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Published: August 7th 2007
Thief!
At our service stop where someone tried to break into our coach. Oh, I didn't mention that? Yeah. Creepy.I made my way back to my room at around 7:15am, and Rachel answered the door with a grin. I quickly informed her of the innocence of my absence through the night. I don't think she was quite convinced. I grabbed my things and hopped in the shower. I felt surprisingly okay - awake and alive...a little parched, but otherwise fine. I got dressed, put on my makeup and went downstairs for food. I was loving the breakfasts in France after the minimal spreads in Italy. I'm sure some people were wishing for some grease this morning though, to ease their fuzzy heads and rumbly bellies. After eating I rushed upstairs to get my bags down to the lobby via the elevator before the rush started. Before we left, the coach got trapped in the parking lot by a parked car. "Fucking French" and "Ugh, not again!" was the general consensus from all aboard our trusty vehicle. The car in question turned out to belong to a girl at the front desk, so she ran out and moved it and we were on our way for our last big drive of the tour. I couldn't believe we were so close to
the end. I was excited to see Paris, but at the same time there was a little cloud of melancholy that was hanging over my head, knowing that we didn't have a whole lot of time left together.
The drive was uneventful until a big barrel truck totally cut us off, which was not only maddening for Damian, but uh...kind of dangerous, moronic truck driver?! Pom Pom instructed us, as we passed the truck to flip the guy off. So we did. He pretended not to notice, but it was still kind of awesome. We then spent a little over an hour playing trivia. I'm so bad at movie trivia...I'm no film buff, that's for sure. it was fun though. We were encouraged to make bets, and Jess said someone from whichever team lost should have to find a French boy to kiss. Without missing a beat, Ang blurted out "Allison will do it!" and everyone in the seats around us did the perfect 'burn'-groan. I turned 5 shades of red and played shocked, but it was really funny. When trivia was over, I whipped out the ol' journal and started in on a little self-reflection, which I'll share
Huge
This place is massive! now, because paraphrasing just won't work in this instance.
"I can't believe I've been to so many countries in the past two weeks. I'm trying so hard not to start living in my memories just yet - I have to stay in the moment, which is why I haven't re-read any of my journal entries yet. This trip though, will be a definite landmark in my life thus far, and I don't think I'll be able to fully grasp the enormity of what I've seen and experienced until well after I get home. It's going to be so hard to go back to real life. And trying to explain the trip to my friends? How will they ever understand what lapskis are or why the letter P is so funny or why I'll become completely alert whenever I hear "Sex Machine"? I'm not ready for this to end yet. Part of me wishes I had chosen a longer tour, but then I realize that I wouldn't have met the great people I did, and I wouldn't have had the pleasure of being led around by the wonderful team of Pom Pom and Damian. So in the end, I tell Sweet
Everyone watching the video myself that nothing lasts forever, so enjoy it while it lasts...and I'm on my way to Paris so stop the self-indulgent drivel! Yay."
We stopped for a 45 minute break at Fontainebleau, and basically all I did was take silly pictures at the Chateau, which Pom Pom had just told us about in his History of France, Part Deux. It was huge and impressive. I think I could stand living somewhere like that if I was FORCED to. Mwahaha. After stopping in at a little cafe, and avoiding buying anything after hearing about someone paying about 4 Euro for a tea, we walked back to the coach. As we were pulling away, Pom Pom told us all to pull our blinds down and to divide the coach into three sections. We looked at him like he had three heads, and he laughed and told us to trust him. He started at the back and had that group watch something on his laptop. They all seemed to love whatever it was, and it felt like forever before he got up to the front. Finally, we gathered around and watched a slideshow of photos and video clips that he'd put together
for us, set to our day song and wakeup song. It was fantastic. When it was over he came on the mic and told us that that actually hadn't been our surprise; our surprise was that he'd made copies for all of us. The coach erupted in applause and squeals of glee. It was wonderful. After all that, he handed out some folders, containing our group shot, the contact sheet and a survey to fill out. Oh, and one last "Pom Pom's Things to do in..." sheet for London. Would come in handy, as I was spending 6 days in London after the tour. While we filled out the surveys, he played I Had the Time of My Life, and being the huge dork that I am, I got a little teary-eyed. We quickly arrived in Paris, and I kind of had to pinch myself. Paris. Wow.
We arrived at our final hotel, and as per usual, checked in, dropped our things in our rooms and went downstairs to eat. As we ate, it started raining, which was going to put a slight damper on our "Illuminations Tour" of the city, but, oh well. We boarded the coach and
and umm....
what's that? look to the left? Damian started driving. Pom Pom began talking about our surroundings, and at one point, he got a little...flustered. He started stuttering about looking out the left hand side of the coach and how we had to look very hard to the LEFT because uh..on the LEFT you'll be able to see... something to do with Napoleon, I can't quite remember what because I wasn't listening. I was just wondering why our extremely articulate tour manager was suddenly falling over his words. As we were all crammed against the windows on the left hand side of the coach, our cameras ready, with Pom Pom stalling, we stopped in front of a random building "...and umm, just look really hard guys, or you'll miss it...Actually guys, on behalf of Damian and myself, look to the right. Welcome to Paris"...and standing there in all its glory was the Eiffel Tower! I know it's a common trick that they all pull, but seriously, it was magical. You only ever get to see the Eiffel Tower for the first time in your life ONCE, and I will never forget that moment. It couldn't have been any better. We got off the coach and took
some
Le Tour Eiffel
your first time is always special quick photos, got back on and headed toward the Arc de Triomphe. Pom Pom played some theme music as Damian, "a man's man/'Contiki's greatest driver'" entered the craziest roundabout in the world. We circled a few times and IT. WAS. CRAZY. We cheered him on and laughed so hard watching all of the cars weaving in and out and around each other. So fun. The rest of the tour was fun. We drove down the Champs Elysees, past La Place de la Concorde, which, back in the day, used to be called La Place de la Revolution...where about half of a play I did once (called Danton's Death) was set, and where the infamous guillotine used to stand during the French Revolution. Cool! We kept driving, and passed through an arch to the Louvre. It was slightly nerve wracking, as there was nearly no clearance on either side as we drove through. We kept passing places that I made a mental note to come back to the next day. The whole thing was awesome.
When we finally got back to the hotel, a bunch of people had bought wine at a grocery store down the street, but tonight was
Hangin' out
The tower and I not a night for me to partake. I went down to the bar and just hung out as Deloris read fortunes for all of us (Pom Pom included), which was very funny, and then I watched as they played UNO. Honestly, I felt a little awkward. My throat was feeling dry (uh oh, Contiki cough anyone?) and I didn't feel like talking, so I was even quieter than usual. I was hoping that my lingering and observing wasn't bordering on creepy. Whatever. The UNO game finished fairly quickly and as everyone filed upstairs, I took my journal and sat in the lobby, writing about the events of the evening and writing my notes to Pom Pom and Damian. Soon my eyes were getting heavy and I went upstairs to sleep and dream about the upcoming day in Paris.
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