Europe Travel Diary 1987 55

We were a little late to get moving this morning, which was probably just as well as the cleaning lady informed us that we had to change rooms, although no reason was provided. Given that we had all our belongings from almost two months of travel, this was going to be no small task. Fortunately, my schoolboy French (which was becoming quite proficient by this time) managed to convince her to let us remain in the same room.

Having secured stable accommodation, we left to explore some Paris department stores, all of which we found to be quite expensive (perhaps we had been spoilt by the low prices in places like Czechoslovakia and Hungary). Di was a little outraged that she even had to pay to use the loo, something she had managed to avoid almost the entire trip.

We had lunch at the shopping centre and then left for two last sightseeing flings. Our first stop was a trip to the observation deck at the top of Paris’ tallest building, the Tour (Tower) Montparnasse. This 210 metre high building is mostly occupied by offices and, to put it kindly, isn’t very Parisian in its architectural style. Nonetheless, the views from the observation deck were fabulous, especially the clear line of sight west to the Eiffel Tower.

Descending back to ground level, we decided to visit the Sacré Coeur Basilica and explore the nearby streets of the Montmartre district surrounding it. This was an unexpectedly enjoyable experience for us all, especially for Liesl and Phillip when they discovered there a merry-go-round in operation. It was a lovely way to finish what turned out to be a fairly long day.

Day 55

Paris

Saturday 5 September 1987