Up in the clouds
This is the point of the trip that I'd like to say I've used my little bit of French, but I haven't. Most people speak far better English, and my French is really limited. I did have to laugh that our tour guide thinks that French is the hardest language. And it is the one I feel most comfortable with!
Today was mostly a busy travel day. We left Montreux for Lausanne so we could catch the high speed train to Paris. Wow, first class train travel is fancy. We had a little breakfast meal served to us. It was like being on the plane but far more comfortable. I did have to laugh when someone asked before we got on and out tour director told them that "of course we are traveling first class'. And even traveling speeds up to 280 km an hour it was still a four hour ride. But a comfortable four hours.
But we arrived safely and started our city tour. That is the one part of this package that is a little lackluster. The city tours. It mostly consists of us driving for an hour while someone with an accent drones on about stuff out the window. The tour did include going up the Eiffel tower. It's a little chaotic but we did get to miss the gigantic lineup and just went right on up like we were important. It's quite the experience, I can see why 7 million people a year go up. We only took the elevator up to the second level and didn't have time or the desire to walk all the way to the top. It is an impressive view. We did however walk down the stairs to the first level and just walking that was enough to feel it in the calves. So we took the elevator down the rest of the way.
A far more impressive view is the montparnasse tower. It's a 59 story building that has turned the roof into an observatory. Standing up there makes the Eiffel tower look tiny. Yes, we did go up two towers today! But the second one is two blocks away from our hotel room so it was nice to do something instead of just sitting in the hotel room all night. I'm also happy to see that I've gotten over my fear of heights a little bit. It's still a little freaky to be up this high but I've been okay with going up to the edges.
I think that we are going to just have a quiet evening in the hotel tonight and start fresh in the morning. Now that the tour is getting close to being done for the most part we are on our own. Just one more city tour in London and one more train ride and we come home. Tomorrow I had hoped to go to Versailles palace but realize now that we have little time to do that. But it's okay, it'll give me a reason to come back in the future! Instead we will tour the city and find some lovely bakeries so I can try some authentic European baking! And rest up so we still have energy for London!!
Today was mostly a busy travel day. We left Montreux for Lausanne so we could catch the high speed train to Paris. Wow, first class train travel is fancy. We had a little breakfast meal served to us. It was like being on the plane but far more comfortable. I did have to laugh when someone asked before we got on and out tour director told them that "of course we are traveling first class'. And even traveling speeds up to 280 km an hour it was still a four hour ride. But a comfortable four hours.
But we arrived safely and started our city tour. That is the one part of this package that is a little lackluster. The city tours. It mostly consists of us driving for an hour while someone with an accent drones on about stuff out the window. The tour did include going up the Eiffel tower. It's a little chaotic but we did get to miss the gigantic lineup and just went right on up like we were important. It's quite the experience, I can see why 7 million people a year go up. We only took the elevator up to the second level and didn't have time or the desire to walk all the way to the top. It is an impressive view. We did however walk down the stairs to the first level and just walking that was enough to feel it in the calves. So we took the elevator down the rest of the way.
A far more impressive view is the montparnasse tower. It's a 59 story building that has turned the roof into an observatory. Standing up there makes the Eiffel tower look tiny. Yes, we did go up two towers today! But the second one is two blocks away from our hotel room so it was nice to do something instead of just sitting in the hotel room all night. I'm also happy to see that I've gotten over my fear of heights a little bit. It's still a little freaky to be up this high but I've been okay with going up to the edges.
I think that we are going to just have a quiet evening in the hotel tonight and start fresh in the morning. Now that the tour is getting close to being done for the most part we are on our own. Just one more city tour in London and one more train ride and we come home. Tomorrow I had hoped to go to Versailles palace but realize now that we have little time to do that. But it's okay, it'll give me a reason to come back in the future! Instead we will tour the city and find some lovely bakeries so I can try some authentic European baking! And rest up so we still have energy for London!!
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