Paris

We drove to the Bois De Boulogne Forest in Western Paris, it is not easy driving a camper in Paris. We parked in the woods area where at night prostitutes work in blocked up vans. We walked to the Eiffel Tower. We had a picnic lunch on the other side of the river Seine with a great view of the tower in the middle of Paris. It stood out as it was surrounded by no Skyscrapers. As we walked under it we were surrounded by people from Africa and India who were walking around selling mini Eiffel towers and Paris souvenirs. We saw a long line for tickets but it was for the lift. We took the stairs and were some of the only people on the stairs. The climb to the first floor had a lot of steps and we had great views through the steel frame that got better as we climbed higher. It was quite weird being in something that was a steel skeleton rather than a solid concrete block. On the 2nd floor we had a 360degree view of Paris with the river running through it. We could see the woods where we were parked, the Arc de Triomphe, the Museum de Louvre and a little Statue of Liberty. The climb down was easy and we were glad we weren’t in the lift because and they went past we saw them crammed with unhappy looking people. Johanna, William and Thomas bought mini Eiffel Towers and had fun bartering them down to a good price. We walked along the river Seine past a memorial for Princess Diana over the tunnel were she crashed. We continued to the Place de la concord where Louie XVI and Marie-Antoinette got there heads chopped off. We had a rest and some much needed lollies, everybody’s legs ached from all the walking. Then we walked down the beautiful avenue of the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe, a war memorial arch in the middle of a large roundabout with 12 exits. While we were there there was a war ceremony happening so we couldn’t go under the arch. We managed to walk back before it was dark and we drove back to our spot on the river Seine were we slept as we were all tired from lot’s of walking.


The next day we drove back to the Bois de Boulogne and parked in then same spot. We walked back down the Champs de Elysees with shopping boutiques, flash cars, jewellers and a couple of busy restaurants. We had another French bread picnic in the Jarden des Tuileries and walked along the River Seine to Notre Dame Catherdral. The were lots of Gargoyles on the two bell towers. We went inside and it was packed with tourists. There was a service going on inside and there were lot’s of priests and bishops wearing red and white robes. We had more French bread for dinner outside the Lourve. At 6 o’clock we entered the glass pyramid in the courtyard of the old palace buildings. Once we had tickets we went straight to the gallery where the Mona Lisa was. Our first thoughts were it was a lot smaller than we expected. It was the only painting protected by glass and a few guards. It had a massive crowd around it and it was had to a clear photo. No matter where we walked Mona was always watching us. We tried to explore the rest of the Museum but there was far too much to see in 3 hours. We went through a few exhibits of Egyptian artefacts and mummies, thousands of years old. Johanna tripped up and smacked her knee on some steps so she couldn’t continue. Mum stayed with her and got some ice in a glove from a café. The rest of us split up and wanted to see certain things around the place. While trying to reach the Australasian and African gallery we ended up seeing most of the rooms. The rooms of the old palace were similar to Versailles and were worth a visit even without the artwork in them. We had enough after an hour or so but couldn’t walk the 6km back to our Camper in the dark. We took the metro back to the camper and slept safely in the woods with some other campers. Unfortunately we didn’t see the whole tower lit up at night but some of us walked back to the Eiffel Tower the next day. The street vendors disappeared when the cops walked by because they’re not allowed to sell there if they’re illegal residents.

We drove out of Paris and across North-Eastern France to an Aire and had a good shower. We had an awesome time in Paris!