Paris

Otherwise we just did a quick drive by in one of those hop on hop off tours.

The weather was unfortunately rainy - so not so pleasant for wandering around.

John and I went out to experience New Years Eve in the heart of Paris (Glenyce refused to participate,
because she and John don't do anything to celebrate in Canberra). We had some vague notion that there may be
fireworks over either the Arc de Triomphe or the Eiffel Tower. The Champs Elysee was closed to traffic and was
absolutely packed with people. We made our way to a spot among the revellers where both landmarks were visible.
Unfortunately, neither of these landmarks incorporate a clock. Midnight came. I saw the next day on the TV when
Paris was shown that they mentioned the sparkling lights of the Eiffel Tower. What they failed to mention was that
the sparkling blue lights are displayed for the first six minutes of every hour after dark. So midnight came and went
with most of the crowd not being quite sure that it had occurred. Some enterprising souls had brought their own, 
quite substantial, fireworks. And these went off at random intervals from about 10 before midnight until about 20
past... possibly at considerable risk to those in their general vicinity.

Eventually, we figured that nothing more was going to happen and wandered disconsolately back to the hotel.

Apparently there had been fireworks in previous years, but they were cancelled this year due to the risk of riots.
Oh well, at least a fizzer is better than being caught up accidentally in a riot!
Paris appeared to pretty much closed for New Year's Day (even the tourist attractions!) - so, big kids
that we are, we caught the train to Paris Disneyland. This was like a holiday from being on holidays. Not
as big as Disneyland at Anaheim, but with most of the essentials. The only disappointment was that the
Indiana Jones ride was just a roller coaster instead of the wonderful experience it was in Anaheim. But our other
old favourites were all there - Pirates of the Caribbean and the Peter Pan ride and Star Tours. We had a lovely day!
In Main Street, there would be a wind sound effect every so often and bubbles would shoot from the top of the 
buildings, so that it looked as though snow was falling - lovely.

That's about it for Paris . I would have to say, not really my favourite city this tour. Even the food was disappointing.
 The bistros are kind of nice, but I think French women don't get fat because they all have lung cancer! Everyone in
Paris appears to smoke like a chimney, particularly in restaurants.

Had better go for now - or I will never get this email out!

Au revoir

Leonie