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Published: December 3rd 2012
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Eiffel TowerI woke up very early in the morning to find that I had a very sore throat. I knew I’d feel worse when I eventually got up, and I was upset that it had to happen in Paris. So far not too many people had the dreaded Contiki cough, but I knew this was how it started. Surprisingly, when I woke up and ate I felt much better. That was the only part of the trip when I actually felt sick. Just as we were about to head into the city it started raining. I was upset because not only was I going to be spending the whole day outside in Paris, but we had our group photo, farewell dinner, and pub night that evening. I didn’t want my hair to be ruined right away! I didn’t even have an umbrella.
Luckily, by the time we arrived at the Eiffel Tower, it had stopped, and the clouds were beginning to clear. My first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower was one of the most amazing moments of the trip. It was a life goal accomplished. We stopped here and had our group photo taken. It turned out quite well. Then we
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Eiffel Tower had the option of getting back on the bus and going to a French perfumery, or we could start our free time right away. I chose to not go to the perfumery, since we only had one day in Paris, and I didn’t really care about perfume. A group of us decided to get in line to go up the Eiffel Tower. Our group today was Steve, Korryn, Faith, Haley, Emily, Chelsea, and me. The line was long, but the wait was shorter than I thought it would be. We decided to walk up the first two levels because it was cheaper, and the line was shorter. I underestimated my fitness level because I was dying by the time we got to the second level. At each level they have restaurants and stores and, although everything is really expensive, it was neat. The views were amazing from every level. At the very top it was extremely busy and we ended up losing Haley. We all went down to the bottom and waited for her. After waiting for about 20 minutes, we realized she must be somewhere else, so we all left. Sorry Haley!! At the bottom of the elevator there
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Arc d'Triomphe are gypsies everywhere trying to sell you scarves, and photos, and keychains. They really are annoying! But I bought 5 Eiffel Tower keychains for €1. I also bought a statue of the Eiffel Tower.
We decided to walk to the Arc d’Triomphe, and once there we walked down the famous Champs Elysees. I was really looking forward to this street because I love shopping! We came across the massive Louis Vuitton store, and it was heaven on Earth. I was so excited to go in I nearly fell over while jumping up and down. Once inside, I knew I couldn’t afford anything, and I started to feel silly for wasting time in here when there were so many things to see and do. I was in Paris! So me, Steve, Chelsea, and Emily left and continued walking down the street in search of food. The other three were nice enough to let me do some quick shopping in Sephora, where I bought nail polish remover and Gucci perfume. We also stopped in an Adidas store where we played some fitness games.(Or rather I watched while Steve played them).
Eventually we ended up at the Louvre. Here we met
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Adrien, me, and Chelsea at the Louvre up with Adrien, Albert, and Duncan, and went in through the “secret” entrance to buy tickets. We didn’t have to wait in line at all. It was awesome! Here we somehow lost Emily, and I wouldn’t see her again until the dinner that night. By this point we were all exhausted without our daily napping on the coach, plus we had been on our feet all day. We saw the Mona Lisa, and the Venus de Milo, and walked through a few more exhibits. This is somewhere I’d like to come back one day. Normally I’m not a huge fan of art, I just don’t find it interesting enough to stare at paintings all day long. But the paintings here were actually interesting. Maybe it’s the mentality of the place, but I just found it fascinating. We were all hot and tired, so on our way out we stopped at Starbucks and here Adrien and Albert had their first frappuccinos. It turns out they don’t have Starbucks in South Africa. We told them they should start their own Starbucks francise there. Another interesting thing about the Louvre is the amazing bathroom there. It costs €1 to use, but you are
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Notre Dame Cathedral treated like royalty. There is an attendant who cleans each stall after every person uses it, and there is also a store where you can buy patterened toilet paper and even champagne. It was an interesting experience, but I think it is unecessary – nobody needs that much pampering in a public restroom.
We wanted to go to the Notre Dame, so me, Steve, and Chelsea headed that direction. It was farther away than it looked, and it was starting to get hot out, but we eventually made it and went inside. The church was really beautiful, especially the stained glass windows. I would’ve liked to have gone up the towers and seen the gargoyles, but we didn’t have time. We headed back to the Louvre going through a shopping district and we did some souvenir shopping. I wanted an I Heart Paris shirt but the lady in the store said I had to remove my makeup before I tried it on, so I left without buying anything. Chelsea said that the lady had called me crazy when I left. That was pretty funny. I ended up buying a photo frame, a nice keychain, a T-shirt, and we bought
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Views from Sacre Coeur Cathedral an I Heart Paris condom for Haley. We felt really bad for leaving her behind at the Eiffel Tower today. Once we arrived back at the Louvre it was late afternoon so we just relaxed while we waited for Filippo to show up.
In order to maximize our time in Paris, Filippo planned for us to get changed on the bus into our fancy clothes for the dinner, so that we didn’t have to spend time driving all the way back to the campsite (which was located quite far out of the city center). It was quite funny having all the girls changing on the coach while the guys waited outside (probably trying to sneek peeks). We drove over to the Montmartre district where our restaurant was located. In order to get there, we had to walk up (what seemed like) miles and miles of stairs to the top where the Sacre Coeur basilica was located. All along the way were perverted men staring at us girls and calling us names. It was quite awkward. If I ever do that walk again, I’m bringing a jacket. It didn’t help that my dress kept riding up in the back. At
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All of us girls at dinner! the top we all took pictures and looked at the amazing views over Paris. It still wasn’t hitting me that this was our last night together.
We walked to the restaurant, which was quite nice. It had a very French feel to it. I ended up trying escargot, because I wanted to be able to say that I tried a snail in France. It didn’t taste that bad, the texture was just awful. I had a vegetable starter, beef stew, cheese, bread, and about five glasses of wine. Of course, I was drunk by the end. I wasn’t planning on going to the cabaret show, because it was very expensive, and I knew a lot of people weren’t going. During dinner I went to the bathroom, and when I came back everyone at the table told me they’d changed their mind and were going to the cabaret after all. Only two of them were originally going! I really didn’t want to go, so I ended up just going to the pub next door with everyone else.
It was just as much fun (and half the price). I wasn’t planning on drinking much, because I didn’t want to accidentally
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Emily and I flash anyone with my low cut dress, but of course, I ended up having a few more shots, so the rest of the night is a blur. We just danced and hung out and took lots of pictures. I remember falling asleep at the bar and everyone said if I didn’t wake up I’d be kicked out. I taught everyone the Banana song from my work (I work for a Coldstone Ice Cream/Tim Hortons fast food restaurant) and we all sang it together. After the cabaret they all met us in the club and we danced some more. At around 1:30 am Erica, Carli, Steve, and me decided to get a taxi home. When we got in I immediately fell half-asleep, but I could still hear the others talking about me, and how I’m nice but quiet. Anyone from home who knows me knows that I HATE when people call me quiet. It’s just this big issue I have. I am a quiet person but when people tell me that it makes me feel like it’s something negative their pointing out, and nobody has any idea how many times I hear it a day. If you’d just get to know
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Me, Korryn and Steve me then you would see that I really am not at all. If somebody was that shy they wouldn’t have gone alone on a trip to Europe with fifty strangers. Anyways, just my little rant 😉 Ironically, this was the only time it's been said to me that I WASN'T really bothered by it. Our cabbie didn’t really know where he was going, and dropped us off in what we thought was the middle of nowhere. After walking around in the forest for who knows how long, we begged some cops nearby to drive us back. They gave a ride to me, Carli, Erica, and Faith, while Bob, Steve, and Richard walked back. Turns out we weren’t that far away after all. It was quite the experience getting driven home in a French police car though. Back at camp Carli and Faith disappeared, and me and Erica started talking to the security guard while waiting for the guys. He spoke limited English, and I surprised myself by speaking to him in pretty good French. I guess I do know more than I think. The boys finally arrived back and we all went to bed. It had been a great night.
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