Wine tour 2012 - day 1

Upon arriving at the CX counter Carmen and Ivy tried to ask for upgrade, but the ground staff told us the chance was slim as the flight was quite full on Business Class also. Not having much hope, at the gate, we had a good surprise as Carmen was upgraded. Being a gentleman, I then decided to switch my Business Class seat with Ivy, making me the only one in Economy :(

Unfortunately my neighbor happened to be a sound sleeper who slept for essentially the whole trip, making it difficult for me to go out to even stretch my legs as I was on a window seat. At the end, I watched four movies and did not sleep that much on the flight.

We took a taxi to go to our hotel - Mercure Paris Centre Tour Eiffel. Located very near the tower, it is convenient and modern, with good customer service also. Since it was still early, we dropped our luggage and went for breakfast at a small brasserie nearby, while waiting for Grace. The croissant was really nice.

After meeting up with Grace we started the first stop - Tour Eiffel. The weather was fantastic and there were not that many people. We only needed to queue for a short while before getting our tickets and then taking the lift to the middle platform. We took some nice photos on the Paris scenary but from that point my nightmare started...

There was a queue of people waiting to go up to the higher platform, which we also joined. But I recalled that the ticket we bought did not include going up, so I told the ladies to continue to queue while I went to check with the staff. Confirming that an additional fee was required, I told them no need to queue, but by then they were already a bit far ahead in the line. Before they re-joined me, a lady standing in front of me stopped to take a photo with her mobile, which was weird because there was nothing there. I was a bit puzzled but had to stop and when I thought back that probably was the moment the thief opened my bag and stole my wallet! She basically blocked me from moving and there were a few other people around me at that point.

Right when the ladies re-grouped I sensed something wrong and checked my bag but my wallet was already gone. Very upset as you can imagine, I called the card centres to stop all my credit cards and then came down to the tourist office to report the crime. Fortunately I kept my passport and majority of my Euro separate and those were intact, but still losing close to $8,000 in cash...

My friends tried their very best to comfort me, and after getting the direction of the police station, we went to a cafe to calm down and think through the whole incident, also to list down the items stolen to report in the police station. Since I can't do anything more, I decided to forget as much as possible to enjoy my vacation instead.

Grace had booked a cruise lunch from Bateaux Parisiens and so we went to the pier. Originally I was a bit skeptical about the cruise as generally the food was so-so. However, it turned out to be exceptionally good, with us assigned a window table in the modern, comfortable cruise, having big glass windows and roof for us to look at all the scenary. Also, the food was very nice and paired with different wines. Though a bit sunny, we all enjoyed the cruise very much.

Carmen, Ivy and myself then went to the police station to report the case to get a file for claiming insurance later on. The building was rather like an old primary school, and inside there were a few other people who had similar bad luck. After filling the form and spent close to 45 minute waiting, I got the report and left.

Returning to the hotel, we took a brief rest before going to a Michelin restaurant Aux Lyonnais, started by the famous Alain Ducasse. The restaurant is in a side-street and quite difficult to find, but the food was prepared in traditional style and very delicious. Very reasonable price at EUR233 for four people, we all had a wonderful time.

(to be continued...)