To accommodate the last-minute Moulin Rouge schedule change, Day 6 of our Contiki vacation started an hour earlier than we originally planned. After a delicious Parisian breakfast, Annie and I boarded the bus at 8am to begin our free morning while Stephanie caught up on some beauty sleep at the hotel.
Since everyone had a different agenda for their free time in Paris, the Contiki bus stopped at a few different major sites. Annie and I decided to get off at the first stop to explore Notre Dame, a gothic Roman Catholic cathedral. Every aspect of the cathedral was breathtaking. Flying buttresses and gargoyles adorned the outside, while gorgeous stained glass lit up the inside. Unfortunately it was too early to climb the bell towers (like Quasimodo, the hunchback of Notre Dame!), so Annie and I just walked around the first level of the church. We also wrote messages for loved ones on a slips of paper that we placed inside a giant prayer box. #StephanieWasSleeping
After snapping pictures of the outside of Notre Dame, we were freezing – the temperature was at a record low for Paris! We sat down at nearby café to warm up and plan the rest of our morning. Unfortunately we learned the hard way that even simple menu items, like cups of coffee, are extremely expensive when consumed next to major tourist attractions. However, considering how cold it was outside, our 4 Euro cups of coffee were definitely worth it!
This is me outside of Notre Dame. I wasn’t kidding when I said it was freezing!
We then walked to Centre Georges Pompidou, the modern art museum in Paris. The building’s design was the epitome of high-tech architecture. The escalators were inside glass tubes on the outside of the museum, allowing visitors to take in excellent views of all of Paris. Since we only had an hour before we had to meet up with our group, Annie and I decided to divide and conquer. She explored the gift shop (for more shopping, obviously!) while I scoped out the modern art. Take a look at some of the wild art I saw!
It was then time to meet up with our Contiki group to go on our included excursion to Versailles. On the way there we listened to a great mix of music including our official group song, “Good Feeling” by Flo Rida. Since Petula used to work in radio, she was a professional playlist-maker and always offered extremely entertaining commentary through the microphone.
When we arrived in Versailles, we grabbed a quick lunch at the museum’s café and met up with our tour guide, a local expert. The Palace of Versailles was huge; it took 50 years to build and 20,000 people lived there during Louis XIV’s reign. On our tour we saw Marie Antoinette’s bedroom, her husband Louis XVI’s bedroom, several rooms for socializing, and the famous Hall of Mirrors, my favorite room. We also learned endless amounts of interesting facts about the Palace and its occupants. For instance, we learned that in the 17th century, it took 3,000 hours to create a tiny mirror. Despite this, Louis XIV insisted on placing 17 huge mirrors along the walls of the Hall of Mirrors. Wow. Shoe-lovers will want to take note of this next fun fact. Apparently, Louis XIV inspired Christian Louboutin to create his signature red soles. That’s right ladies, Louis XIV was the first to wear shoes with red high heels. He was such a trendsetter (a Campus Trendsetter, that is!).
Stephanie and Annie outside of the Palace of Versailles.
At 3pm we hopped back on the Contiki bus to head back to our hotel. We filled out surveys of our trip and gave both Petula and John glowing reviews! Our time in London and Paris was incredibly organized, and Petula was such an entertaining and informative Tour Manager. We also received a list with contact information for all of our new friends (so we could find each other on Facebook, of course!).
By the time we got back to the hotel, we had less than an hour to get all dolled up for the Moulin Rouge. One of our tour mates even put on a suit he had purchased in Paris the day before! On the way to the show we rocked out to “Lady Marmalade” by Christina Aguilera, Lil Kim, Pink, and Mya (“hey sista, go sista, soul sista…”). When we arrived, we took the required photos outside the iconic Moulin Rouge windmill and then headed inside to sit down to our 3-course meal. Taking advantage of the delightful pre-show musical entertainment, a couple on our trip hit up the dance floor to celebrate their budding romance.
Once we finished our meals (and our personal half-bottles of wine), we toasted to our new Contiki friends with complementary champagne and eagerly anticipated the beginning of the show. Before we knew it, the music was blaring and dozens of topless women were dancing on stage. The costumes, though topless, were extravagantly decorated with feathers and sequins. One act featured a topless woman who dove into a pool of live snakes and another act involved a dozen ladies leading around mini ponies. It was truly a spectacle. In between each act of dancing and singing, we saw magic tricks and other silly acts. One man juggled up to 7 pins at once and another managed to juggle ping-pong balls in his mouth. A third man orchestrated a comedy act with audience participation and selected… drumroll please… Shane from our Contiki trip to join him on stage! He made Shane flirt with a female audience member. He had to dance with her and then get in a fight with another guy when he tried to cut in. It was hilarious!
After the show ended, most of our friends stayed out to party at O’Sullivans, the Irish pub next door. We took advantage of a free ride home (Contiki paid for cabs if people decided to leave right after the Moulin Rouge) to head back to the hotel, do a little work, and pack for Amsterdam. Check back tomorrow to hear all about our first day in Amsterdam!
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