Paris

We had a good, but short sleep before getting up at 5:00 am.  The skies were clear, and the sunrise was beautiful.  We did happen to notice that we seemed a bit far from the port to get there by 6:00 am, but did not think anything more if it.

We got ready and went for a quick bite to eat before going to the Pursers’ Desk to check out and wait on our Passports to be returned from  French Immigration. Again we were thinking that it seemed that we arriving in port later than scheduled, and this was confirmed when we arrived at the Pursers’ Desk. At first we were informed that due to leaving late from Falmouth yesterday, we would be an hour late arriving this morning at Le Havre.  In almost the same sentence, the staff person we were talking to also said that there were engine problems and that was the reason for the delay in arrival at Le Havre.

A short time later, it was announced that the delay was due to other ship traffic at the port, which seemed more likely.  In any event, we were not going to be able to get off the ship in time (7:00 am) to make our 8:00 am train into Paris. This was all further confused by the difference in ship’s time and France time, which was an hour ahead.  That was the reason we needed to be off at 6:00 am ship’s time, it was really 7:00 am France time.  Fortunately, there is a train every hour, but now we were not certain our pre-purchased ticket would still be usable.  Then 7:00 am came and went and still we had no passports, although other passengers were now getting off.  Finally at about 8:00 am (really 9:00 am in Paris), our passports were returned, and we were cleared to get off of the ship.  If you are confused by all of this, you are no different than most of the crew and passengers that we talked with this morning!

We disembarked and took a taxi to the rail station in Le Havre.   Stephanie went to the ticket office to verify if our tickets were still good, only to find out they were not, and we had to purchase new tickets.  Due to the uncertainly of the ship’s port arrivals in general, I suppose now that it would be more prudent just to get tickets that are good for travel at anytime of a particular day, not on an exact schedule.

However, we had thought the ship would be on time for this port since a lot of people are going into Paris, a three hour trip each way, and the 2 hours lost were substantial for the overall amount of time available to tour Paris.

We wondered if the ship’s departure would also be delayed, but no announcements were made to that effect. We will have to check with Ruthe and Brian after we get back to see if it was.  The only announcements the ship made were that “tours would not be affected”, but I can’t see how that would be the case.

As I am writing this, we are on our train to Paris, and it is a beautiful and sunny day, so we will just make due, and forget about the extra ticket cost, it was not that much anyway.

We made it to Paris without any issues, but had a little trouble getting to the Metro to ride to the stop nearest to our hotel.  Once we bought our Metro tickets, we found that all of the escalators going down to the Metro (subway) were broken, which meant a lot of stairs, and then more stairs, and just a few more stairs, all with our luggage in tow.  Once we got on the Metro train, we had to change to a different line, and that meant, yes, more stairs.  Finally, we got to the correct station and  once we exited, we just had a few blocks to walk to our hotel.  The room was not yet ready, so we stored our luggage at the hotel and went for a bite to eat at a local restaurant nearby.  Once we were checked in, off we went to see the sights of Paris.

Our first stop was the Notre Dame Cathedral, where we walked around inside the church.  We did not climb the tower as we had planned, there were too many people in line.  The cathedral was very large inside, and very ornate.  We spent about two hours walking around and looking at all of the beautiful interior sights.

Next, it was back on the Metro to ride to the Arc de Triumph, and again, just like at Notre Dame, there were too many people waiting in line climb to the top.

We figured that with the crowds, we would most likely have to wait in line for the Eiffel Tower, so back on the metro we went and rode over to the Eiffel Tower area.

After a few pictures from below the tower, we got in the long line to get tickets and then ride to the top.  The tower was being painted, so there were some nets hanging on a few of the levels. After waiting for about an hour, we rode to the second level, then waited in another line to ride to the very top.

After spending about 30 minutes at the top level, we descended down to the second level for more pictures.

It was just crowded in Paris today; we were trying to figure out if there was something special going on, or just the time of year.  We then went to an area across from the tower to wait for it to get dark, and take some pictures of the tower at night.

With that accomplished, it was back on the Metro to go back to the hotel and find something to eat nearby.

After eating a late dinner, we ventured back to Notre Dame for some night pictures of the cathedral.

We also could see the top of Eiffel Tower from there, and took a picture of the rotating  light beacon.

Finally, around midnight, it was time to turn in. This had been a long, but scenic day in Paris.