Day 1-Paris, France

After about 12 hours of flying from New York, I finally landed in Paris and was so excited to start my Contiki adventure. I got to meet up with some other early arrivals and our first stop was Notre Dame. It was amazing I was only in Paris for a few hours and was already wisked to one of the most famous places in the city. The line to get into the Notre Dame was quite long, but we shuffled our way in and I soon fell in love with the architecture of stained glass and vaulted ceilings.

Desiree, Dan, Christa, Elise, Simmy and I then headed to a café, where I felt compelled ordered the Parisian baguette as my first meal in Paris. Then we headed to the coach and met up with everyone else and met our Tour Manager, Ryan, and Tour Driver, Andy. Right from the start I knew Ryan would be awesome because he was a Kiwi, and I had just gotten back from a Contiki in New Zealand. Everyone started introducing themselves on the coach and we quickly arrived at the hotel then Ryan told us we would have about 2 hours to nap, shower, or just relax. **Travel Tip: When traveling have a reliable alarm clock** My roommate, Christa, and I decided a nap would be a good idea, recover a little from jet lag and be recharged for a night in Paris. However we overslept, missed the coach to dinner, and thought we would miss our first experience in Paris. We ran into Patrick in the lobby, who also missed the coach, but luckily caught up with Becky who had arrived on a late flight. We then navigated the Paris Metro and made it to the restaurant in time to eat some dinner before we headed to the Eiffel Tower.

When we arrived Ryan went and got our tickets so we were able to bypass the other tourist, which is of course a perk of going with a group like Contiki. The way up gave us time to take pictures and get to know more of our fellow Contikiers. Before getting to the top Ryan told us what time to be back at the coach and that it is usually quicker to take the stairs down rather than the elevators. The top of the Eiffel was amazing, you could see for miles and the sun was setting as we took in the 360 views. Paris is called the City of Love and we experienced that as we witnessed an engagement atop the Eiffel Tower, and looking out over the city we saw a huge heart mowed into the lawn below.

After taking in the gorgeous views from the top of the Eiffel Tower, it quickly became to head back to the coach so Kevin, John, Simmy, Desiree and I made a made dash down the Eiffel Tower, which included no shoes and getting lost once. At the bottom we ran into Mark, who showed us how to take awesome pictures in front of the Eiffel Tower.

Back on the coach we had our Illuminations Tour, Andy drove us to throughout the beautiful City of Lights while Ryan gave us all the inside info on Paris. Andy navigated the narrow arches through the Louvre, took us down Champs Elysee, past the Opera House and so many other highlights. It was then back to the hotel for some much needed rest before a free day in Paris tomorrow.