DAY 1: Topdeck Grand European 28 day tour
We begin our topdeck tour at 7am with a 1.5 hour ferry ride from Dover port in London across the English channel to our first destination-- Paris!
We meet our funny Topdeck bus driver, Dave who will be with us for the next 28 days. Departing from Calais Port at 1:45pm,we arrive in the city of Paris at 5pm at Mister Bed Bagnolet Hotel.

It is in a ghetto dodgy area of Paris.... Lots of graffiti everywhere and dirty streets. The locals were eyeing a big group of 50 odd backpackers walking down the road with their luggage like a bloody eyesore.

After checking into the hotel (rooms were tiny, basic, run-down but clean enough) we headed across the road for dinner at 6:45 at 'espace carnot'.
It was a family-style bistro but the food was absolutely disgusting. The absolute WORST food experience in my life.
1. Onion soup entree was SOUR.
2. Escargot tasted like the garden (i.e. Dirt and moss)
3. Bread was stale
4. Beef bourginon was tough, sour... Potatoes and carrots were horrible.
... It felt like they served us leftovers/ overnight stale food that should belong in the bin.!! (the before and after photo shots of the above dishes basically look the same ... We did not touch them at all!). I wonder if this standard of food was only served to the tour groups while regular paying customers were given something else?

After dinner we were off on a city lights tour of the city by bus.
...down by the River Seine...passing by the Notre Dame...De Louvre...Place de la Concorde & the Oblisk...Champs-Elysee...Arc de Triomphe...and of course the iconic Eiffel Tower!

The 12 way roundabout around the Arc de Triomphe was hectic-- no insurance covers car accidents on this part of the road, and an interesting fact is that cars IN the roundabout must give way to cars ENTERING the roundabout.

The Eiffel tower, although seen many times through various media forms, was truly magical.! The grandeur and beauty of the Eiffel Tower had alot to do with the accompaniment of the wonderful finesse and detail of the gothic architectural buildings along the banks of the River Seine. From
any perspective you look from, everything was spectacularly beautiful.

Looking forward to our free day in Paris tomorrow!