Day 6 - Bus - Boat - Bus - Boat - Bus

Saturday we moved from London to Paris. It was also the first real day of our tour, we got to meet our Travel Director (TD), Matt and our driver, Marco. We had an early departure from the hotel, so they provided us with bagged breakfast and we all boarded the bus.  

Each day we will move seats on the bus so everyone gets the opportunity to sit in the front, I thought this day would be a good day to be in front.  

We set out into the rising sun, it was another sunny day.

There are 36 of us in our group, good sized but not huge. 

We drove from London to Dover, yes the cliffs of Dover. The ferry terminal is huge, we got stalled at customs while they checked our pass ports, which put us on a 10:15 ferry, a bit behind schedule. We had a lot on our itinerary and getting behind early makes things a bit rushed. 

The ferry departed about 15 mins ahead of schedule, and we were on our way to France. 

As we left Dover we had great views of the Cliffs.  It is easy to see why they are called the White Cliffs of Dover. 

The ferry was large, it had 9 decks but it still rocked in the waves, the power of the ocean always amazes me. We had a cafeteria lunch on the ferry, it would have to do.

We arrived in Calais, France and no customs were required since we did that in England.  We made our way to Paris, the country side was remarkably rural and generally flat. 

We arrived in Paris and checked into our hotel, the IBIS, let's just say the rooms are petite. We are small people; no problem. 

We dumped our bags in the room and were back on the bus to go catch our cruise on the River Seine. Our boat was operated by Bateaux Mouches which appropriately translates into River Boats. 

This is an identical boat to the one we were on, however ours was not this crowded. 

Our one hour cruise took us past so many famous bridges, buildings and monuments, we could not possibly remember them all. 

It was a good time, but did get chilly when the sun went down. 

After our cruise we drove to the Arch De Triumph, the sun was setting behind it making for some good photos for the people in the front of the bus.. :-). 

We unloaded here and we immediatly headed for the Monte Carlo, we were famished.

After dinner we walked around the Arch area, there were many young people having a good time....as they should. 

We boarded and headed back to the hotel but not before one more stop at a place to view the Eiffel Tower. 

At night it is quite spectacular. 

As we departed for our hotel, we drove very close to the base of the tower, it really makes one realize just how big it really is. 

We were in Paris and already fit a lot into just one evening. Monday we plan to spend more time just walking around the city.