Paris – France (26 August – 2 September 2009)
We arrived in Paris at about 5pm and settled into our campground, definitely not as nice as Switzerland but very close to the centre of Paris, about 4.5km.
Day 1 (Thursday 27th August): We decided to walk into the centre, this took about 1hr and had some interesting scenery…. a lot of working girls in the parkland area about 1km from our campground. We walked to the Eiffel tower but decided not to climb it as it was a slightly overcast day, we decided to check out the bicycle hire we had seen on a pamphlet (close to the Eiffel tower). We ended up renting bicycles for the week.
Day 2 (Friday 28th August): The weather had cleared up today so we moseyed into Paris on our bikes and decided to climb the Eiffel Tower. There are 2 options to arrive at the 2nd level, 1: take the elevator or 2: walk the steps, we took the latter.
Once reaching the 2nd level you can walk all around the edge of the tower. From the 2nd level you have to take the elevator to the top. From the top was a spectacular view of Paris.
Day 3 (Saturday 29th August): Today we decided to visit the Louvre; this place is huge!! Knowing how big the Louvre is we headed straight for the Mona Lisa. Unfortunately we couldn’t get a close up view as they had a rope about 3m back to prevent everyone crowding the painting. We spent a few hours walking the hall of this enormous (ex) palace.
Next we were off to the see the Arc de Triomphe; we arrived just in time to see the “lighting” of the flame. Following this we climbed the steps to the top of the Arc with provided an amazing view of Paris and Eiffel Tower.
Day 4 (Sunday 30th August): Today we boarded the regional train (RER) with our bikes and headed to Versailles. Versailles is a royal chateau about 20km south west of Paris. Violeta was interested as Marie Antoinette use to live there. After spending hours walking around this huge chateau we rode our bikes to the enormous garden and had sat down for a picnic lunch. After lunch we headed to the 2nd estate where Marie Antoinette used to live.
Day 5 (Monday 31st August): Today we visited the Conciergerie, the former royal palace and prison. Hundreds of prisoners were held at the prison before being executed by the guillotine, most famously Queen Marie Antoinette. She spent her last 75 days in there and was constantly watched by guards.
Following the Conciergerie we visited Sainte-Chapelle Chapel, this was well worth the visit just to see the stained glass windows.
Next on our list was the Notre Dame; a quick look inside the church before jumping on the back of the queue to climb the steps of the church. After a 30min wait we were on our way to the top. Once reaching the top we were able to catch our breath and take in the spectacular view. Since there is only 1 set up steps to the top we had to wait 20min before we could venture down.
By the time we reached the bottom it was close to 5pm and Kevin and Sonia were waiting for us. Our Paris night bike ride was starting at 7pm so we headed to the nearby supermarket to buy some food for our picnic dinner. The only way we were going to get back to the Eiffel Tower (where the bike group meets) was to double on mine and Violeta’s bikes. Unfortunately we didn’t get a picture of this but I’m sure one will turn up somewhere on the web (we did have a lot of people staring!!). And also no photo of our dinner, we were all so hungry it was gone before the camera’s could come out.
The bike tour was for about 4 hours and included a scenic boat ride along the river.
Day 6 (Tuesday 1st September): Today the weather was upon us again, lightly raining. We headed into town early to visit the Marine Museum but for some unknown reason it was closed. We returned our rented bikes and jumped on a train for the Catacombs, where we were meeting Kevin and Sonia.
Luckily Kevin and Sonia arrived before us and were already queuing up. We jump in line with them and again waited.
The wait was definitely worth it, it’s hard to explain in words the feeling of walking around the catacombs. For those who don’t know, the catacombs are a famous underground ossuary (rooms/passageways of human bones).
Make sure you check out our photos and if you’re ever in Paris make sure you visit this place.
After the Catacombs we headed back to camp for a rest as we were meeting up with Kevin and Sonia for dinner followed by Moulin Rouge.
Dinner was at a small French restaurant near where Kevin and Sonia were staying. We all enjoyed our meal before heading off to see Moulin Rouge, unfortunately no photos where allowed, we even had our cameras taken from us before entering the venue. The show was good, helped along by the 2 bottles of French champagne. The in-between acts were amazing, the Guinness record holder for fastest juggler, a venquilitrist and a couple performing a rag doll dancing act.
Day 7 (Wednesday 2nd September): Today we packed up our van including the 2 bikes we just bought for 10 euro each from a neighbouring aussie camper (who was heading home) and headed for Bremen Germany.
 
 
hey guys,
the photos look amazing. might have to get some copies again. hopefully we can catch up again soon.