Paris 1994

Paris, 30 April till 1 May 1994

Have you ever done a "never-come-back" bus trip? Well we did. There was one "famous" company in Germany known for strenous overnight trips in run down busses to the majour European cities and either returning the same evening or staying overnight in a bad hotel. We were young, short of money and wanted to see Paris. We boarded the bus late in the evening and drove for about 10 to 12 hours south to France via the Netherlands. The bus driver dropped us at a shabby place near the Moulin Rouge and despite the lack of sleep we just dropped our luggage and explored the city. Our first stop was Sacre Coeur and Mont Matre

Sure enough we tried to explore all the important sights without paying any entree. We trotted the lane of haute couture, lay in the grass watching the Eiffel tower, looked at the Louvre, the Arc du Triomphe, went to the book sellers at the Seine river, peeped into Notre Dame and enjoyed the evening lights of the Hôtel de Ville. We nearly starved ourselves to death because we couldn't decide which restaurant should have the pleasure to feed us. We stayed outdoors as long as our feet would carry us for we had no desire to return to our doubtful hotel room.

On 1 May we had booked a tour to Versailles. Only none of the crew deemed it relevant to inform us that the castle was going to be closed on May Day. However the castle park was huge and pretty enough. The sun was beating down on us warming up to 30°C. There was an old timer meeting infront of the Grand Trianon.

The bus left Paris at lunch time and we reached home in the middle of the night. 3 hours sleep and then off to work. We were young and enthusiastic and we survived!