PTM // Contiki: Day 2 - London to Paris!

This morning we met at 6:45AM at the Royal National Hotel to check in, weigh the bags, and load the bags on to the coach. I met up with Ryan, Michelle, and Christine the same Contiki’ers that I went to dinner with last night.

The four of us got seats in the same row so it worked out quite well. We left Royal National Hotel around 7:30AM to head for Paris! On the way, our Contiki Tour Manager Kennett explained to us a little more about our trip and some of the rules of the road. He seems really outgoing and funny. We’ll be spending the next 3 weeks traveling and listening to him so it’s comforting to know that he has a good personality.

We arrived at the White Cliffs of Dover where we had to cross the border and the bus was randomly picked to be searched! The border patrol took six random suitcases off of the bus to be searched and each person that owned a suitcase tha was chosen had to get off the bus and be searched as well. Luckily I wasn’t one of the six!

After we crossed through the border, we arrived at the port where we would take the ferry from England to France. We drove on to the ferry, parked and we all got out and headed up to the top deck so we could get a few photos of the White Cliffs of Dover before we departed England. After we took a few snapshots we headed downstairs to grab some breakfast.

After breakfast we headed back up to the top deck and took a few more photos before we arrived in France. Once we arrived at the port in France we all loaded back on to the bus and started what was a four hour journey south to Paris.

At first we thought that we wouldn’t make it to the Louvre before it would be closing at 5:30PM, but thanks to our speedy bus driver we made it just in time to run into the Louvre and catch a glimpse of the Mona Lisa, and the Venus de Milo. After the Louvre we headed to our hotel so that we could check in real quick before dinner at 7:00PM. The dinner was included in the Contiki Tour and it was roasted chicken and white rice.

At 7:45 we met outside at the coach so that we could take a tour around Paris. Kennett our Tour Manager gave us sort of a guided tour around Paris with all sorts of cool facts about monuments, buildings, and more.

After the tour around Paris we came back and ended the night in the hotel bar. I had a pint and conversated with all sorts of people from my tour. It was great getting to know everyone a little bit better. I have pretty much met most of the people at this point. Everyone seems to be really cool so far. Hopefully it stays that way!

Tomorrow we have a free day to explore Paris. We’re going to go check out the Catacombs, Nortre Dame Cathedral, the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triumph and more. It should be a good day in the city, I’m looking forward to seeing a bit more of Paris before we head off to Switzerland on Wednesday morning.

Til’ next time…