I woke up on my birthday in a jail. 

I never thought I would ever say that. Ok, let’s be honest, it’s a jail that was converted into a hotel, but that still makes it a jail, right? It’s even called a jail hotel. 

After making my prison break, we climbed back on the Contiki coach and made our way to the crown jewel of our trip: Paris! 

Paris was the reason I signed up for this trip. Paris on my birthday- amazing! I was practically jumping up and down the whole day on the bus, reminding anyone who talked to me that we were on our way to Paris (as if they didn’t already know). 

We drove and we drove and we drove some more. Then the moment came were our tour manager got on the microphone and pointed out the Eiffel Tower poking up over the upcoming city landscape.  I could have squeal – maybe I did – with excitement. I was in Paris!!

Unfortunately it was rush hour by the time we got there so the traffic was very slow moving. I did notice a few things while slowly making our way

1. There is a lot of graffiti in Paris. Heck, there is a lot of graffiti all over Europe but Paris even has vehicles that are completely covered in graffiti. 

2. Daffodils grow wild in Paris. I would assume that isn’t actually limited to the city itself, but that’s where I noticed it. 

3. There is an Astérix park, named after the comic book character. 

4. The general driving etiquette seemed insane compared to what we have back home. I am sure there must be some method to their madness!

Once we got to the hotel we had a little time to clean ourselves up before dinner.

Dinner was followed by the highlight of the day: a night time your of Paris. The arc de triomphe, the champs élysée, the Louvre, the many amazing museums, the Notre Dame Cathedral, the location of Napolean’s remains, the Paris Opera House and of course, la pièce de résistence, the Eiffel Tower. 

At 10pm the tower has a light show. It consists of lights on the tower flashing which makes it look as though it is twinkling. It was absolutely beautiful. It was definitely the best way I could think of ending my birthday. 

We headed back to our hotel there after and I could hardly sleep knowing that the next day I would be free to explore all the wonders of that city.