Bonsoir, Mon Amie! I have returned from gay Paree!
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My morning started with a chuckle today. While we were waiting for our Paris
tour to depart, the person running the shore excursions kept repeating,
"Everyone on the Parasites tour please check in." It reminded me of a line by
comic Jackie Mason when he spoke of going to Paris to visit the "Parisites."
We had booked the "Paris Sights with Lunch" tour. Normally, I'm not a "group
bus tour" kind of guy. But because this was my first visit to Paris since
1972 (when I had hair halfway down my back, and I was driving a Volkswagen
van around Europe), I thought I would let someone else worry about getting us
there and showing us around.
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Today reminded me why I don't care for bus tours. To begin with, the bus we
traveled in should have a height restriction: No one taller than 5'5" should
be allowed on. The seating arrangements on this bus were so tight that even
Mrs. Kuki had difficulty fitting in without having her knees jammed against
the seat in front. At 6'4", I had no choice but to sit sideways, with my legs
entirely in the aisle. This made the two-and-a-half hour drive to Paris
almost unbearably uncomfortable. To make matters worse, even after reaching
Paris, the first three hours of this tour turned out to be one those "see
Europe out the window of a bus" tours.
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During the entire first few hours, we had only two 10-minute stops strictly
for photo ops. The lunch portion of the tour was on a cruise along the Seine
River, and due to my displeasure with the earlier part of the tour, I almost
took Mrs. Kuki and bailed out. She convinced me to give the river cruise a
shot, and I'm certainly happy we did, as this was the best part of the tour.
The food was surprisingly tasty, and even better was the excellent
perspective we had for seeing many of the most famous structures of Paris.
After lunch, our tour went to Notre Dame Cathedral, with an hour of free time
for shopping or looking around. Mrs. Kuki was disappointed to learn that the
short amount of shopping time was in one of the few parts of Paris where
there is no shopping, other than a string of souvenir stores.
I suppose I have to accept some responsibility for choosing this tour to
begin with, but I didn't understand the language in the tour descriptions.
When they said the tour would visit certain sites, they didn't mean we would
actually stop to see them, but rather would have a view of them through a
coach window.
Celebrity also offered other Paris tours, but even if we had booked "Paris on
Your Own," it would have meant riding the same uncomfortable bus to and from.
I think for my next visit to Paris from Le Havre, I'll find my own guide/car
for the day, or take the train to Paris, independently.
Having said all of that, Paris is certainly an impressive city, offering
quite a mix of the historical and the modern and cosmopolitan. It feels as if
there is one café for each citizen of Paris. Mrs. Kuki will have to wait for
her next visit to see the world-renowned high fashion shops, or at least wait
until we get to Monaco.
Following our day in Paris, we had a day at sea onboard the Constellation. We
slept late to recharge, and prepare for the next ports of call in Spain and
Portugal.
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We had the opportunity this afternoon to tour the bridge of the
Constellation, hosted by Rear Admiral Angelos Argyropoulos, Celebrity's
Senior Vice President of Marine Operations; and by the Constellation's
Master, Captain Gerassimos Andrianatos. We learned a great deal about the way
the physical plant of the ship operates, and her sophisticated safety
features.
Considering the problems Celebrity encountered a few months ago with the
azipod system on the Summit and Infinity, I asked the Admiral what type of
warranty these ships had coming out of the shipyard. I joked with him, asking
if like a new car purchase, they had taken out an extended warranty package.
He told us the ships have a one-year warranty coming out of the shipyard. Of
the Millennium class ships, the warranty has already expired on the
Millennium, and Infinity's warranty expires next week. A rather odd bit of
information I suppose, but interesting.
We have late-seating dinner, and we've been enjoying the food and service and
the company at dinner so much we have yet to leave the dining room before 11
p.m. As a result, we haven't even made it to the theater for a show yet.
Tomorrow we're docking in Vigo, Spain, and Mrs. Kuki and I are planning to
explore on our own.
