over, and Truus getting lost to the restaurant, we started our farewell dinner. That night I ate snails, steak, and Baked Alaska. The snails were pretty good. They didn’t look great being green and all but they were fine. I ate all 6 and made a pact with Michael to find frog legs tomorrow. We had musicians play most the night and everyone joined in singing, clapping, and can-can-ing. On the way home people sang Karaoke over the microphone and laughed and chatted loudly.

The young ones (Todd, me, Michael, Luisa) went back to our shoebox rooms and went to sleep while the older ones went to the hotel bar to party on. It’s so funny how the older ones are the party animals on this tour!

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Photos

Montmartre
Beautiful but pricey paintings

Snails galore
Hmm taste like chicken?