We awoke on Sunday morning for our final feed from the breakfast buffet, before we had to disembark the ship. Back to Barcelona airport, and onto our flight to Paris Charles de Gaulle airport.
Getting off the plane and out of the airport was quite a long and strange rigmarole. We exited the plane and were loaded into a shuttle bus that drove a short distance, and then pulled over and stopped. And there we stayed for about half an hour. The driver didn't even seem to know why we'd been held there. Once we were eventually allowed off the bus and into the terminal, we then had to join a large group of other people being held behind divider tapes. Every five or so minutes, staff would let a small group through and then hold the rest back. Finally we were allowed to proceed to immigration and onto baggage claim where we discovered that the rest of the airport was like a ghost town. Perhaps it was all due to the recent tragic events in Paris, although there didn't seem to be any explanation or anything that we could see that was causing the delays.
Into a taxi and towards the city, Brendan attempted to converse in a limited amount of French, but the driver wasn't having any of it. From Uber and now to Airbnb, we really were breaking new ground with Brad, Suella and Adam. Airbnb is essentially a modern take on holiday rental properties, most people will rent out their whole furnished property, while others might only offer up a spare bedroom in the family home. We had the whole 2 bedroom apartment to ourselves at the Airbnb we stayed at, perfectly located with shops and restaurants at the end of the street, five minutes walk to two different metro stations and only about 20 minutes’ walk to the Eiffel Tower.
Due to the delays at the airport, by the time we'd unpacked in the apartment it was dinner time. We wandered up the street to a nearby restaurant, and ordered escargot for an entree (Brad and Suella wouldn't eat any though), and Brendan had steak tartare (pronounced like tar-tah), which according to Google, is a dish consisting of raw minced beef mixed with egg, onion and other seasonings. After dinner, we walked over to the Eiffel Tower for the hourly sparkling lights.
On Monday, we wandered in the daylight to the Eiffel Tower, to board our hop on hop off bus tour circuit of the city. First we did a full round of the circuit.
We passed the Hôtel National des Invalides, commissioned by Louis XIV as a military complex serving as a home and hospital for wounded soldiers. Today, the complex houses an army museum, and parts are still used by the military.
We rounded the impressive Palais Garnier opera house and departed the bus for a snack.
We passed the Hôtel National des Invalides, commissioned by Louis XIV as a military complex serving as a home and hospital for wounded soldiers. Today, the complex houses an army museum, and parts are still used by the military.
We rounded the impressive Palais Garnier opera house and departed the bus for a snack.
Back in the bus, and the drive took us through the narrow arches into the open central courtyard of the Musée du Louvre by the glass pyramids. By the River Seine the bus stopped and we all entered into the grand Notre-Dame, something Roslyn and I ran out of time to do when we were here back in April.
Onto the bus once again, and we were taken along the River Seine, around the obelisk at Place de la Concorde and up the world famous Champs Élysées shopping street to the Arc de Triomphe. After watching the chaos of the roundabout that the Arc makes up, we went through the underpass to pop up in the middle underneath the Arc.
Brad is forever a keen shopper and so away from the Arc and down the Champs Élysées is where we were next headed. We entered into Toyota's European flagship showroom, and there was an 86 set up as a race simulator where Brendan, Adam and Brad went head to head. Brendan hasn’t been behind the wheel of a car in many, many months and although he spent more time off the road than on, still managed the fastest lap time. Just like driving to open homes ;)
Now becoming dark, we picked up macarons from Ladurée and headed back to the apartment. We discovered Monopoly and started a game. This was the French version of the more updated “Here and Now”, where the traditional game has been modernised for today’s lifestyle and cost of living. Each player starts with $15,000,000 instead of the original game’s meagre $1,500. Paper notes have been replaced with credit card and all transactions are carried out through a card machine. Also, if you land on a property and don’t fancy paying the asking price, the banker takes it to auction! As it was the French version, we had to use a translation app on our phones to figure out whether we were supposed to be in jail, paying exorbitant taxes or passing go to collect $2,000.
We awoke on Tuesday with plans to be more cultured, and have a look through the Musée du Louvre. As it turns out, the museum is closed on Tuesdays and so we were left to simply admire the huge architectural splendour of the museum. Inside the shopping centre below the Louvre, there is also an inverted version of the well known glass pyramid.
At 3pm we were booked in for a walking tour and ascent of the Eiffel Tower. The low temperatures and cold winds of today did not make for the most pleasant conditions to be climbing this 324 metre icon. Roslyn had booked tickets for the guided tour up to the second floor, and also paid for additional access to the 276 metre high third floor summit. Although you can take the stairs to the first and second floors, the guide took us up the lift. The views from the 115 metre high second floor are amazing. The guide told us that the tower is painted by hand every 7 years, and throughout its life time has been a reddish brown colour, as well as bright yellow, before becoming the current brown that the Parisians like to refer to as bronze. For much of its early life, many Parisians thought it was an eyesore and wanted it pulled down. Indeed it was initially only supposed to stay standing for 20 years. From its completion in 1189 until 1929, it was the tallest building in the world
At the conclusion of the tour, we set off in search of access to the third floor summit. Following the signs around, there didn’t seem to be any clear defined access point and we wound up doing a full circuit of the second floor and ending up back where we started. When Brendan asked for directions at the gift shop, the snooty staff laughed at him and said it had been closed for maintenance for several weeks and would be closed for a few more. By this time, our guide had made a sly exit and was long gone, and we were left holding tickets with no validity or value. A strongly worded email from Roslyn to the tour company followed.
With nowhere to go up, we descended the down to the first floor – Brad and Suella via the lift, Brendan, Roslyn and Adam by the stairs. As it is nearest to the ground the first floor has the largest floor area, and was recently rejuvenated to include multiple facilities including cafes and conference/function rooms along with a partial section of transparent glass floor and an ice skating rink! Brendan and Adam got their skates on.
We awoke on Tuesday with plans to be more cultured, and have a look through the Musée du Louvre. As it turns out, the museum is closed on Tuesdays and so we were left to simply admire the huge architectural splendour of the museum. Inside the shopping centre below the Louvre, there is also an inverted version of the well known glass pyramid.
At 3pm we were booked in for a walking tour and ascent of the Eiffel Tower. The low temperatures and cold winds of today did not make for the most pleasant conditions to be climbing this 324 metre icon. Roslyn had booked tickets for the guided tour up to the second floor, and also paid for additional access to the 276 metre high third floor summit. Although you can take the stairs to the first and second floors, the guide took us up the lift. The views from the 115 metre high second floor are amazing. The guide told us that the tower is painted by hand every 7 years, and throughout its life time has been a reddish brown colour, as well as bright yellow, before becoming the current brown that the Parisians like to refer to as bronze. For much of its early life, many Parisians thought it was an eyesore and wanted it pulled down. Indeed it was initially only supposed to stay standing for 20 years. From its completion in 1189 until 1929, it was the tallest building in the world
At the conclusion of the tour, we set off in search of access to the third floor summit. Following the signs around, there didn’t seem to be any clear defined access point and we wound up doing a full circuit of the second floor and ending up back where we started. When Brendan asked for directions at the gift shop, the snooty staff laughed at him and said it had been closed for maintenance for several weeks and would be closed for a few more. By this time, our guide had made a sly exit and was long gone, and we were left holding tickets with no validity or value. A strongly worded email from Roslyn to the tour company followed.
With nowhere to go up, we descended the down to the first floor – Brad and Suella via the lift, Brendan, Roslyn and Adam by the stairs. As it is nearest to the ground the first floor has the largest floor area, and was recently rejuvenated to include multiple facilities including cafes and conference/function rooms along with a partial section of transparent glass floor and an ice skating rink! Brendan and Adam got their skates on.
We returned to the apartment and concluded the Monopoly game from the night before – how the might can fall! Having purchased everything he landed on, Adam held the largest portfolio. Suella had spent a lot of time in jail and so hadn’t managed to buy many properties, although subsequently she did still hold a lot of her original funds. Similar to Adam, Roslyn had a sizable portfolio in the mid and upper end of the board. Brendan only held 3 properties, but after taking the risk of building a few houses on each was on the up and up. The final 2 came down to Brendan and Roslyn, Brendan having absorbed both Adam’s and Suella’s holdings. Brendan had the greater number of properties but Roslyn’s had more hotels and her properties commanded higher rent – whoever landed on the others was going to be out.
And so it was, that after 2 nights the final roll of the dice landed Roslyn onto one of Brendan’s hotels, clearing her out and making Brendan (who had never played a full game of Monopoly to completion) the winner, netting over $33,000,000
Highlights:
- First Airbnb stay - can highly recommend this one
- Ate escargot and steak tartare
- Sparkling Eiffel Tower
- Hop on hop off bus tour
- Hôtel National des Invalides military complex
- Palais Garnier opera house
- Notre-Dame
- Arc de Triomphe
- Champs Élysées
- Race car driving in Toyota's European flagship showroom
- Ate Ladurée macarons
- Musée du Louvre
- Ascended the Eiffel Tower 115 m to the second floor (but not the summit) :(
- Ice skating on the Eiffel Tower
- Electronic Monopoly
And so it was, that after 2 nights the final roll of the dice landed Roslyn onto one of Brendan’s hotels, clearing her out and making Brendan (who had never played a full game of Monopoly to completion) the winner, netting over $33,000,000
Highlights:
- First Airbnb stay - can highly recommend this one
- Ate escargot and steak tartare
- Sparkling Eiffel Tower
- Hop on hop off bus tour
- Hôtel National des Invalides military complex
- Palais Garnier opera house
- Notre-Dame
- Arc de Triomphe
- Champs Élysées
- Race car driving in Toyota's European flagship showroom
- Ate Ladurée macarons
- Musée du Louvre
- Ascended the Eiffel Tower 115 m to the second floor (but not the summit) :(
- Ice skating on the Eiffel Tower
- Electronic Monopoly
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