Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Day 4 (26/3/2007) London to Paris *the start of Contiki tour*

Today marks the start of our Contiki's European Vista trip.

Timeline of the day:
5:45am : wake up call
6:25am : check out of Imperial Hotel
6:45am : reached Royal National Hotel to join the Contiki tour (weigh-in of luggages and boarding coach)
7:25am : set off
9:40am: cleared customs at Dover
9:50am: boarded the Pride of Calais ferry to France
1hr 30mins later...
France time (London time + 1hr) 12:30noon: arrived at Calais, France
2:20pm: rest stop, had lunch.
3pm: continue journey to Paris
5:10pm: arrived at hotel
6:30pm: dinner at hotel
7:30pm: drive through Paris city area with 3 phototaking stops
10:15pm: back at hotel

Spendings of the day:
sandwich on board the ferry: £3.45
chicken strips at rest stop: €3.80








check out the fog

Dover :)


On board the ferry from Dover to France












We have arrived at France!!



lunch at a highway rest stop





Black dot marks the location of the highway reststop we are at.

The rest stop
Our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower in the distant

nearest Metro (subway) to our hotel




Outdoor fridge

Broken back window...so used plastic sheets to keep out the cold...

Our hotel at Paris

Room 106
Contiki Schedule


Pretty flowers on wild grass patch along the public walkway just outside our hotel



Included dinner at hotel - Starter course 








Louvre :)





taken from directly beneath the Eiffel Tower


Arc de Triomphe - taken from our coach

Champs Elysees...


Postcard:

Text on postcard:
Samantha:
Today marks the start of our Contiki tour.  Very excited to be finally able to see Paris.  Though by the time we reached here is already verging evening time, but was very much captivated by the Parisian buildings and monuments.  Every building looks impressive.  During the night drive round Paris, we stopped by 3 places to take photos- The Louvre, Hotel de Invalides, and the Eiffel Tower!  The entire atmosphere is so romatic.  Can't believe that we are actually here in Paris!!

Alfred:
I was worried I couldn't wake up on time to catch the first bus of the tour.  We expected this would be a bus day and had no idea when we would reach Paris by.  I tried to sleep the time away, kind of worked.  Everyone on the bus was woken up at the Port of Dover, where we went thru the French Customs and Immigration before crossing the English Channel. Sam went thru immigration just fine, I on the other hand, took longer.  I guess they haven't seen a lot of the new biometric passports from Singapour?  Anyway we got back onto the bus and drove onto a huge ferry called the Pride of Calais (say Ca-lay) and crossed the channel into French territory.


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