I've had the best last 24 hours! After we got back from our room yesterday we had a bit of a chill and then went downstairs to be picked up for our dinner cruise. Rod (our guide) had left by this point because his itinerary was wrong so he didn't know we had the cruise. So he left it to Miss G to organise us meeting! We met the driver after giving him a call and were taken to our boat.
The boat was really nice! Glass sides and roof, and we enjoyed a really lovely evening on the Seine. We had a yummy three course meal with vegetables (my old friends! Haven't seen them in a while!!), steak and mash and an apricot thing for dessert. We also got lots of bread and wine.
We sailed past the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, D'Orsay, Place de la Concorde, Notre Dame and lots more. On the bus on the way back everyone had had a bit too much wine and we all had lots of fun making jokes about Rod (in a nice way - we all liked him!) by mocking things he said like getting his rights and lefts confused. I laughed so much I nearly wet myself haha. Trevor gave a speech on the bus which was so lovely. He has a limp and thanked us all for our patience with him, but it was really no trouble. I'm just happy he's still able to travel and see the world!!
We got inside and took a group photo and then had a couple of drinks. Ken and Bob ran an awards ceremony, and I won the 'Best on Ground' award for always keeping everyone up to date on footy scores and having the most photographed bum on tour (I had a bad habit of being in Ken's photos accidentally!!!). We all agreed our group was one of the best we've all been a part of. It was a great ten days of learning about the war and honouring our fallen, but also of making good friends and having a laugh. Definitely an experience I won't forget!
By the time I got back to the room and got some things done for England it was 1.30am by the time I went to sleep!!
Up at 6.50am this morning (yuuuuck) and Troy and I bolted down some brekky before heading to the Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel Tower was built for the 1889 world fair and was meant to be temporary. Most locals here hate it but as well as being the most popular tourist attraction in the world it's also a communications tower that has 120 antennae, enabling 41 TV channels and 32 radio stations to be broadcast to Paris. All throughout high school I dreamed of coming here and then did straight after year 12, and it's so strange to be back! Everything is so familiar and I can still remember where everything is throughout the city.
We went for a walk through the gardens there which was really nice because we were so early that no one else was around! We then queued for a while and were the first people climbing the stairs up - winning at the tourist game! It was well worth going early.
We climbed to the first and then the second level where we enjoyed the view before getting the second ticket for the lift to the top (no stairs or else we would've climbed the whole way!). We got to the top and it was just as I remembered it - great views but crowded! I'm so lucky to be able to say I've been up there three times now. Twice last time (once in the day once at night) and now today. And today (like last time!) was sunny and clear. We looked at the small apartment Eiffel built at the top and then at how far away all the cities were on the boards - some of which I went to at the start of my trip - then headed back down. Had a strange thought as we walked away like I suppose I did last time - wondering what I'll be like and what my life will be like when (or if) I'm here again.
We then got the train to Versailles, the RER station we needed was right near the tower! We walked to the palace easily enough. Tourist buses evvvvvvvverywhere! Last time I was here I went to the palace but due to snow the gardens and other buildings were all closed. I also didn't like the palace much because due to garden closures there were SO many people pushing past that you couldn't enjoy it. Unfortunately today was still a little like that!!
Versailles was built as a hunting lodge by Louis XIII and the town became the French capital when Louis XIV moved his court there. It was ransacked and the furniture taken by revolutionaries in 1789.
There were people everywhere but we had our audio guides and enjoyed the rooms including some filled with paintings, then the state rooms including the hall of mirrors (very fitting seeing as the Treaty of Versailles was signed there and we just ended our war tour!) and some other rooms. By the end of walking around pushing through rude tourists we were both very keen for the gardens!!! You can see why the revolution happened though. The royals were living it up in here with so many lavish rooms they didn't know what to do, meanwhile people were starving and living in the streets. It's so over the top in there, beautiful but excessive!
Then we spent the next three hours walking through the gardens. I was so disappointed last time when they were closed, and it was fantastic today to walk through them. They were worth the wait! Absolutely MASSIVE! We saw the Petit Trianon Palace and the Grand Trianon Palace built as summer retreats and then Marie Antoinette's estate and gardens. The grand canal, fountains and flowers were all lovely. Then we had an ice cream on the walk back - we had earned it after so much walking!!
Got a last photo up near the palace in the sun and then headed back to the station. We grabbed our bags from the tour hotel (the very swanky Novotel) and got the train to our hostel near Gare du Nord. It was stressful and I felt very vulnerable with all my bags. But we met a nice English girl who helped us with our things. We have our own room in the hostel and it's so nice!
I am a little stressed though. I have a job interview Tuesday and just found out rather than being asked questions I have to plan and teach a 30 minute lesson. I've no resources over here and haven't been given much information so I'm pretty terrified. In good news though I might possibly have a flat viewing Saturday. Watch this space...
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
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