Contiki Begins :)

Just wanted to start off by saying, im in Paris!!!

Our contiki tour has officially began, and it has started with a bang!! We had our kickstart meeting last night in London which was to give us all the basic info we would need for our trip. Also a chance for us all to meet and see who we would be spending the next 20 days with.

After the meeting a few people stayed around for some drinks. Theres a good mix of people and so far everyone seems to get along well, which is great.

We met at 6am this morning for the start of the tour, and at that point I was fairly glad I didnt stick around for too many drinks last night.

We left London and headed down to the white cliffs at Dover. We caught the ferry from Dover to Calais in France. It was great on board the boat. Its only an hour and a half trip, but we spent almost all of that in duty free!! haha. The view was gorgeous coming into France. The tour manager is trying to set a good atmosphere and has little songs he plays for different things, like the love boat while we boarded the ferry, Parlais vous francais when we crossed the boarder, and Dangerzone when we drove around the Arc de Triomph. (But more about that in a bit).

While we were driving from Calais to Paris Joel (the tour manager) gave us a bit of a history lesson on France, and taught us a few basic language and courtesy skills. It was so wierd going into a shop for the first time and being greeted with bonjour!!

Once we arrived in Paris we got to our hotel. By this point it was about 5pm. We had time to freshen up then meet for dinner downstairs at 5.30. After a quick meal we set off to do the Paris illuminations tour (which is hard to illuminate when it doesnt get dark until 10pm!!). We went right through the city and saw all the famous landmarks and sights including the Eiffel Tower. It was amazing.

The drivers in Paris are insane. There are some roads with 8 or so lanes, but the lanes arent marked!!! People just drive around and hope for the best I guess. Around the Arc de Triomph is the worst!!!! Its insane. Joel says that insurance companies do not cover vehicles that drive there. I did take a video which hopefully I can upload if its not too big at some point.

Now after such a long day im kicking back in my hotel room having a rest. We have another huge day tomorrow and im going to need rest. Tomorrow is a free day in the city, then a parisian dinner and cabaret show near moulin rouge!!!

Im having such a great time. I knew 2011 was going to be good, but this is exceeding it all.

Miss you all. xo