Enroute to Moz!

24 hours later and we're halfway there! :) Six of us Habitaters met up last night in Toronto: Michelle, Susanne, Chelsea, Lisa, Nancy V and Nancy B. We took off a little after 6:45pm on a huge, double decker Air France flight for Paris and arrived in Paris this morning at 8am- 8am France time that is... a huge difference compared to Halifax time where it would have been 3am!! :) Oh well, semi-rested, super excited and pumped that our luggage got checked all the way through to Africa (leaving us only with our carry-ons), we made an inpromptu trip in to Paris for the day! What an amazing day it was- not only was it beautiful and sunny but we managed to see most of the sights. We purchased RER tickets for the train which took us right in to downtown Paris and from there, bought "Batobus" tickets which allowed us to hop on and off a boat all day and see everything we wanted to!

We went to Notre Dame first, taking some pictures of the amazing architecture before grabbing the boat to the Louvre. Michelle, Susanne and Nancy V had already been there before so they decided to catch some rays in the park out front while Nancy B, Lisa and myself went in to explore. What an enormous building- it was incredible! From it's signature glass pyramid and stunning paintings to the Mona Lisa- it was all pretty surreal. From the Louvre, we met up with the other girls and walked though the streets of downtown Paris- so beautiful! We stopped to take photos at the Champs Elysees, the Arc de Triomphe, before finally heading over to the Eiffel Tower! What a day!! :)

By that time our carry-ons were getting pretty heavy! Most of us were carrying between 25-30lbs on our backs for more than 5 hours so we decided to check out a little French cafe patio. We had a great meal, great wine and were even serenaded by a guy with an accordian- ohhh Paris... how romantic! haha

After our meal we headed  back down to the river to grab our boat and motor back to Notre Dame where we could grab the RER train again and head back to the airport. We got a little turned around but found our way back to the train with lots of time to spare. For anyone heading in to the city this way, one note of caution- make sure you you hoof it through the gates after you've inserted your RER ticket or you might get stuck! Probably the funniest part of the day was seeing Michelle half in and half out of the gate!! Her body was through but her backpack got locked on the other side! And yes, instead of helping, we doubled over in laughter and took pictures... so did everyone else around! Nice move Michelle! :) There is nowhere to upload photos here at the airport but stay tuned!

Just a few hours now and we'll be off to Jo-burg! Found some wicked chairs, so we'll be relaxing until then! Thanks for all the comments- keep 'em coming! :)

Chelsea