C'est si Bon!

So a bit has happened since our last post of the Trafalgar Reception Centre in London. We drove a couple of hours south to the ferry at Dover to cross to Calais. Here's a  quick pic of the famous white cliffs:

Once we crossed over we drove from the port at Calais, passing many refugees trying to make their way into the UK. It was a sad and confronting moment.

After about 2 hours we exited the highway for a comfort stop in a place we never bothered to find out the name of, but it was essentially just a roadhouse with a few different food options for trucks and tourist coaches.

Nicky and I didn't waste any time and I took great delight in ordering us a couple of baguettes and bottles of water from Pommes De Pain in French. It was a nice introduction to France that within minutes of our feet hitting French soil, we were eating a baguette.

After another couple of hours and crawling our way through some apparently typical Parisian traffic, we had our first glimpse of Paris' beautiful Champs Ellysee:

We had a cruise on one of the Bauton Mouches ferries and saw some of the beautiful sights of Paris from the river Seine that evening, most of those photos are on Nicky's camera but I'll put a couple of photos up on here when I have an opportunity to transfer them.

Today was an absolute whirlwind, we had a local tour guide bombard us with information on many attractions in Paris, saw the Notre Dame Cathedral (Not amazing photo below, most are on the other camera):

We also went up the Eiffel Tower, though only to the 2nd level. We took some cool photos of the Tower from the Seine and also on the previous night:

While some of the group opted to see the Louvre in the space of 1.5 hours, we went to find a cafe to have some relaxation, knowing that we were coming back to Paris and would likely want to spend a full day in the Louvre.

This little place just off the Rue De Rivoli was really cool and I got to practise more french ordering for the 2 of us. It was a load of fun and we actually got what we ordered!

Apparently everyone had a crap experience trying to see the Louvre because it took them an hour to get inside so they ended up having about 15 minutes in there....not for us.

And tonight we saw the amazing Caberet at Moulin Rouge!

All in all we're having a great time. If I can say one thing about Paris it's this; the Trafalgar tour is really only an orientation of the city, if your dream is to see Paris, I think you would be sorely disappointed if the Trafalgar tour was your only experience.

Thank god we're returning for another 5 nights to this place where we can spend some time to soak in the city, really spend time at some of the key monuments, and sit in some cafés and interact with the locals.

That's really what it's all about, the photos should commemorate your experiences, not be the totality of your experience.

On that note, it's bed time. Off to Bordeaux tomorrow!

Cheers,

Brandon.