Hey All,
To catch up on my blogging efforts, this post is actually for yesterday, September 24, 2012. Becky and I decided to take it a little bit easier during our last day in Paris, as we'd been done a lot in the first two days, and we figured that a less crammed day might be nice. It probably would have been, had it actually happened.
What we decided to do, for our relaxed day, was to do a hop-on, hop-off bus tour of the city. Because we had plenty of time, we decided to add a cruise of the Seine River to our bus tour. So. We checked out of the hostel at 10:30, and made our way to the Arc de Triomphe, where we had seen this particular bus tour before, and we got there by about 11:00. Unlike the other days on our trip thus far, yesterday started off... blustery. It was cold, rainy, and very, very windy. But, as we were not to be detered, we hopped on the bus and started riding around.
After the distance to all of one stop, I decided that it would be more fun to be on the top half of the double-decker bus. The open air half. It had more or less stopped raining, and had warmed up a little, so aside from the fact that everything was soaking wet, it was actually a pretty good decision. You could see a lot more from the top (especially since Becky and I were the only ones up there). We rode until the Louvre stop, which was where (we thought) that we were supposed to pick up the River Cruise. After stopping for lunch, we looked for the appropriate port. And then we realized that we were in the wrong place.
Figuring that a cruise of the Seine must actually begin somewhere on the Seine, we walked along the river, more or less backtracking the bus. After an hour and a half or so of less than ideal luck, we decided to just pick up the bus again and take it to where the cruise was actually happening. So we looked for the bus stops. We made our way up to the Army Museum, where we felt like there was sure to be a stop, because it's a bigger attraction, and located between the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre, which were both stops on the bus tour. Lies.
So, we backtracked all the way to the Eiffel Tower, and ended up having walked for almost two and a half hours straight. Given that we needed to be back at the hostel at six to get our stuff for the EuroRail back to London, we finished the bus tour and got back on the Metro. Never did figure out how we were supposed to get to the river cruise. Despite all the wandering, it was actually very nice. Around mid-afternoon, the weather got a lot better, and we were able to see a part of Paris that we hadn't spent very much time in, which was lovely, and just filled to the brim with all sorts of attractions.
When we got closer to the hostel, we took a quick detour to walk up to the Sacre Coeur and do a little bit of souvenir shopping (I have a magnet collection, and as Becky quickly found out, I'm obnoxiously picky when it comes to adding magnets).
An hour and a half later, we were back at the train station getting on the EuroRail. France was kind enough to give us two more passport stamps each (!!!), and we made it to London with no trouble at all. Such a smooth trip!
More to come!
Catherine
To catch up on my blogging efforts, this post is actually for yesterday, September 24, 2012. Becky and I decided to take it a little bit easier during our last day in Paris, as we'd been done a lot in the first two days, and we figured that a less crammed day might be nice. It probably would have been, had it actually happened.
After the distance to all of one stop, I decided that it would be more fun to be on the top half of the double-decker bus. The open air half. It had more or less stopped raining, and had warmed up a little, so aside from the fact that everything was soaking wet, it was actually a pretty good decision. You could see a lot more from the top (especially since Becky and I were the only ones up there). We rode until the Louvre stop, which was where (we thought) that we were supposed to pick up the River Cruise. After stopping for lunch, we looked for the appropriate port. And then we realized that we were in the wrong place.
Figuring that a cruise of the Seine must actually begin somewhere on the Seine, we walked along the river, more or less backtracking the bus. After an hour and a half or so of less than ideal luck, we decided to just pick up the bus again and take it to where the cruise was actually happening. So we looked for the bus stops. We made our way up to the Army Museum, where we felt like there was sure to be a stop, because it's a bigger attraction, and located between the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre, which were both stops on the bus tour. Lies.So, we backtracked all the way to the Eiffel Tower, and ended up having walked for almost two and a half hours straight. Given that we needed to be back at the hostel at six to get our stuff for the EuroRail back to London, we finished the bus tour and got back on the Metro. Never did figure out how we were supposed to get to the river cruise. Despite all the wandering, it was actually very nice. Around mid-afternoon, the weather got a lot better, and we were able to see a part of Paris that we hadn't spent very much time in, which was lovely, and just filled to the brim with all sorts of attractions.
An hour and a half later, we were back at the train station getting on the EuroRail. France was kind enough to give us two more passport stamps each (!!!), and we made it to London with no trouble at all. Such a smooth trip!
More to come!
Catherine
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