Left the states on July 4th for a few days in Paris prior to traveling to Barcelona to embark on a 12 night Med. cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas. Flew Continental from ATL to Newark and then to CDG. Smooth flights all the way over. On the way home was a different story. We were notified about halfway between Barcelona and Newark that we did not have enough fuel and would have to stop in Nova Scotia to refuel. We were stuck in the plane on the runway for around an hour in Nova Scotia. This was not fun after already being in a plane for that long. Several people including us missed our connecting flights in Newark, however we got lucky and were able to catch one a couple hours later.
Arrived in Paris on July 5 and spent the day walking and just checking out the city. We stayed in the Mercure de Gare (next to the train station). Was a great mid level hotel, except for the fact a few of our rooms had broke A/C units. Went to the Louvre, but did not go inside due to the long lines. Rode the ferris wheel next to the Louvre which was neat (kind of cheesy but actually was really neat and you could see a lot things that you cannot see from the ground). We had a group of 10 and everyone was beat from the overnight flights so most ordered room service, however a couple of us went out and found a nice little cafe that had great food. Our waitress and the bartender were extremely friendly (not just for Parisian standards, but overall) and we had a great meal. We had eaten lunch earlier in the day and were not greeted as friendly. There is definitely some animosity towards Americans in Paris. Spent July 6 on a half day tour of Paris through CityRama. I thought the tour was a pretty good overview of some of the sights of Paris to include Notre Dame which was really neat. That night we did a Seine river cruise and Eiffel Tower dinner (58 Tour Eiffel). The food at the Eiffel Tower was excellent and the service was really good (not the normal attitude we encountered while in Paris). Did the river cruise afte