Day 27 - TT European Whirl (Day 10) - Paris

We had an early wake up call this morning - 5:30 am!

Tasha was up and packed and ready for breakfast on time - with no dramas and a smile on her face! 

 

As we headed off out of Lucerne we turned to see the mountains with a fresh coat of snow last night - the locals call it "sugardusted"

 

 

At about 8:30 this morning we crossed the border into France.  Mixed feelings here.  So excited to be in France but also sad as this is our last country.

 

We spent some time on the bus today filling in questionairres for Trafalgar and also looking at castles and churches along the way.  Apparently it is still possible to buy yourself a castle in France as there are many available.  There are 1000's in France.  However, the problem is that even though the castle may be affordable the maintenance and upkeep is very expensive.

 We finally made it into Paris at about 4:30 and had our first glimpse of the top of the Eiffel Tower behind office buildings.  We also had a very quick glancing view of the Arc de Triomphe.

 The kids were very excited to have a view of the top of the tower form our motel room.

The group was heading off for a cabaret trip tonight as an optional extra which was not suitable for children so instead we wandered into the shopping area to find some dinner.  After wandering around trying to find a) something we could understand and b) something vaguely french we discovered they seemed to like either Italian or Chinese.
We ended up at a pizza bar and we had a brilliant waiter.  He tolerated our ruining the french language (thanks Cass for the phrase book - it has been used a lot over the last couple of weeks).  He was very friendly and even tried to help Tasha learn French. "Trois Co-ca Sil Vous Plait"  ie three cokes please.
He even offered her a job at the end of the lesson!  Hmmmm don't know how serious he was though.

Anyway after a wonderful pizza meal we walked back to the motel.  All the streets look the same here and there is a roundabout with eight roads leading into it so of course we took the wrong road the first time.  We eventually figured it out and headed off down the right street.

Tasha is still wearing her wolf beanie that she bought in Innsbruck and it is hilarious to follow along behind her and watch the looks she gets!  Very funny.

Back in the motel we looked out the window to see the lights on the Eiffel Tower sparkling and flashing.  It was beautiful to see.

Todays Tally:
Steps:  10487
Hours on bus:  7 1/2
Countries left to visit:  This is our last one :(
Nights left of holiday:  8 nights