France

Got up fairly early to be sure of making it to the airport in time to return the car and to fix up VAT paperwork but it turned out we had plenty of time.  The flight to Paris was so short - it hardly seemed worth flying and we probably wouldn't have if it hadn't been included in our airfares.  We arrived a little late considering we hadn't arranged any accommodation here in advance and the luggage took ages to come off the plane, we emerged to dismal weather at about 10pm with the prospect of trying to find somewhere to stay.  We telephoned about 20 different hotels to no avail - everything was full but eventually found something in the Opera district (which seems an ok location) through the accommodation booking office at the airport moments before they closed their doors - we know we can't afford to be fussy at this stage.

We roamed around for a while looking for the bus stop and at one stage we walked past a suitcase someone had left at the edge of the concourse - we thought it odd and were surprised they weren't worried about it being stolen.  We eventually found the bus stop only to be told it was closed for the evening and we had to use the one downstairs - off we trooped to find the one downstairs.  Waiting for the bus we suddenly heard a huge explosion - the kind you can feel echoed in your chest and stared wide-eyed at our fellow passengers who shrugged unconcernedly and explained that airport security had blown up some unattended luggage.  I guess it's a measure of our naivety as Australians that even when we walked past the unattended bag it had never occurred to us that it might be a bomb despite repeated warnings across the PA systems in all the international airports we have past through to report all unattended baggage because of the security hazard.

After checking in at the hotel we go to find some dinner and find ourselves enchanted by this city and by actually being here after dreaming of it for so many years.  We can't help going for a late night stroll along the banks of the Seine as our first impression of Paris.