Day 3: Paris to Beaujolais

Today I woke up at 7 and had breakfast at 8. Bags to coach was at 8:45, and then we left at 9 to make our way to the Beaujolais wine region. On the way, we stopped in Fontainebleau to see the château and the gardens surrounding it. I also stopped in a café and had some hot chocolate while we were here. My throat was starting to hurt, so it felt good to drink something warm.

We also made another stop on the way just to get food and use toilets (which had no seats on them). I bought some cookies at this rest stop that only lasted for a few days. It was on this leg of the drive that we had to do our introductions up on the microphone and some people played the "two truths and a lie" game. This was also when we first heard our day song.

Finally, we made it to the château where we'd be staying in Le Bois d'Oingt. Pretty soon after arriving we had our included wine tasting tour. I wasn't really interested in wine, but the area was pretty and I enjoyed the cheese, crackers, and grapes.

This was our first time staying in one of Contiki's special stopovers. This means we had to have our first "cookies" and "dishies" (people who help set the table or clear the plates). Dinner was French onion soup (again), ribs, and french fries. Dessert was this really awesome strawberry cheesecake-type thing that was still sort of frozen which gave it a good texture. Pretty good for an included dinner.

Tonight was a Barbie and Ken themed party with the other Contiki groups. I didn't participate, but I went downstairs to get pictures of the city all lit up and spent a little bit of time talking to the smokers who were out there. I went to bed pretty early, but I don't remember what time it actually was.

I got to room with Serena, Veronica, and Jane this time. This was my first time meeting Veronica and Jane (from Texas), and I liked them immediately. We had to use our sleeping bags for the first time here, but it wasn't too bad. I expected it to be cold, but it was a pretty good temperature throughout the night. We also had shared unisex bathrooms with showers that we had to hit a button on every ten seconds or so to keep the water on. At least the water was warm enough, though.