Topdeck: Paris

Standing outside the Clink Hostel near Kings Cross at 6am was hardly the most glamorous start to our tour. I'd been hoping for a good group of people on our trip and on first impressions we weren't disappointed. The first people we met were Brett and James, a couple of Aussies better known as "Badman" and "Goodman" for unpublishable reasons. Brett had previously spent time on trial at Hull KR, so he understood our excitement at escaping the place, even if only temporarily.

The rest of our fellow travellers slowly filtered in and we were introduced to our trip leader, Sarah, who would soon become known affectionately as "Mum".

The crossing to France was fairly uneventful - me and Phil sat by the bar until they deemed it late enough to serve us a pint. Everyone was still quite reserved. The Aussies and Kiwis compared home towns, while the British minority explained the horrors of theirs. We met our driver, Portia, and our chef, Tobin, upon arrival in Paris and everyone soon got talking that night when vodka was introduced into the mix.

Before that though, we took a short trip to the Eiffel Tower for a photo-op. 

The next morning we were free to do as we pleased, so Phil and I went with a few others to see the Louvre. Partly for Da Vinci's famous Mona Lisa, and partly because I'd just finished re-reading Dan Brown's Angels and Demons, in which the Louvre features heavily. It was a huge place stuffed with tourists, especially in the room that houses the Mona Lisa. After a while the artwork starts to lose meaning, it's hard to focus your mind on one thing at a time. 

One of my highlights was the "Winged Victory of Samothrace" which is over 2,000 years old. Two Chinese tourists tried standing on it for a picture while I was there and I'm pretty sure the guards took them (quite rightly) straight out to the guillotine. RIP Chinese Tourists.

After a quick lunch in a cramped Parisian café we headed off to the Eiffel Tower for a second time for a bike tour of the city. After a full morning of walking the bikes were ideal. The highlight was undoubtedly Les Invalides, the tomb of Napoleon. We stopped for a break on the grass outside with a couple of cans of Kronenbourg and enjoyed the view.

We met back up with the Topdeck crew for a picnic by the Eiffel Tower, which was excellent. Me and José were the winners of the snail eating contest too!

Before making our way back to the camp-site for the night we watched the sun set over Notre Dame from a nearby bridge. It would have been romantic if I hadn't been with another man.

Next Stop: Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland