Day One: London to Paris!

5am.
Pitchblack outside in Camden, London.
We were up.
But did it matter? Nope. Contiki started today!
We were just TOO excited we hadn't really slept at all!

We hopped on the bus and made our way to the Royal National Hotel. We were a touch early so only a few Contiki people were waiting, but more and more arrived. Before I knew it there was 50 of us!
What a variety too! Some token Americans, a few kiwis, a ridiculous amount of Australians and a Mexican.
Everyone was really rather friendly for the ungodly hour. We met the tour guide, Garai. An eccentric guy who originated from Basque, Spain and lived in Austria.

 As our luggage was piled into the bus, we got talking with a couple of girls from Australia; Hayley and Hannah. Lovely girls. I am sure we would in time, get to know everyone else along the way.
We boarded the bus and the excitement ran viral. Everyone was unnaturally chirpy and talkative, chattering away about where they were from and what part of the tour they were most excited about.
We bused for 2 hours to the White Cliffs of Dover. We had to board the ferry from Dover to Calais, France. The ferry gave us the opportunity to get breakfast and get better acquainted with people on Contiki.

Before we knew it, we were in Calais. FRANCE. I was stupidly excited.
We made a stop at WWI battlefield en route to Paris. We saw where the trenches were, how cleverly constructed they had to be, and a gigantic monument. It was a nice little piece of history to encounter.

But Paris was all I could think about. We drove on and made a service stop for lunch. Walking into the mall felt as if we weren't really in France at all... until we noticed the menu was not in English. Thankyou French lessons all through college! I was surprised at how much vocabulary I knew, but despite this I still ordered, not thinking, in English. And what did I order for my first french food experience? A cheeseburger. How French.

After lunch, we then drove on to Paris. The outskirts looked rather dirty and uninviting. We got to our hotel, which was surprisingly nice and had spacious double rooms, in Montmatre. We dumped our bags and headed down to the restaurant downstair for dinner where we could socialise and try typical French cuisine; breads and cheeses etc.

After dinner, we were taken on an "Illumination Tour" of Paris by night. It was extremely overwhelming. Everything was incredible. Better than I imagined it to be. We drove past a majority of the main tourist attractions and even drove through the life-threatening round-about that surrounds the Arc de Triomphe. Was so scary! We even got to see the Eiffel Tower for a short while, and it was just amazing!

We then stopped at a restaurant in central Paris where we got the 'lovely' opportunity to try escargo..... Moment of Truth.

And... Well, it was actually rather nice. Mind you it was saturated in garlic.

Escargo was washed down with a toast of champagne to the beginning of what would be the best two weeks of our lives.