Paris and back to London

After another big day on the bus we arrived in Versailles (just outside of Paris) to see the castle - which is pretty extravagant looking from the outside. Most on the tour went on a tour of the inside of the palace, but after 15 days we were all church, castle and palace'd out (they all start to blend together after a while!). We had a wander through town and the markets instead before getting back on the bus and heading for our hotel in Paris. This hotel was to be the best one of the tour. We were yet to get a room anywhere that had a decent view (it had become a bit of a running joke each time we went to a new hotel). Well we finally got lucky because our room here actually had a view of the Eiffel Tower. After settling in we got back on the bus and headed into the city for some dinner and a night tour. We got dropped off at the Arc de Triomphe which has the craziest roundabout around it (there are no lanes!!). We went for a wander over to the Arc de Triomphe and had some dinner and then headed over to the Eiffel Tower and went up to the second level (which is about half way up). The views from here were amazing and it was another highlight of our trip! We stayed here for a while and saw the lights come on at 9pm. We got back on the bus to continue our night tour around town with the last spot being a viewing point where you could see the the Eiffel Tower lights "twinkle" at 10pm! Drinks were in our room that night with a few people from the tour because we had the view!!!

Next day we had a morning sightseeing tour with a local guide to see some of the other parts of the city in the daylight. At about 9.30am we got dropped off at the Opera House and had the rest of the day to explore. We walked down to the Louvre first and had a wander around the area (it's much more than just the pyramid everyone knows). We then sussed out the Metro system and got a day train pass and took off to Montmartre (where there is yet another church) and a view of the city. Next we went back to the Eiffel Tower to get some more pics during the day and finished off the afternoon wandering down the Champs Elysee, doing some "window licking" (the translation in French of window shopping)! We met back up with the bus in the afternoon to head back to the hotel for a break and then caught the train back into the city for some dinner later in the evening (Hard Rock Cafe - very french!!). Drinks were on again tonight as it was the last night of the tour and it was a very fun night (with even the tour director - Vince - getting in on the action). We had a very late one and with only about 3-4 hours sleep were were back on the bus and heading to Calais for our ferry back to Dover (it was a very quiet bus today!).

We arrived back in London late in the afternoon, had some drinks at a few pubs in the area with a couple from the tour, had some dinner and early to bed (after the previous night and because we had to be up at 4am the next morning). We got up early and made our way to the Australian War Memorial at Hyde Park Corner for the ANZAC Day dawn service. There would have to have been almost 5,000 Aussies and New Zealanders there and it was an awesome experience. This finished just before 6am and we caught the tube over to Portobello Rd, had some brekky and a wander through the markets (nothing starts early here and some stalls were still setting up at 9.30 when we were leaving). After this we headed over to the Tower of London and had a wander through. They keep the Crown Jewels in a vault here, which we got to see, so that was a pretty cool experience as well. In the afternoon we swapped hotels, did some laundry and went out for a couple of drinks at the local pub and a meal at the Indian Restaurant down the road (which was excellent again)!. Today we are having a fairly quiet one (a rest day before we head off to New York tomorrow). We went to the Spitalfield markets (these are fairly retro markets and we made some pretty cool purchases). Now just using the internet back in Picadilly, will probably head over to Westminster Abbey and might go see a movie this afternoon.

Finally able to post some pics since Florence so here they are:

Pisa




Monaco


Canne


Wade & Chuck Norris in Cannes


Paris
















London - Dawn Service