Tour Day One

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Tour Day One:
We met at the Globetrotters Hostel in London. We had to ride the tube from our hotel over there so we got up pretty early to make it to our 6:00 am show time. We grabbed breakfast at a gas station because we didn't know when we would have the chance to eat again, but there weren't many options. You could definitely tell we were tourists because we were in shorts and light jackets and all the Brits had on nice warm clothes for the yucky day. We met our group and our tour guide Ashley, who is actually a 26 year old guy from New Zealand. Then we all piled onto a bus to head to the white cliffs of dover where we caught the ferry to France. There were 44 of us on the tour but 5 of them didn't join us until we got to Paris. Mostly Aussis, though there were 4 Americans, 5 Koreans, 2 New Zealanders, 2 Chinese guys and 4 Canadians.
The ferry took about an hour and a half, so during it we talked with some of the people from the tour. Tour little 12 year olds (I'm guessing they were about that old) came up to Lauren and I, had a 2 minute conversation, and then walked away all proud of themselves to brag to their mates. I guess we're pretty or something. ; ) Then it was back on the bus to head to Paris. Once we got there we got some dinner at the hotel before our driving tour of Paris. They took us around to see all the major sites. It actually started on foot as we walked up to the Sacre-Coeur. There were a bunch of guys waiting at the bottom with string. Ash says they offer to make a friendship bracelet on your arm and then when they're done charge you 10-20 euros for it. Pretty wild huh? We saw the Eiffel Tour all decked out in blue and yellow for Bastille Day and we happened to be there on the hour when they turned on the sparkle lights. By the end of the tour Lauren and I were barely awake any more because we had slept probably 3 or 4 hours in the last 48. So we got back to the hotel and fell asleep almost right away. It was quite a long day for us.

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Photos

Stamford Brook
At the tube station

The White Cliffs of Dover
The ferry across to la France

Sacre-Coeur
This actually means the sacred heart in French.