Victoria Station in central London
Departing the ferry at Calais, France
The view outside my hotel room window
The streets of Paris, with the Louvre Museum in the background
Cruising on the Seine in Paris
208 days left until 2000, as lit up on the Eiffel Tower
As if the 4:30 AM wake-up call wasn't bad enough, the weather was rather dreary and overcast. Rain would fall sporadically as a large group of young adults gathered in the hotel lobby. There was a large number of people, but only about 30 of us would be leaving on the Taste of Europe tour, while the remaining were off on the 26-day Picturesque Europe tour. We boarded our temporary motorcoach that would take us initially to the Trafalgar Tour Departure Centre in central London to pick up the remaining 10 or so people to join us for the next 12 days. There were a total of 40 people on the tour (13 from Australia, 5 from Canada, including myself, 1 from South Africa, and the balance from the U.S.A.), plus our tour director, Andee, who hailed from England.
We headed off to the south-east coast of England where we boarded a ferry at Dover and crossed over the channel to Calais, France. We set our watches forward an hour for the time zone change and boarded another motorcoach; it would be our home for the next 12 days. Our driver's name was Lucas, from Belgium, who after the 12 days, I had to conclude was one the most skilled drivers I had ever met, considering he was driving a big bus through streets that were much narrower and more winding than any road in Toronto.
Andee would always put in a music tape during our long drives, so we didn't get completely bored. Although for much of the time we would be on the motorcoach for any long stretch of time, most people would be sleeping. After a long drive, with a food and restroom break thrown in every couple of hours (and a nap here and there), we arrived in Paris. The weather was behaving rather oddly, as it was pouring rain when we arrived in Paris, but bright and sunny by the time we checked into our hotel, the Ibis Porte de Montreuil. The weather had been much the same throughout the drive from Calais to Paris. It was here when I found out that despite my request to have a roommate (as booking a single room is extra cost), I was given a room all to myself without having to pay extra. It seems that all the other single people had already been paired up with a roommate (two people had actually booked single rooms for themselves), and I just happened to be the odd one out. It would like this throughout the rest of the trip, and in some places I would even have double or twin beds all to myself.
After some free time to check into our rooms (all of which appeared to lack a shower curtain for the bathtubs) and wander around the adjacent shopping mall, we all gathered in the hotel restaurant for a welcome drink with Andee.
The evening was an optional tour that included a quick dinner at a self serve-type restaurant and then a boat cruise of the Seine River. After the boat cruise was an evening sightseeing tour on our motorcoach with frequent stops for photo ops. Paris is definitely a transformed city at night. The abundance of light and illuminations around the city was more beautiful than I could imagine.
