Day 25- Paris

Monday, May 17 (Day 25)

Today is our day in Paris! I woke up feeling pretty sick: headache, super stuffy yet runny nose, and a super sore throat with a lost voice. We ate breakfast and then headed into the city. The first stop was the Eiffel Tower. We had a group photo taken first and then we had 5 only minutes to take personal photos. We had 7 girls with us and 6 of us made a human pyramid. Then we switched out girls and I was on top this time. I threw my hands up in the air. What a fun picture! Then we all had individual shots with the tower.
After being yelled at by Filippo to hurry up, we got back on the coach and headed to the perfumery. On our way there, Russell took us to the Arc de Triomphe and drove around it a few times while the song “Danger Zone” from Top Gun was playing and we were all screaming and cheering for him. Apparently, it is so dangerous that as soon as you enter it, all vehicle insurance does not work. I guess there is an accident every 12 minutes. There are also 12 roads that feed off of this crazy roundabout. At the perfumery we learned a little about perfume, how it is made, and a little history. Then we got the chance to buy some! I bought mom a bottle there.

We only had half an hour at the perfumery so we jumped back on the coach to go to our next destination. Turns out, it was just us 5 Florida girls! And instead of going where we were ‘supposed’ to go, we asked Russell if he would drop us off at Notre Dame and he agreed.

We got to the church and took some pictures and went inside to take some more pictures. It was truly a beautiful church.
After Notre Dame, we headed to a café for lunch. It was really good and not too pricy! I ordered a quiche with broccoli and cheese and Erica and I split a French onion soup- it was SO good! Some of the other girls ordered a sandwich and it came as an open-faced sandwich and looked like something my mom had been cooking Justin and I since we were little: pumpernickel bread with melted Colby cheese and tomatoes on top. That looked good too!

The Louvre was next on our list. I did not realize how BIG it was! What a huge museum!! It is said that if you took a minute to look at each piece of artworks there, it would take you over 9 months to get through the whole museum. And it was really cool to see the pyramid outside after having read The Da Vinci Code a few years back. We went in and saw the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and the inverted pyramid.

After that, we sat on the lawn outside the Louvre for a few minutes to get some rest and then decided we wanted to go shopping. After walking 30 minutes down the road, and buying a Nutella crepe, we realized that the shops were much further than we thought and we turned around. We found some chairs around a fountain and all took a seat. I think everyone but I dozed off for a bit there. The sun was really nice but it got chilly when it went behind the clouds. It was also very windy! After two and a half hours of napping, we made our way over to meet up with the rest of our tour to change for dinner. We walked to the coach as a group and the girls got on the bus first to change. We pulled down the shades and started changing. Then it was the guy’s turn. While we were waiting for them, we discovered that the shades were see-through and only blocked the sun, but we were in a parking garage and everything could be seen! Good thing I wasn’t facing the window!!

We all headed over to dinner. We had to walk up a million stairs up a steep hill but the view was definitely worth it! We could see the whole city from there!

At dinner, we had a four course meal. First was appetizers and I ordered escargot, although the French onion soup was tempting. For the entrée, I ordered fish of the day, which was cod. It came in a white sauce and had spinach and some potato thing. The bread and wine were unlimited and we were poured one glass of white wine with current liquor. It was good! Sweet, but strong. I saved that one for dessert. So, I had three glasses of wine in front of me: white for dinner, red for the cheese course that we had next, which was brie, and then the liquor wine for dessert which was chocolate mousse cake. It was all SO good!

Carli’s birthday was the next day but this was a great time to celebrate it: while everyone is together at our farewell dinner. Filippo came over, singing “Happy Birthday,” and gave Carli a present. Everyone joined in on the song and the lights were turned out and a piece of cake with a candle in it was brought over. It was really cute.

After dinner, Filippo brought us to an Irish Pub, O’Sullivans by the Moulin Rouge. This place was EXPENSIVE! Carli got a free shot for her birthday and we all hung out. Then one of the guys bought a round of shots for everyone. The dancing started and we were having fun. I was still feeling under the weather, though. I sat on the couch the majority of the night and just watched everyone dance. That was fun to me! I bought Carli and I a drink for her birthday and then I about called it quits. I lied down on the couch in the lounge and the guys were trying to get me to go out on the dance floor. I either refused OR was picked up and put there but I didn’t dance. I found three other girls who were ready to go and we all went back to the camp sight.
It was late and it was cold, and our taxi driver took the longest way possible, but I was happy to be so close to bed. I took a shower and hit the hay.