VTT Postcard - Day 15 - Paris, France

Aaahh…..all good things must come to an end. Today was the last day of the tour. Even sadder was that I was not going back to London with the group. My tour ends here and now. I exchanged goodbyes with the group at breakfast and watched as they left.

So what is a girl supposed to do all alone in Paris? Not to mention that I was down to my last few Euros.

Early in the morning at the Eiffel Tower before the sun shines

I decided that I would start early and leave for Eiffel Tower, which I missed going up to yesterday because of the queue. I arrived at the Tower, but it seemed we were faced with another adversary – the weather! It was foggy and misty and in the end, I only got up to the second level. But it was high enough for me. I am ON the Eiffel Tower! I forgot to mention that I actually arrived at the Tower to queue at just before 9am. When I arrived there, there was already a queue of about 50 people. When I eventually got up, it was already 10:45am. Queues are really bad in Paris when it’s peak tourist season. Aaaargh!

View from Eiffel Tower's 2nd level

After that, I decided to make my way to Sacre Couer Cathedral, which was located near our hotel. I still had to take the Metro as I was fast running out of time. I went from the Tower to the Cathedral and got there at about 11.30am. I really did a super fast number on the Sacre Couer as I only had an hour to see what it offered and I needed to get back to the hotel for my airport transfer pickup.

Sacre Couer Cathedral

I walked all the way up to the Cathedral. And believe me, it was ALL the way up! The Cathedral was perched on a hill but really felt like a mountain hike to me. The Cathedral was very nice outside but I did not have a chance to look at it in detail inside as there was a sermon going on at that time. All I can say is that it was really massive inside!

When I came down from the Cathedral, I quickly made my way back to the Metro and then back to the hotel. My airport transfer came around 1:30pm and drove me to Charles de Gaulle International Airport. It was still really early when I arrived at the airport and so I walked around and decided to try Starbucks coffee (which I don’t have a pleasure to taste back in South Africa).

Starbucks coffee at Charles de Gaulle International Airport

My flight took me to Frankfurt and then to South Africa. I spent the celebration of the New Year up in the air while flying over somewhere in Europe. We were greeted Happy New Year by our captain twice. Once when it was New Year's in Europe and then the next hour when it was the New Year's at our destination.

Can’t believe I actually made it. Can’t believe my frail, old body survived the whole trip. Can’t help feeling it was a nice long unforgettable journey but I really need my own bed now….