So Day 5 dawned bright and way too early. Our flight to Paris was set for 10:15 am which would mean an hour for the train, an hour to be early and about an hour to get ready/cushion time. We were not so keen on waking up at 7:15 and since we both had "Ride the Chunnel" on our lifetime list, we decided to forget the plane and ride the Chunnel. We took a couple of Goodbye London pics as we headed out, including this one that just cracked me up:
We were totally living in the projects! :) Hee hee.
I don't know if this one was supposed to show that we were right next to an awesome church, or that our hotel was so far under construction that I still don't know whether the walls were stone, brick or whatever, but here it is. The Ambassador's on the left :)
Finally, this picture is for a specific group of my friends. You know who you are.
How little we knew then...
Anyhoo, once we got on, neither of us realized that the train would be quite so fast, and the fun part was over before we'd realized what had happened. Only problem was that the seats faced backwards and those of you who know me know that I'm prone to motion-sickness. I ended up kneeling in my seat, backwards, so I was facing front.
When we got into the Paris Metro we had to pull our luggage through these ticket-taking-door-stopping-shutter things that closed from each side after you walked through. Well, ideally after you walked through. Normally you can just push through them if they shut too soon, but not in Paris. They shut on each of our bags with enough force to take off someone's arm. I just dragged and dragged and with Janelle's help mine came out. When we tried to do the same to Janelle's, it would NOT be moved. So we sat there desperately trying to pry it out of the jaws of the ticket-taker when a French woman came up and told us that it happens to everyone, and if we ever go through again, to carry the luggage in front. Then I took one shutter, Janelle took the other, and the woman pulled the suitcase out. Whatever people say about the French people being rude, a lot of them are really kind.
Their kindness was further evidenced by the people who warned us at our stop (Lamark) that there were 92 steps to get to the exit and that there was an elevator just around the corner. And in case you're not familiar with Paris, the Lamark Metro station is just one away from the Moulin Rouge and Le Musee d'Erotisme. Not exactly what we had in mind, but c'est la vie...
So the hotel room (despite being on the 3rd floor instead of the -1st this time) made the last hotel room look spacious and sprawling. Here we go:
I'm not cutting part of it out, either.
If you think that's bad, try a shot of the WC:
None of this mattered though, as soon as we realized that the window opened--and opened to a quaint little French street. Suddenly, it was the most charming room in the world.
Naturally, we had to eat in a creperie, and when we found one, it turned out our waitress had recently visited California. Quick tip: walking into a room in France and saying you're from America is somewhat akin to walking into a room in America and saying you work for the IRS. However, say you're from California (where we were both born) and you're golden. She was just delighted to translate the whole menu for us, and spent all her time explaining how to get around in Paris, and what time the Metro closed and all that. From there we popped onto the Metro to hit up L'Arc de Trimophe and le Tour Eiffel. As we chatted on the train this girl behind us turned around and struck up a conversation that, I'm sorry, but I have to dialogue for you:
Girl: Sorry to interrupt, but are you Americans?
Us: Yes.
Girl: [getting excited] Where are you from?!
Us: California.
Girl: [twitching with excitement] ME TOO! I'm from LA, I'm here for school! Why are you here?
Us: Vacation.
Girl: [confused] Just vacation? Well, that's cool. Are you going to high school...?
Us: Uh, no. We've finished college.
Girl: Okay. What are you studying in college?
Us: No, we've finished college. 4 years ago. [Nellie declines to comment on how long it's been for her]
Girl: Oh. Wow. I mean... If I had known you were women, I would never have turned around...
Turns out she was on a High School exchange program and thought we were too.
Two words:
Exfoliate and, Sunscreen.
We had decided to walk down the Champs Elysee to the Arc, then from there head to the Tower, but we hadn't realized that that would also take us by the Obelisk and to the Rue Saint-Germain, which Nellie wanted to walk on after hearing that song that Tim McGraw's first wife about it. As we passed the Obelisk, a car stopped to ask me for directions. I am proud to say that after getting my qualification in French in High School, studying the language in College through French Philosophy & Literature, and hours with a French tutor in the last year, I have finally worked up enough nerve to say "Desolee, je ne parle pas francais" ("I'm sorry, I don't speak French"). I always freeze whenever confronted with a native speaker. I did get better by the end of the trip.
The walk down the Champs Elysee was fairly uneventful, except for when we conned a theater usher into letting us use their bathroom--we were on the verge of calling a cab and telling them to take us wherever there were toilets--and before you knew it we were at Charles De Gaulle circle around the Arc de Trimophe. Quick history lesson: the traffic circle around the Arc is one of the worst in the world--10 lanes with 12 offshoot roads and no signal lights that is notorious for its constant traffic and impossibly aggressive drivers who execute hairsbreadth lane changes. I don't know what possessed us, okay, I don't know what possessed Nellie, I was just following on this one, but we crossed the circle, instead of taking the underground passage invented so as to not kill tourists. I mean, there are entire pamphlets on why you should not cross on top. It was definitely the most unintelligent thing I did on our trip. But hey, if the stupidest thing I did was not cross at a crossing zone, I'm saying we did pretty okay.
Next we moved onto the main event. Now, I always thought that the Eiffel Tower was highly overrated. I was wrong. It's incredible. Just this soft light and incredible energy and the absolute massiveness of the structure. Words are useless (gobble, gobble, gobble, too much of it darling, too much!) so that's all the explanation you get.
We decided to take a cab home, but thanks to the Mayor of London and his campaign, we were very picky about what cab we'd get into. We settled on this old Asian man, because we figured if he turned out to be a creeper, we could totally take him. He was not a creeper, and didn't even scalp us (according to the crepe lady) but he did mutter under his breath in French a lot, which was actually kinda endearing since he seemed to be muttering at the traffic and not at us.
So, a very eventful evening for Day 5.
You guys are too funny and I'm loving it! I am not, however, loving the thought that you both could have been KILLED by crazy drivers! It's a good thing you both said your prayers! You were blessed!!!
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