The Ize tell no lies (Part 6 of my Journey)

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It was time to fly to ‘The city of Love’- Paris, France. In the short 1-1.5 hour flight I had time to reflect on what I had done, Places I had been, people I had met. I was feeling great. I was doing something I had always wanted to do- travel and was loving every moment.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: top !important;" />I had met some people that I would remain friends with for years to come and memories for a lifetime.

I was keeping in regular contact with friends and family at home. It turned out I wasn’t missing much. Especially with it being the cold Tasmanian winter.

21-06-10 email to family:

“Booked my flight to Paris for tomorrow. That’s at 12.50pm. To meet Sam and Alice.

Most of the people from the tour are still travelling for a while. Wouldnt mind catching up with a few of them at some stage.

Its all going so quick. To quick. But enjoying every moment of it.

I miss everyone, but I don’t think I’m homesick! Lou reckons 3months and you start to feel that. But I’ll be back in China with him by then, so I’m sure ill be fine. Then onto meet Dad, Then to meet you guys in Bali..

Hope to hear from you soon.

Ize”

After some confusion on meeting points I finally found Sam at our accomodation in Paris- St Christopher’s Hostel.

We stayed in that night and had many pints at the hostel bar. Reminiscing. We couldn’t believe how random it was that we hadn’t seen each other for nearly 3 years, yet here we were in Paris, France together.

A guy named Scott, a teacher from Ohio was in our dorm, so we got to know him and shared a few beers and a joint. He was a very laid back guy, think he smoked more joints than he led on.

The next day we went to a Flea Market. Which was meant to be massive. Upon arrival we were very disappointed with the size, we walked around it in half hour( we found out later that we went to the wrong one).

I still picked up a pair of nice black jeans for 25Euros.

The rest of the day was just walking around the streets , sightseeing.

Went visited Notre Dam and Moulin Rouge. Walked up the steep cobble stone street to ‘Sacre coeur’, It’s the highest point on land in Paris.

Many a beer was consumed that night. Still catching up on old times and Alice’s friend Rhiannon had arrived from Melbourne.



The next day, we waisted no time and did a Free walking tour of Paris-

On our tour , we covered the most important sights in Paris. Giving you an insight into the people, places, and events that have graced the ‘city of love’.

We saw Paris as it was meant to be seen; by walking through royal gardens and squares, across inspiring bridges, and along the banks of the seine. Our expert guides took us where buses simply cant go, while they breathe life into the history of Paris and give you an authentic introduction to continental Europe’s most visited city.

Our tour guide was a very, very annoying outgoing girl from Melbourne. But she did know her stuff.

The tour covered-

Notre Dame de Paris

Napoleons Tomb

Latin Quarter

Tuileries Gardens

Assemblee National

Ile-de-la-Cite

Les Invalides

Opera garnier

Pont Neuf

Academie Francaise

Champs-Elysees

The Lourve

Place de la Concorde

Arc De triomphe

Palais Royal

Musee d’Orsay

Grand & Petit Palais

Haussmanns Paris

Pont Alexandre III

The free tours work on a tips only basis. Which I can imagine they would do pretty well out of-Groups of 30+.

When the tour finished , we wondered off and went closer to the Eiffel Tower, so close infact we climbed to the second level of it. From here we had amazing views of Paris.

Again, like The Great Wall of China, if you’ve never heard of the Eiffel Tower, you have definitely been living under a rock. It is one of the most recognizable structures in the world. The tower is the tallest structure in Paris. The tower received its 250 millionth visitor in 2010. It stands 324 meters (1,063 ft) tall, about the same height as an 81-storey building.

It is possible to go to 3 levels, but we just went to the second. That was about 600 steps.

Very tired from the days events we had an early night. Slept very well.



The next day Sam and I would visit the ‘Catacombs of Paris’.

It is an underground ossuary, it holds the remains of about six million people. We walked for about 2km underground, taking many photos in this eerie underground cemetery.

25-06-10 email to family:

“Sam and I went off on our own today- which I must admit was really good. Alice has been stressing about everything, is always rushing to get places, and her and Sam end up fighting. Went to place called ‘Catacombs.

That is a crazy Place. It is 20+ metres underground and you walk for 45mins, going under water, sewerage, trains, buildings and God knows what else. It was cool but Also Freaky. Felt uncomfortable at some stages. We saw one Guy run out, Freaked out. Being that far underground. With no room and full of human bones and skulls.

Probably not the right place to be joking and messing around, but we Had a few laughs down there.. We both had thongs on, and it was wet in some spotm,. Sam Trode in a puddle and it scared the absolute shit out of him, I lost it, was in tears laughing. Then he picked up some bones and I tried to get a photo of him, and it didn’t turn out, so he had to pick it up again, then again.. After the 4th time we got a good picture.

From there we thought we’d go check out Disney Land ,Paris, We got a massive subway to where we thought it was far east, turns out it was just the Disney Shop and Disney land was Far west. But we ended up on a good street with shopping, cafes etc. We climbed to the top of ‘Arc De Triomphe’. Was awesome.

After that we walked back ‘The Lourve’. It was a really hot day, so we dangled our catacomb soaked feet in the water for a bit then paid 9.5 Euros to get into the Lourve Musee. We didn’t have much time, so we pretty much just bee-lined it to the Mona Lisa, took some photos and left. Would have been good to spend some time there, could spend a day easily I reckon. Next time."

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