Day 53 Paris

Day 53 – Paris (Le Havre) – Saturday 7/7/12

Weather – Cloudy, with occasional showers, 12C - 16C

Sunrise – 6.01am

Sunset – 10.06pm

Time difference - minus 8 hours ex Sydney

At 6pm last night we entered the English Channel and at about midnight we passed abeam of Cherbourg. This morning at 5.30am the Le Havre pilot climbed on, and we passed through the breakwaters at 6.10am and was tied up by 7am.

Bonjour Paris, Enchante'.

Today was one of those big ticket days again, Paris, it is pinch myself time again :) We decided to do our own thing in Paris today, and again utilised the Princess transportation in and out. On the bus by 7.30am to be met by an ominously cloudy day, could our run of fine days for this whole cruise be at end we thought. Showers were forecast for Paris, so we had the ponchos packed.

We had to wait until 7.45am as the drivers electronic travel logs are monitored by Police, and and their span of driving shift is not permitted to exceed a certain number of hours – or something like that, as it was explained. Anyway, we waited, and at the stroke of 7.45am , we were away, working our way through the streets of Le Havre, and out onto the motorway for the 3 hour drive into Paris.

The camera started getting a workout almost as soon as were were out of town, and into the Normandy countryside – absolutely gorgeous it is. Lush green country, with quaint little hamlets and villages off to the side, a sprinkling of farms, and lots of national parks and waterways.

We entered the city precinct via a tunnel, that as we exited, there before us was the top half of the Eiffel Tower. Everyone on the bus caught their collective breaths and gasped, a tad excited we were :)

The driver did a couple of laps of the big roundabout that surrounds Arc De Triomphe, and then took us down the striking Des Champs Elysees, before we were set free at our drop off/meeting point of Place De La Concorde.

We went in search of a point to join the Hop On Hop Off bus, which was not too far away. As we only had a few hours in the city, and there were so many places to see, we knew we were just not going to even scratch the surface, but at least we could hit the big ones by sight, and that we did. For the first time since we left Sydney 53 days ago we saw raindrops, albeit just light showers intermittently.

The weather was a bit like a spring day in Melbourne, cloudy overcast, then light sprinkles, then broke out into brilliant sunshine and warmth for most of the day, and then absolutely pissed down when we got on the coach to come home, with a short thunderstorm for the drive home!!

Our two HOHO bus loop gave us a great view of this most beautiful city. At every turn there was another marvellous building, statue, monument etc to see, and they just captivate you. You hardly have time to absorb one, when a new one is upon you. I think one would need tow or three weeks, on foot, to fully appreciate and experience so much of what Paris has to offer.

We got off the bus at the Arc De Triomphe and commenced to wander down Des Champs Elysees. It took us a very long time as there is so much to see in this street. I am sure every top shelf brand name has a store here. This was such a treat to do, as the atmosphere is quite intoxicating with all the people about, the dazzling displays of shops, the aromas wafting out from the cafes, the hawking of the street vendors, the skills of the street performers. It took a very long time to walk the 2km length of this marvellous avenue.

At the bottom end of the avenue is lovely parklands, where they are erecting temporary grandstands for next weeks Bastille Day celebrations, and I am guessing they will leave it up for the Tour de France final day as well. We grabbed a baguette each on the run, from a chain store called Pomme de Pain sandwich cafe, which is a bit like a Subway crossed with a McDonalds style service. Donna had Le Genereux (ham, cheese and salad) and I had a Le Grilladin (steak, cheese, bernaise sauce, grilled)..yummy.

We then found our meeting point, and commenced our return to the ship, forlorn that we saw so little in a city that offers so much , but so thrilled to have seen what we did. We WILL be back !!!

We wound our way out of the city, passing through the tunnel where Princess Dianne was tragically killed. I was surprised how short that tunnel was, I had expected it was one of those long ones, but it is really just an underpass tunnel. Back out onto the motorway for the picturesque drive home to Normandy country.

At about 8pm tonight we left berth, and after exiting the harbour we set an initial course north westerly towards the English Channel, then set various northerly courses before joining the traffic separation scheme at around midnight, and passed the Greenwich Light Float 5.2 miles to port.

The light float marks 000.000' longitude, and is the point that we will cross back from the western hemisphere to the eastern hemisphere. At 4.30am tomorrow, Sun Princess will chuck a 90 degree alteration of course to port, and cross the south-west bound lane of the traffic separation scheme, and the Dover pilot will hop on about 3 miles from Dover harbour.