My Life is Not Average

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Day 2 – Paris, France

New Year’s Eve - Monday 31^st December 2012

Today is a free day to explore Paris with its many cultural treats. Check out the Artists’ work along the river, visit the Notre Dame and Musee D’Orsay, or wander down the Champs-Élysées. After dinner we end the day with an optional River Seine cruise or cabaret show.



Well this is certainly a day I will not forget! After getting up early to have breakfast and get the coach into the centre of Paris, we all got dropped off at the Eiffel Tower. Now there were extra optional excursions we could take, and a number of the group had opted for a 3 hour Parisian bike ride. Not me. I don’t really like cycling and as I had 1 day to fit in a lot of Paris, I decided to start with a climb up the Tower de Eiffel. Shows how much I know. I didn’t realise I had to queue. And when I say queue, I mean stand an hour in the cold, drizzly rain waiting patiently while the slow moving snake of people wound its way round each of the four legs of the massive structure. I decided walking up would be quicker than getting the lift. After climbing the stairs to level 1, I was amazed. Finally one of my dreams had come true. I wandered around taking photos and took a deep breath, walking up to Level 2. The further up you went, the better the view became. I forgot the cold and the rain and concentrated on how beautiful Paris looks from up high, even in winter. Sadly I had no time to go right to the top, so with a sigh, I ventured back down again and walked along the river to find somewhere for a rest and for lunch. I found a lovely café, where I got a nice traditional jambon et fromage baguette and a hot chocolat. Well this was a new experience. A cup with melted chocolate in the bottom and a jug of hot milk - how delightful and restorative.



Having been fed and watered, I went back down to the river to join a river cruise. Sadly it did not go to Notre Dame but went the other way down the river which was even better, as I got to see the mini Statue of Liberty. An hour later, I was now an expert on the metro, so made my way to Montmarte, to see Sacre Coeur. Wow. An impressive Cathedral, looking beautiful with its white architecture. Apparently the walls have limestone in so when it rains, it is self cleaning. Again I fought my way through the masses of tourists and proceeded inside to wonder at the awesomeness. No photos allowed so I lit my candle, said a prayer, and wandered out again to the small square that housed cafes and artists. Finding a small outside table I had a café au lait, and sat watching the painters and artists drawing various people sitting for them. After consulting my map for the hundredth time, it was time to leave to make my way to Notre Dame and meet everyone else. Ah there it was. I found this beautiful church more impressive than Sacre Coeur, especially inside with all the gold paintings. Again I lit my candle and walked along the river a short way, talking to a local gentleman. Finally it was time to meet the group for dinner.



Now having met most of them and telling each other how tales of the day, we walked across and down the road to our restaurant. However a few us of got lost and had to go back to the monument to meet Carly and ask her to escort us back again. In the restaurant, the poor people sitting with us upstairs must have been hoping for a quiet meal – they were not going to get it! As I didn’t really know the group that well yet, there were a couple of very noisy boys and girls who I judged too quickly before I got to know them. I will be honest and thought they were not my cup of tea and that the quiet people I was with were far more like it. To tell the truth, the more I got to know everyone, I changed my mind and I fell somewhere in the middle. Don’t judge a book by its cover!



After dinner, the general consensus was to get on the train back to the Champs Elysee. However I had not come to Paris to ride the train all night. Me and two others, Julie and Michelle, decided to walk back along the river to the Louvre and along to the Arc De Triumph. It was probably about 10pm at this point. I thought we would find everyone else when we got there. However the Champs Elysee was quiet. There were a lot of people around, the bars were packed but the little market stalls were all shut and the wander down proved that there was not going to be any atmosphere here at midnight. Halfway down, we decided to divert over to the Eiffel Tower and ended up underneath it. We got there just before eleven, when it sparkled and lit up to mark the hour. Standing in the park, in the cold and the rain, I was getting excited despite being tired and wet. I thought one more hour and the fun begins. I was wrong. There were a few fireworks, but it just sparkled again to mark 12am. Happy New Year then! What a washout. I should have not expected anything really given New Years Eve is always an anti-climax. At 12.05 the three of us went to the train station along with the crowd and were back in the rooms by 1am. Sarah rolled in at 1.30am telling me of her nightmare story of trains closing and French people being awful. Then I was half awake all night waiting for Emma and Elise. Where were they? It got to 5am and I started to get worried. They rolled in with their tale of woe, of having to wait in a hotel for the trains to open, the taxis being too expensive and thinking they might never get back. So much for a great new year! The stories at breakfast were similar. In a way I was sad to miss out on the fun and games but mostly as I need my sleep was glad we left when we did.



Oh well, today is another day. New Years Day and a nice drive down to Switzerland. Hopefully the Parisian experience would not set the precedent for the rest of our trip. It didn’t. It got so much better. And it all started on the coach ride down to Lauterbrunnen!.....

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