We decided to take the stairs up to the first level (and then the second) because we took one look at the line for the elevator and thought it would take too long. So, we trudged up the interminable stairs, nearly dying in the process. My advice: don't take the stairs (especially during the summer!) unless you have some kind of death wish. The people who waited for the elevator got there about the same time we did and weren't nearly as sweaty as us. Oh well. C'est la vie.
The weather was pretty good and sure enough, they opened it up so we could take the scary elevator all the way up to the very top. It was the most amazing view. We could see all around Paris.
This is a picture of me overlooking the Seine River and Montmartre (see the church on the hill right behind me? That's the Sacre Coeur, which I saw later on in the evening). I think that this was taken from the second level, although I'm not positive since I took about 30 pictures from the Eiffel Tower that day. hehe.
This picture was taken from the very top level, and you can see the Arc d'Triumphe in the middle with all the streets leading to it.
After spending a little bit too much time (considering our limited amount of time available - I could've stayed there all day) we took the elevators back down and asked for directions to the metro station. I became the official navigator of the group I was with after I told them assuredly that I knew where I was going (I did, don't worry). I have an excellent sense of direction and was pretty sure I knew how to find our way there. It was a bit farther than I anticipated, but we did get there eventually and managed to buy the right type of all-day pass and caught the correct train to the Arc d'Triumphe. We took the little underground walkway under the street to see the Arc up close. The huge monument that Napoleon built as a tribute to his greatness was pretty cool.
This picture was taken from the Arc looking down the Champs Elysees, one of the most expensive shopping streets in the world. If you follow the street all the way down, it will eventually run into the Louvre, which was our next stop. We took the metro down there (walking was just not time effective) and headed to the museum.
There were quite a few people there that day (it was a Saturday), but we didn't actually have to wait in line more than about 5 minutes to get in. Once in there, we basically did the "Louvre sprint": the Mona Lisa, the Winged Victory, and the Venus di Milo. All three were really cool to see, but especially the Mona Lisa of course. We didn't have to wait that long to see her either. We got in the 'line' and didn't have to stop at all. Once we turned the corner to the room where it was, I sort of gasped because I wasn't expecting it at all. It was very enigmatic and not as small as everyone kept telling me it was. I managed to get a decent shot of it, but it took almost 15 tries. (Oh, and you're not supposed to take pictures of it at all, but every single one of the 40 people around me were, so oh well. At least I didn't use my flash.) On our way out of the museum, we grabbed a quick lunch of (oh yes) another baguette sandwich. I could not get enough of those baguette sandwiches. They were sooo good.
Then we decided to walk down the Seine River and make our way over to the Notre Dame Cathedral.
Just as we were walking up to the magnificent cathedral, it started to rain. This picture was taken just a few minutes before we got wet. Luckily we got in line and got inside quickly before we got too wet. Inside, it was very dark and very beautiful. I walked around the edges to look at all of the little chapels and admire the rose windows. You couldn't take flash pictures inside, so of course none of my pictures turned out well (which happened with all of the churches I went inside too - except for St. Peters). When we left the cathedral, it had stopped raining (how perfect) and we walked around the outside of the gothic building. The architecture was amazing. Notre Dame is famous for its flying buttresses (on the side opposite the one in the picture above) and it also had some cool gargoyles that were used as rain drains (I think).
After that, we walked back the way we came along the river because we wanted to get some postcards from a street vendor we had seen on the way. It was a nice relaxing walk and we were all glad for the break from running around everywhere. We got back to the Louvre and walked through the Tuileries Gardens on our way to the Place de la Concorde, which was where we were meeting the rest of the group and the bus to get back to the hotel.
This is some of the group waiting for the bus that day (notice Tash in hot pink beret. haha).
That night, we went to our first "optional": the Parisian dinner. Contiki has these optionals during the trip that are pre-arranged and that, of course, are not included in your trip already. I went on almost all of the optionals offered because it was a good way to hang out with the rest of the group and also do things that you wouldn't normally be able to figure out yourself (like, the white water rafting in Austria).
The dinner was really good. We started off with an appetizer of escargot (snails) which were yummy (although kind of garlicy) and lots of bread and wine. The picture above shows the table I was sitting at that night. From left: me, Andrew, James, Stu, John, Amanda. I was the only non-Aussie at the table. Oh, but I do love those Aussies. Almost our entire group was there that evening. We all had a good time at dinner, especially when the crazy accordian lady showed up.
I think she might actually be crazy, but whatever, we all had fun dancing around to the chicken song and making her sing all sorts of other things. We were being super loud and I think the group in the room next to us was jealous because they weren't having nearly as much fun as we were.
After dinner, most of the group went up to Montmartre. Some of the group was going to see a cabaret show next door to the Moulin Rouge (one of the few optionals I did not do) and the rest of us headed across the street to an Aussie pub. Why we went to an Aussie pub while we were in Paris, I do not know, but it was fun.
This was when I found out exactly how much the Aussies drink on an average night. And, let me tell you, it was a lot. Pretty soon after we got there, I decided that I wanted to go see the Sacre Coeur church that I knew was only a few blocks away up the hill. So, after checking to see if anyone else wanted to go (no one did), I hiked up to the church on the cobblestone roads wearing my cute little black high heel shoes (bad idea, by the way). I only got slightly lost and found a couple that was also looking for the church. We figured out how to get there after consulting both of our maps and some non-existent street signs.
The church itself was beautiful (seen above), but the view that it had over Paris was even more spectacular. I walked around for a little while and took in the view. The timing of day was perfect because the sun had gone down but it wasn't too dark yet.
After having enough of my last look of Paris, I took the funicular down the hill (it was kind of a side-ways elevator on the hill that required a metro pass - very interesting) and finally realized where I was. There was the carousel and sure enough, the rest of the scene that I had pictured in my head for a couple years. Amelie is one of my favorite movies of all time, and there is this one scene where she has the male lead character chase around this park to get his pictures back; everytime I watched the movie, I always told myself that when I went to Paris (whenever that was going to be) I would find this place. I knew that it was in Montmartre (or, at least I guessed that, since that is where the movie is set), but I had no idea what it was called or anything. So imagine my surprise and delight when I realized that I was there. When I got back home, I watched the movie again to double check, and sure enough you can see the Sacre Coeur in the background of the movie. I don't know why I didn't notice that before. Anyway, it was cool.
After that, I headed back to the pub. Along the way, some French guy started talking to me in French. I knew enough French to understand that he was commenting on how "unpractical" my shoes were for walking around there, and all I could do was smile and nod. It was pretty funny for me. The way I went back was much quicker (of course) and by the time I got back to the pub (about 45 minutes later), they were all totally trashed. It was hilarious. This was about the time I was given the nickname "cath" (short for cathedral) because I was being such a dork and went to the church instead of drinking. But whatever, I am really glad I went. We still had some time before heading back to the hotel, so I had a Smirnoff Ice which cost about US$7!
The Aussies started singing really loud and breaking glasses on purpose. I was surprised, but the other people told me that this was normal and happened all the time in Australia. Luckily it was an Aussie pub, so the people working there weren't surprised either. This is also when I started learning the Aussie phrases and words for things. Instead of telling someone to "chug" a beer or drink, they tell them to "skoll". I have since found myself yelling this in the States and everyone looks at me funny.
The bus picked us up an hour or so later and everyone was pretty wound up. John puked on the bus (and all over Dave's maps and stuff - bad idea). We proceeded to hand out the next nickname of the trip to him: Vomitron. That stuck until the last week of the trip when he got a new one (where's John?). Anyway, it was a fun night and an excellent day in Paris.
next day...
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