4.5.08-5.5.08

Below is my long overdue travelogue of my Euro trip. Originally, I meant to update prior to the anniversay and then it's on the anniversary and now post anniversary.
I dedicate this travelogue to A. Hopefully you find the photos captivating enough to visit some of the countries.
We had a few options to choose with regards to our Euro trip. Earlier on, we have narrowed it down to using guided tour to avoid too much plannings and worry about connecting rails or flights, accommodation etc etc . Then it was to narrow down what tours to join. Cut long story short, we were down to Tralfagar vs Contiki after reading other people's travelogue and also speaking to somebody I know who joined many years ago. Tralfagar group stays in hotel while Contiki stays in a mixture of accommodation.
Finally the decision factors lie on:
-Most countries visited
-Duration of the trip (We wanted the longest possible tour given our time frame)
-Most value for money

Tralfagar did not meet the first and second factor. So we chose Contiki in the end.
4.5.08
Our tour departed real early in the morning from London to Dover. We stayed in Royal National Hotel (nearest tube is Russell Sq) which is like the 'hq' for Contiki in London.

We were gathered by 6am and started to get our bags weighed.( we were allowed 20kg)
Our tour members were made up of 50% aussies, 30% canadians, 18% NZers, 1% Americans,1% Korean. Our tour manager is Kiralee from Aussie and our coach driver is Attila from Hungary.
First destination was to get to Dover to board on ferry to France. In Paris, we stayed approximately 20mins (10km) away from the city. The area is called Joinville Le Pont.

We were greeted by the camp rep with escargot and french champagne. Below is our accomodation, basic and small but clean. One unit has two rooms with one ensuite.

5.4.08
Free day in Paris. We decided to forgo dinner at camp ground and optimise the time we had in Paris.
Our coach stopped us at a few spots (namely the Les Invalides, Eiffel tower )and we get dropped off at Avenue des Champs-Élysées .We were provided with a map with places of interests.
The places I want to tick off my list to visit were:
LV Shop :P
Arc de Triumpe
Place De La Concorde:Obélisque de Luxor
Cathedrale de Notre Dame
Musée du Louvre
Eiffel Tower
Basilique du Sacré-Cœur, Paris (Sacred Heart Cathedral)
There're so much to do and see in Paris, to me, everything about Paris fascinates me. The fashion, the language, the architecture.. hehehe..to start with, it isn't even my favourite country but it is easy to fall in love with this city.

Walking along Avenue des Champs-Élysées and saw these sculptures. Below are just random pictures I took while we walk on Avenue des Champs-Élysées .

Above are the Place de la Concorde. It is famous for the Eygptian Obelisk. Below is again photo sampler I took on the way to Lourve Museum. More pics of Musee Lourve. Again, there were throngs of tourists and we decided not to queue to see the famous Mona Lisa.

Photo collage of around Paris. Below is my random sampler.

Cafe bistros aplenty in Paris, and we were told, the seats outside are double the price as it also serves for people watching. The rental bicycle in the city. The pigeons by the Notre dame. The hotel near Notre Dame (typical french architecture with the little balcony), trees on the street and finally the narrow thoroughway at the Musee Lourve .

Below are the places on our checklist.

On Republic Avenue, it was filled with chain shop type stores. Bata being one of them. heeheh I can't help but take pic of me inside Bata store. Had lunch nearby (had suzette crepe)
On the way to Notre Dame, we passed by this flower market. There were all sorts knick-knacks and I also saw orchids kept in glasshouse.

Cathedral of Notre Dame is littered with tourists and also pigeons. Tourist have to watch out for gypsies. They would ask for monies or pick pockets.

After Notre Dame, we proceed to walk to Eiffel Tower. We past by Musee d'Orsay that house the famous Monet and Renoir paintings amongst the ones that I know of. The museum had closed by the time we got there. We then past by obviously some government building as they were waiting for VIPS to come out. We decided to nose around together with some other people and wait to see if we could catch a glimpse of the VIPS but after like 15 -20mins, the VIPS still had not come out of the building. We are obviously no papparazzi material , so we continue our walks to the Eiffel Tower.

The must go place for us, the Eiffel Tower. Again I wasn't comfortable at the Eiffel ground because there're lots of street hawkers trying to force you to buy cheesy 'eiffel related souvenirs'.

Note: There are 2 levels of lifts to get to the Eiffel Tower. The queues are long and we are advised to buy our level 1 and 2 tickets from the ground levels.

That ends Day 2 for us.