My Second Visit to Paris We left London on the contiki trip at 7am, boarding the ferry at Dover and then continuing over into France by late morning. It was 5pm by the time we reached our contiki sight in Paris, and made me realise how much better it was to travel by Eurostar! The first night we had dinner and then re-boarded the bus for a night time tour of Paris, with our guide, Ali pointing out the famous landmarks. I really enjoyed it as I'd seen at least half of them before, and was able to understand where we were, and not feel completely lost. I did enjoy being able to see places I hadn't seen last time also, such as the Opera House, Maxims and the Obelisk. We also drove around the Arc de Triomphe roundabout that I thought looked so scary last time. The roundabout has no rules except that you must give way to anyone coming onto the roundabout. It is such a traffic hazard that insurance companies don't cover accidents occurring on it. As we were approaching it, Ali put the song "Danger Zone" on the stereo which was pretty fitting. We returned to our site and went to bed. Wednesday morning we woke and started the day with the a few hours at the Palace of Versailles. The Palace of Versailles was built because the King didn't think the Louvre was big enough for his palace (and having been in the Louvre and finding it huge, I couldn't believe this one!). So it didn't really surprise me how large it was. What surprised me was how ostentatious it was. By the end, I thought it just looked too tacky and too overdone. Too much wealth and not enough taste. The one amazing room was the hall of mirrors, where the treaty of Versailles was signed in 1918. It felt so historic standing in this room, and even the thousand other people in the room couldn't detract from it. We then reboarded the bus and were taken into Paris for the afternoon. I spent it wandering the Champs Elysees and also going up to the top of the Arc de Triomphe, as I didn't do that last time. It was nice to not rush about like last time, and to just enjoy being there again. That night we went out for a French meal and then onto a cabaret show. No, we didn't get to go to the Moulin Rougue, but it was close by in the Montmatre area. The show was great, not sure what I was expecting but I certainly didn't expect to see so many topless girls! And unfortunately, the men in the show were quite obviously camp. It was a good show though, and a real Parisian experience. We were given the complete next day to explore Paris so I headed over to the Musee de Orsay, which was the kind of Museum I like - full of Monet's, Renoir's and Picasso's. It was amazing to be seeing so many of the works I'd studied in school. While the Louvre was more impressive, I liked the content of the Musee de Orsay more. After a few hours here, went for a walk up the Seine and over to the old jail, where people such as Marie Antoinette were held. Took a cruise on the Seine river afterwards and got to see all the sights from the water, which was great. A full guided tour was also provided so very interesting to hear the history of Paris. Took a wander through the Tivoli gardens and then it was time to meet at the concord to go back to the site for the night. I really enjoyed my second visit to Paris as it gave me more time to explore and do things much more leisurely. I managed to do a few things I missed the first time, such as the river cruise, to see the palace and spent more time on the Champs Elysees.