Paris Thursday 28 May

This was the first day we had a chance to have a sleep in. Henri de Willy came to the camp site to say hello and then some of the guys went off to the French Military Vehicle workshop somewhere near Versailles. It was lovely to see Henri again after 2 years, the last time he was at Corowa and he made a watercolour sketch of the Ute we are currently driving. Hans and Rene were going to try their luck for tickets to the tennis and Graham and Mick went to the workshop.

Well what a day - we walked, rode on trains and buses all around in the centre of Paris, looked at history and very old buildings. Fiona’s explanation will follow. John enjoyed it but is keen to sit in the ute and take a load off his feet tomorrow as we have 280 km to drive to Mont St Michel in Normandy.

OK – we finally left camp around noon and by bus and train went to Montmartre on the way to Sacre Coeur. Came out of the Metro and got a little confused and started down some streets that were very sleazy and on either side of us were hawkers, standing side by side all the way. Finally went the right way and up to the church, declined to walk up and took the funicular tramway. It was a shame that the day was so overcast and misty rain, otherwise the photos would have been fantastic.



From there we went back to the Ile de la Cite and went to the Conciergerie where Marie Antoinette was imprisoned prior to her beheading. Paddy featured again in the Hall where the main banqueting took place.

Then to Notre Dame de Paris, because Paddy needed redeeming from his time in prison. It is an awesome sight but the queue to climb up to the ramparts was too long, so we only went inside. No sightings of Quasimodo or the gargoyles this time around unfortunately.




We went over in front of the Hotel de Ville and there were Hans and Rene. They had missed out on tickets to the tennis so made their way into town and were watching on the big screen in town.



And there was some very creative parking happening here



Further on was the Louvre precincts, the Jardin de Tuilleries, Pont Alexandre III and finally back to the Champs Elysees and headed back to camp. A very full 7 hours but it was wonderful to see Paris again.