With the help of our sat. nav., we navigated our way through Paris to the campsite we are staying at successfully. Marg still found the experience stressful – if not quite to the same levels as when travelling through Prague without the sat. nav.
Our cabin at the campsite is a bit of a comedown after our luxury hotel experience in Dole – it is much smaller than what was depicted on the internet, however, it is comfortable and we are enjoying being able to cook our own meals again. The campsite is in the historic area of Maisons-Laffitte on the banks of the river Seine.
The weather is quite hot now (low 30’s) and we are finding the heat energy sapping (ironic – Aussies complaining about the heat!). The long days (it’s not going dark until after 10.30pm) mean we aren’t getting to bed until after mid-night. So we have decided to take it a bit easier for our 5 days in Paris, - start our days later and not try to do too much. Paris is also, even more so than London, so busy and full of tourists – we are finding it a bit overwhelming.
Our first day out was to the Arc de Triumph and then a walk down the Champs Elysee to the Louvre, where we spent the afternoon. Our second day we visited Notre-Dame and took a boat ride down the Seine. Sunday, we decided to do Paris by night to try and avoid walking around in the heat of the day and it also worked in well with watching the England vs Germany game (sad outcome!). Went up the Eiffel Tower (the girls wanted to walk, but you could only go to the very top by elevator) and walked back down from the second level. Wonderful views across the massive expanse of Paris. Got back down just after 10pm and went and had snails, salad and pizza. Ray (accidentally) did a re-enactment of a scene from “Pretty Woman” and managed to flip his snail, firstly onto the floor and then into his beer! Those snails surely are slippery suckers.
Monday we had another lazy start to the day and then caught the train into Montmatre where we visited the church of Sacre Coeur, the markets in Montmatre and then walked through the Kings Cross of Paris –Moulin Rouge. We all felt Montmatre had the feel, look and essence of the Paris we had been anticipating.
Tuesday – our last day in Paris, we caught the train to Versaille to visit the Palace only to find the queue of ticket holders waiting to go in was about 1km long (no joking). This is before you stood in the queue to purchase tickets. We decided we would have a walk around Versaille instead and then caught the train back to Maisons Laffitte, enjoy a drink at a sidewalk café and then relax back at the cabin before going out to dinner for our last night.
Tomorrow, heading back to England via the ferry at Calais to spend a final week with Ray’s family before heading home.