Day 21 – 16th May
An early wake up at 6am today. This hotel has been very good with the service and the rooms, although older are well maintained. Carine told us at the start of the tour that in France the customer is “never right”in fact the customer is treated as a pain in the ass!!! Has often been the way, but not here.
On the road at 7.30am and we drove a few hours to Claude Monet’s house (the painter). Thought it would be a bit ho hum as we aren’t into art really, but the gardens there were something else again – as was the lilly pond – the inspiration for his famous paintings over the years.
We were also able to go through his little villa and art studio. Into the souvenir shop and the till were ringing non stop in there – it is a conveyor belt of his prints and people were queued up to buy them.
Had a lovely lunch with the a Aussie girls and the South African couple in the Amercian art museum- was very pleasant. Its funny as Mariska (from S.A) and I were the only two who knew of, or used the Trafalgar website and forums prior to the trip!
Back onto the bus and back to Paris where we began the tour. Graeme and others got off on the way and went to Versailles, while we carried on in the bus to the Sofitel Grande Arche Defense hotel that we were in at the start. This hotel is great as we are given 2 full rooms with an interconnecting door. It is by far the most upmarket hotel we have had, although far away from the city – it is more in the business district. From what everyone has said Insight tours are the best for hotels being in the centre of town, therefore easier movement on foot. Will think about this if we do other tours in the future. Insight doesn’t do many regional tours within 1 or 2 countries but we know what to look for now we have done one!
We requested a room on the high floors for Danni as it is 19 floors. We could have rooms on the 18th floor if we were happy with a smoking floor, or the 3rd for non smoking. Where is the reward for being healthy??!! LOL. Prayed they wouldn’t stink of smoke and yay! They spray them with neutralizing spray. Cool view out over Paris too. (but no landmarks except the defense arche which is around here somewhere).
Went out for a wander with Clare and Grace to find some food for tonight before we go off to the Louvre. (room service meals are €30 pp in the hotel!)
Everyone is pretty happy that we have 2 nights here in Paris at the same hotel, so we can get some washing etc done.
Went and found a ‘supermarche’and bought some ready made salads for tonights meal, then Danni and I were picked up from the hotel along with other and off to the Louvre.
Our French guide was Pierre and while he constantly spit on the people near him – he was great!! So passionate and knowledgeable about art. He explained about many of the sculptures and then took us the hall that is the setting for Dan Browns Di Vinci code assignation scene! Having just read that book before coming, it was great as I knew of some of the pieces. Some of them were Huge -2 stories high and just as wide. But the piece de resistance of course was one smaller painting and now I can say
I have stood before the Mona Lisa! She was no disappointement either. Bigger than I had thought and because Pierre explained about the painting techniques etc, you could really appreciate it. We only had a couple of hours there but that was enough as it was pretty hot in there.
Graeme said that at the Louvre when Frank came to pick them up in the bus, it cost 54 euros to park there for 30 mins- unbelievable!!!
Back to the hotel and so ready for bed – fell in about 11.30pm. It was a 15 hour day from hotel to hotel.
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