On my European Discovery Contiki tour we had a 2 night stop in Paris - 1 evening where we did a city tour and then a full day in the city leaving the following morning. On our night in Paris we did a city tour and stopped to go up the Eiffel Tower. The following day I had to do everything else the city had to offer. So what can one get done in the city of Lights in 1 day?
Our bus departed at 8:45 and took a little tour by the Arc de Triumph, down the Champs Elysee and were dropped off near the Opera House. I skipped the option of visiting a perfumery and instead headed to the Louvre. On this stop we planned to see the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo. We tried to get a map of the Louvre, but they didn't have any English ones which made it a bit difficult, but we found both. Neither was quite as impressive as I had hoped, but both were worth the visit. The Louvre was also worth the visit, I think the landings for the stairs were bigger then my apartment.
Next we were off to Notre Dame by foot where I lit a candle for my sisters baby. We had been doing the same route as some other people on tour so we naturally met up by Notre Dame and all had lunch at a little cafe nearby. It was probably a crappy restaurant by French standards, but we all enjoyed it.
After lunch Nicola (my room mate) wanted to go to the Musse Rodan to see The Thinker. I would have preferred the Musse D'orssay which we passed on the way to the Rodan, but as I'm not much into art I opted to go with Nicola and her preference. We had tried to use the metro, but apparently ended up in the wrong station, we think, and walked this distance. It was a fun exploration but a long walk. The Musse Rodan was really nice though, the gardens were gorgeous and The Thinker impressive. After this we figured out the metro and shot over to the Ard de Triumph. We had a bit of trouble finding the walkway, but did and then almost died trying to climb the stairs. The view of the city was great and totally worth it. You get a different perspective of the traffic coming and going in the traffic circle from up above. Just to prove how small a big city like this can be when you're on a tour, we ran into a bunch of people from tour here. After that we had to walk the Champs Elysee and get some sorbet with some of the other members of our tour that we ran into.
It was now time to return to the hotel as most people on my tour were going to Moulin Rouge that night. I was also going, but I was going to a later show so when we returned I had some free time which I should have used to nap but instead found an internet cafe and called home. Then it was off to see Moulin Rouge and meet up with my tour mates at a bar nearby for out last night of the tour. It was a full day, but we did get to see a lot of what the city has to offer. We even got accosted by rude french men!
