Paris, Day 1

Chelsea, Eyaluta, and I woke up around 4 AM this morning to be ready for a 5:15 pick-up on our way to Paris!!!! We got to Great Portland Station around 5:45; our coach was picking us up just after 6 AM. A few of us got on in London. We picked up a few more people along the way to Canterbury where we picked up another 20 so we had a full coach!!! We drove to Dover Port where we were able to get some breakfast (Burger King hash browns never tasted soooo good!!) and relax before boarding a ferry to take us over the English Channel and into France. The port was really nice. It sits below Dover Castle and a church and there are white cliffs all along the water. The ride over the Channel was nice too. The sun came in the whole time so we just sat and relaxed.

We docked at Calais in France!! And we were on our way to our lunch stop before heading into Paris. We got to Paris around 4 PM. There was a little traffic that we had to sit in before getting to the area where our hotel is, which is called Bercy. We dropped our bags off and freshened up before heading back out for a short driving tour of the city and then a river ferry ride. During the driving tour we saw Notre Dame, The Louvre, the Arc de Triumphe, the Eiffel Tower, and the Champs de Elysses (and the biggest Louis Vuitton store I've ever seen!). We got to the river ferry, which took off right in front of the Eiffel Tower down the Seine. It was really beautiful, all the buildings and bridges looked amazing, different from London, really ornate. We got back to the dock just in time for the Eiffel Tower to be lit up and to see it sparkling!!!!! Starting at around dusk, on every hour, the tower sparkles, literally twinkles, bulbs flashing all over the place, for 5 minutes. It was really breathtaking; everyone on the ferry gasped!!!

We got off the ferry and were free to do what we wanted so we decided to wait in line to go up the Eiffel Tower. There are two levels open to the public. The views of the city were amazing, its so pretty lit up at night, definitely a romantic spot!!! It was really chilly up there though!!! After the Eiffel Tower we were pretty hungry so we started walking toward the Metro station that would take us back to the hotel and we found a cute Italian restaurant (came all the way to France to eat some pasta!!!). The food was great and it was good to relax since we had had a pretty long day. After dinner we headed back to our hotel. We have breakfast at 9 tomorrow and then we're off to see some sights. In the afternoon we're going to Versailles and when we get back from there we are free for the night so we'll probably go out somewhere.