Mon aventure parisienne, pt. 1: "You are our guests of the day"

The adventure really started on Thursday, just after 8.30am, when I decided to ring in to Absolute Radio. I've been on before and won things, but never anything quite like a VIP trip to Paris before... I would like to extend my thanks to Absolute, Team Sky and Geraint Thomas for giving me the chance to go on this amazing break!

Some sacrifices had to be made, mostly in the form of sleep. Living in the best county in England has its drawbacks; whilst the train to London doesn't take that long, they're all at odd times so we had to hang around at St. Pancras for a while... I don't know why, but I always want to call it St. Pancreas! It must be the biologist in me!

I couldn't believe it was all actually happening until our Eurostar train pulled out of the station - it was that exciting that all I had to do was turn my mp3 player on and look out of the window. We knew we were in France when a group of French kids on the train broke into a round of applause! There's also something quite characteristic about the countryside, especially the little clusters of villages and the unique style of church architecture. I was a bit disappointed not to see big fields of sunflowers, that would've made my day! And despite the ignorant American woman sat behind me saying "not a very pretty entree" (in the worst attempt at a French accent I've ever heard), it was amazing when we arrived in Paris. The tall buildings with the old shutters and metal wrought balconies... Simply beautiful.

When we got off the train we even had a driver waiting for us; though his car did appear to be parked outside a sex shop. I could make a joke about the French, but I'll leave it blank - feel free to insert your own here! Of all the times I've been to France I've only been driven around Paris twice, and by English bus drivers - so it was definitely an experience in the taxi! He spoke pretty good English, which was lucky as my French is extremely rusty, and we even had a brief chat about Le Tour. "Who is your winner? Monsieur Cavendish?"

It was when we arrived at the hotel that I started to feel a tad uncomfortable. I'm not at all used to staying in luxury, so being greeted at the car and our bags being carried in was very unsettling. Following on from that I managed to ask the receptionist man a question that I should've asked the concierge, and was made to feel very awkward by the woman who showed us to our room as we were apparently the "guests of the day"... I'm still not sure what the significance of that was! We'd asked for a twin room, but the beds were so close together it was more like a Siamese twin room...

By about 5.30pm French time we managed to get ourselves organised and begin our whistlestop tour. Most of the places I have seen before, but the beauty of Paris is that you can never see its landmarks too many times. There is a certain draw about it that just takes your breath away... For me, the only thing that was missing was an accordian player relaxing on a street corner! However, I did witness street dancing (actually on a street) on the Champs-Elysees of all places.

Once we'd strolled down the Champs-Elysees, our first point of call was la Place de la Concorde; a towering obelisk and an awe-inspiring view back down the Avenue, steam rising off the rush hour traffic giving a hazy view of the Arc de Triomphe. It also gave me a chance to picture the riders and where they'd be circling during the final stage.

We carried on heading southeast through les Jardins des Tuileries. Designed by Andre le Notre, the same man who was in charge of the gardens at Versailles. If any of you have been to either (or both) you will know the unmistakable style on show; the dusty tracks and streets of topiary... We walked down the lane and through the arch to reach the Louvre. Unfortunately there wasn't time to go inside (we'd need a whole day to get a reasonable way round, but it was the pyramids that I was keen to see this time anyway. Not sure how well they fit in that particular area, with the palace surrounding them in the courtyard, but they are most definitely impressive structures.

After that it was time to take a stroll along the Seine, heading towards the Ile de la Cite. It doesn't look very far on the map but it seemed to take ages! Notre Dame wasn't how I remembered it. The square around it all seems different and more crowded than my memory tells me, but the cathedral itself - absolutely mesmerising. It is without doubt my favourite part of Paris; I'm absolutely gutted we didn't have time to go inside because the atmosphere really makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. The rose windows are stunning and the lighting is perfect. It was also the first time I've been there and been able to see the bell towers - there has been scaffolding up before! My ambition now is to climb up to the top of the cathedral. I'd imagine the view from up there is magnificent... We didn't linger for too long, but I at least had a view of it for a bit longer as we stopped for something to eat and I could just see Notre Dame through the window.

As we walked back along the Seine, especially on Quai Voltaire (made a special effort after A level French!), there were a lot of anti-Euro posters popping up. This wouldn't be so significant, but they had 'chomage' written on them; the amount of times we came across this word in lessons and thought how useless it was for us to know... Thankfully I remembered its meaning! It's 'unemployment' in case you're unfamiliar with it... We got round to Pont de l'Alma not long after, but this was when my dad decided he needed the toilet - so we spent at least 20 minutes waiting for the capsule toilette to be free. My top tip is just don't bother with the things! After that we could continue on to the Eiffel Tower. The good thing about waiting was that the lights had been turned on, so I was able to see it in all its glory.

We thought it best to head back towards the hotel after that, especially as it seemed to take quite a while walking across the Pont de l'Alma and up Avenue George V. As we got closer to the Champs-Elysees we reached the Prince de Galles hotel, only to find our path blocked by people crowding round the entrance. At the time we had no idea who it was getting out of the car, but with a bit of research I've come to the conclusion that it was probably Will Smith and family. Nothing major then...

It was nice seeing the Arc de Triomphe all lit up as well before wandering up one of the side streets to the Sofitel Arc de Triomphe hotel. There was one last surprise waiting in the room - we'd been provided with some lovely expensive French confectionary and a little teddy bear! This really topped off the day, and were well-earned rewards after walking 8.9 miles (according to Google) in about 5 hours. All set for the VIP day at the Tour de France!