Paris Tour and Hailing all nighter

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Ahhh great sleep. Almost too good cause I slept in past the deadline for breaky. ha not again! I packed up my stuff for check out at 10. Came downstairs and managed to score some of the bits leftover. Tons of croissants left over and coffee. That was pretty much the whole breakfast anyways. I took like 8 croissants!! Had 3 or 4 for breakfast cause they dont fill you up that well. Not very good for you either. I filled up my plastic mug that I had been packing around since Munich and made use of the damn thing.
I get out the door and I totally spilt coffee on my polo shirt! Right in the center. Ha whatever. Got to the metro station and they didnt sell tickets. Hmmm ok. There were these other tourist guys there as well saying that the machine is broken so we all got let through the gate which was a bonus! I only had to go three or four stops to this meeting point for the tour. It was at a fountain just across from the island where the Notre Dame is. Yep I said it, its on an island in Paris.
I got there at pretty much prefect timing as the tour JUST started. The guide was a kiwi lady surprise surprise! I met this girl a few mins in called Marta. She was from Austrailia and seemed pretty cool. We hung out around the front asking questions to the guide and chit chatting. The tour pretty much covered most of the same tracks I took yesterday but more in detail and with the extra dialogue which is always useful!!! We ran into this dude on the street who asked if there was a hospital around and was clutching his head. He said he was really dehydrated I think. She gave him her water and pointed to this store where he could get some attention.
Carried on from the cool bridge which had all sorts of heads on it. They were all personal friends of the King of France at the time. Walked through the great courtyards of the Louvre.... again for me. She told us about another entrance you can use to get into the Louvre when its stupid busy which was cool. After that we went across the street and saw this piece of art which she asked us to think what it represented. Well it was a modern art and who really has a clue about what there trying to do!! I think she said it was the period change from day to night. Ha ok sure thing boss.
We talked about this building we stopped at by a bridge crossing the river. There job was to protect the French language. France doesnt want to slowly become anglized like most of the modern world so they have a team of ppl who make up words for new things. For example the computer, ipod, all stuff that has an english based meaning. Kinda funny i thought. That would be probably be just as dull as being a boss at docyard!!!! Maybe im wrong haha.
THen we took a short break at Starbucks across from the Louvre and I went on the internet to get my fix!!! Worse then Heroin this thing is. I wanted to check out Montamarte which is a district in Paris where a lot of the local artist lived. Funky place to be I have been told. Only if i get time I will make it. After we joined back up and Marta and the guide were still chatting together at a table in Starbucks. We walked down the path to the Arc de Triumph. SHe told us about the most expensive hotel in Paris which was at the Plaza de Concorde where I nearly got killed yesterday. THe winner of the tour de france gets to stay 3 nights in there as a prize. I dont know if its worth it just to get in the hotel but maybe for some schmucks. We crossed and continued up the path finally doing something i havent done yet. I showed Marta the statue I liked of the muscular woman I thought stood out. She told us about how Parisians voted to not build anymore skyscrapers to ruin the skyline and showed us the one and only one in Paris which is quite ugly amongst the beauty of Paris.
We sat down under this tree and a lady and a guy got shat on by a bird above. TERRIBLE!! After we were done it felt like we didnt cover as much as usual so I was a bit dissapointed but gave her some change anyways. Marta and I decided to continue touring the two of us. Next stop Arc de Triumph.
We stopped at a few shops along the way. One was a car dealarship. Toyota which was pretty neat. They had a car on the wall and a bunch of cool displays on hand.
THen we went through another car dealarship Fiat Even got to pretend to win the F1!!! Corny yes but funny as well. We saw an accident with a car up on the sidewalk. Not sure what happened but there was a fair bit of damage. Hopefully theres more action at the roundabout!! Supposedly there is an accident every 30 mins at the Arc, and if you are in an accident, it is automatically 50 50 at fault for being there in the first place. 12 main roads intersect the Arc and make it the biggest Roundabout or traffic disaster in the world. I saw Brendans video on this when he was here last year and I had to wintess it for myself. Crazy.
You can go on top of the Arc but whats the when the Eiffel Tower is right there. We made our way towards the Tower having a great disscussion on god knows what now. Took us a few mins with my handy map skills that I have been practicing for 2 months now. SHe made me take a few pics of her saying that it was her with the Eiffel. Not the prettiest piece of art but its definetly powerful. Very tough to get a picture of it though. Just staring up makes your neck hurt after awhile. 13 Euros I think to get up to the top!! HA fuck that i was thinking. You can go halfway and its 9 but thats still a rip off. THe line up was over half an hour as well. SO I have to admit i didnt go up it. Maybe another time!! Im sure the view is amazing. But i had a pretty good idea what it looked like and im sure the millions of pictures online will do me justice.
Not yesterday but the day before the 14th was Bastille day where they had fireworks here at the Eiffel Tower. They were still cleaning up the mess. The lawn in front of the tower seemed to be under construction or something as well and was mangled. There was a wicked mist machine we enjoyed for a few mins. It was freaking hot out for sure. She didnt have any water either and had to grab some from a stand. I made sure she didnt buy from the closest most expensive one. Rip off 3 Euro for a small bottle of water. HA
We walked across the street got a few pics and were off to walk down beside the water. We saw a rack of bikes you could rent and were intrigued to find out more. There were two ppl in front of us trying to figure it out and were having a rough time. We got bored after 10 mins of waiting around. Sucks because it would of been fun to cruise around. It was cheap too. I think it was free if u return it in 30 mins. One guy went by and said ya i just keep returning them all the time and get em for free cause the stations are everywhere. Pretty cool i thought.
We kept walking towards where we came from. Saw more and more magnificient buildings but didnt really have much of a clue what they were. We went past tons of ppl selling art and things. ONe lady was taking pics of this guys art and he FLIPPED OUT on her. HE wanted to smash the camera or at least delete the pic but she wouldnt budge. Marta bought a few prints that she liked for her and ppl back home in AUssie. We talked about relationships pretty much the whole way back from the Eiffel tower. She had spent the last 9 years with this one guy who sounded like a complete dick. She even supported him for most of it. Ouch but it made me feel like my problems were miniscule which was a good thing.
Finally we made it to le Notre Dame. The line up wasnt too bad but the place was closing soon. The sun was still pounding down and I must have drank over a gallon of water already. I was pretty excited to see this place. It was pretty specatcular from outside. Actually most churches are better from the outside. It is impossible to really even start to fathom how much work it took by standing there dumbstruck. Every little minute detail. Theres well over a thousand figures on the door way alone!!! hA who the hell are all these ppl anyways. PPl that show up for church enough and get there figure decorated!! Im thinking maybe not.
Got inside and the stained glass was unbelievable. I even checked out the museum section of the church, where Marta didnt want to. It cost 2 euros and i thought i might get to see some cool things. Turn out to just be some priest cloaks and some gold plates and shit. Nothing special. Ahhh worth a shot. I found 5 Turkish dollars as well. I still have the damn bill i keep meaning to give it to a busker or one of the 20 ppl a day asking me for money. Im in italy writing this now in the airport near Pisa. Man I am WAAAAAAAAAAAAYY behind on this writing stuff. Not that easy with the little bit of free time i have. No rush but i like to keep whoever is reading this happy cause i appreciate it greatly.
We wanted to go upstairs and check out the view but they just closed. SHiit. Funny thing is about all these churches and especially this one is there is a freaking gift shop in it. WHAT THE HELL. and they expect you to light a candle for whatever reason and it cost like 60 cents to do that too. Give me a break and shove it up your holly ass you crooks.
So i had no place to stay tonight cause I sure as hell wasnt paying another ridiculous amount so I figured PUB Crawl. We said that we might meet up there when she wanted to get some rest back at her hostel. Said our goodbyes and i knew i probably would never see her again but that didnt matter much. It was fun while it lasted.
Took a stroll through the pretty little streets crammed with ppl selling anything and everything. I made my way back to the fountain in which we met and set out down to the metro jumping the gate!!! Ha why not everyone else did it. It worked brilliantly and my pockets remained slightly heavier. Man im cheap its great!!! I figure the more I save on the little things the longer or more enjoyable my trip will be. Although spending time in the clinker for skipping out on a 2 euro fair might be a good lesson for such a young punk!! not today. I went to the train station, well it was a different one but it turned out to be the one i needed to be at. Trouble was my bags werent with me and the damn thing left at 815. The present time was 730. I had very little chance of making it but I tried anyways. Well what can i say i got to the hostel about 805 and gave up pretty much right then and there. I was also in some serious pain from another rash. Man there has GOT to be a way around this shit. Luckily there was a pharmacy right across the street which I didnt know but was about to close. I went inside and asked about the best stuff. I was gonna get just regular talcum powder but the frenchman insisted that i get something to prevent it with zinc oxide. Maybe this is the answer to my sorrow. So at 2 euros more i went for it.
I ran across the street dodging the evening traffic and went to the same cafe place i went yesterday. I ordered a cheese burger with the bit of change i had left and went to the washroom to apply. Well heres where I make a major mistake. The bottle had a metal seal on it and i figured if i applied enough strength it would come out eventually. Well the weakest link was NOT the metal seal. It was the back end of the bottle and it exploded white cream ALL over my shirt and shorts. OMG just when you think things cant get any worse right. HAHAHAHAHAHa have a good laugh because it was ridiculous. I cleaned up the best i could and tucked in my polo shirt cause the white stain looked like i just went silly in the washroom and splooged all over everything. I paid for my cheeseburger which wasnt done yet and ran across the street to see what i could do. Well the fuckers just closed and no one was around!!!! Ha even worse so now i had an expensive bottle half wasted on my crotch and shirt and no way to keep the shit now. It was complete and utter chaos. So i sat down and enjoyed my burger relaying some of the story to the owner who remembered me from yesterday. What a dick i am sometimes.
Made my way back to the hostel and hung out in the community room for quite some time. I had to do some research because I wanted desperately to fit in a stage of the Tour de France. I always dreamed of being one of those crazy idoits running beside them and cheering. The trouble was finding my way into these tiny little towns. And even worse finding a place to stay! So i researched it the best i could and ended up deciding to take the train at 645 to Colmar where the stage would end. Luckily there was a train station there even. To make the night just a bit more exciting we had HUGE aSS chunks of hail coming down which turned into a turrential rain and lightning storm where water was flooding into the room we were in from the courtyard where ppl smoked in the center of the building. Pic isnt great doesnt do much justice. Man what a day this turned out to be.
I stayed up on the internet and doing this and that till 5am when the metro resumed. We watched a movie called Garden State. Not great but it killed a good part of the night. This one dude tried offering ppl his wine and I said SURE why not bring it on. SO i sipped that most of the early morning. THe croissant delievery dude came in around 3ish as me and the dude at the desk were the only ones still around. I was certainly getting my money worth in this regard. I grabbed like 6 croissants on my way out around 5ish to catch the first tram to the East Gare. Not paying of course. I guess i could say night night but it i didnt sleep till i jumped on the train. NIGHT NIGHT
This entry took the longest OF ALL at approx 10 days of off and on writing. Im starting to loose it already and its only been 3 and half months shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit

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