Paris, France

My new favorite place on earth is Paris. I never really beleived anyone before about how romantic and beautiful Paris is. But when I saw it for the first time it took my breath away, I suddenly knew what all the hype was about and it was true.

DAY 3 - LONDON TO PARIS

After a late night in London, I find myself very comfortably asleep in the Contiki coach. Since everyone else is asleep too, nothing disturbs me. We arrive at the White Cliffs of Dover to take a ferry over to France. The cliffs are amazing, like nothing I’ve ever seen before. After a few laughs at some English families on the ferry and some food, we’re back on the coach to Paris.
Our hotel Ibis was right near the centre of Paris. It was enormus like a maze, however the hotel room I shared with Briteny was barely large enough to get our suitcases through the door. We ate dinner at the hotel, and then got on the coach again for the Paris Illuminations tour.
As we drove around Paris, the sun was setting. All of the main highlights were pointed out so that we could go back and explore the next day by ourselves. Our tour manager, Pete, told us that there was 50 Euro under our seats for each of us. None of us believed him, but he was so convincing that eventually everyon looked. As we all looked up from under our seats, upset after not finding the money, we all realized we had just missed our first glimpse of the Eiffel tour. Pete apologized for tricking us, and then said that he had something better – we were all going up the Eiffel Tower now!
I had never been more shocked in my life. As we all piled out of the coach onto one of the most busiest roads right next to the tower, we all stood in amazement. I was speechless and my breath was taken away. I had never seen anything so ginormus and beautiful. I had tears in my eyes, and I found out later some other girls did too.We bipassed the line-up, and I’m sure many of the tourists who were waiting in the huge line-up were furious with us. As we got on to the lift, the whole gang of us were ecstatic. It was defiantely a bonding moment, as most of us were experiencing this for the first time.At the top, I had never seen a city so beautiful. The rivers, the parks, the roads, and especially the sunset just made the moment so romantic and so unreal.Britney, Justin, and Kevin (from California) were so blown away that we decided that we had to get up early before our group and explore the city. While everyone went to drink in the lobby bar, we went to bed and planned to get up at 5am.

DAY 4 - PARIS

Waking up at 5am is not fun, even in Paris. Justin, Brit, Kevin and I piled into a taxi and head straight to the Eiffel Tower, it cost 15 euro. It was so bizarre to see such a famous and busy city so calm and empty. I don’t know why I had never thought of doing this before. The sun was rising over Paris, and I don’t think there are many more things more beautiful than this. I strongly recommend truly making your Contiki personalized by venturing outside the tour itenerary. As we all snapped away with our cameras and Kevin and I wandered towards the water. The two of us just plonked down on the water’s edge and watched the sur rise and the beautiful glow it was giving the Eiffel Tower. I turned on my Ipod and we listed to some French music, the moment was perfect. We ended up loosing Justin and Britney, they never came to join us. Eventually we had to tear ourselves away from the beautiful Parisian scenery, jump in a taxi back to the hotel to have breakfast and meet up with the Contiki crew.
Our coach drove us straight into the centre of Paris and dropped us off at the Louvre. Our tour guide Pete showed us where to sneak in the side entrace to avoide the lines. The trick was we had go a few at a time and not seem like part of group. My sightseeing included some of the most celebrated icons of Europe. We took the opportunity to visit the Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysées and Napoleon’s Tomb.
That night, we completed our Parisian experience with a French meal.I can definately say had the best night of my life here, which included a dinner in Montmarte and the Moulin Rouge, "1000 costumes of feathers, rhinestones and sequins, made in the most famous parisian workshops, sumptuous settings with shining colours" .