So the next day we woke up and had breakfast at our hotel then went to Notre Dame which had a line forming out of the entrance, but it was free and it went quickly so in we went. There was a mass going on (because it was Sunday) but we could still sightsee around them as long as we were really quiet and respectful. And though the line for the inside was short, the line for the tower was a bit longer. By the time we had made it down from the too the once short line to get in at all was wrapped around the building which really made us worry about how the lines where going to look for our next stop, the Eiffel tower. We took a break for lunch and while we were eating by the Seine minding our own business it started to downpour. My shoes were filled, my sandwich soaked, and it was now freezing. So before we went to the Eiffel tower it was decide to make a stop back at the hotel to dry off and collect rain gear. Haha.
Our suspicions about the lines at the eiffel tower were about right, though we did wait in the walking up line instead of the four hour elevator line, it still took us a good 4 hours to get through the whole thing. The rest of the afternoon was spent collecting information for the next day, both of the places however were closed... So we went to dinner. We decided upon this little crepe place that seemed so promising, but ended up being not good at all. The service was terrible, the food was okay, and they didn't speak a lick of English so it made communicating what we wanted very hard. The only positive thing that came out of our little two hour crepe dinner was the fact that when we finished it was dark and we were near the eiffel tower so we got to see it all lit up :) That was easily the highlight of my day!!
The next day we woke up early to try to bypass the lines for the louvre, but it didn't make much of a difference. They let so many people into the museum it is crazy. A claustrophobic person would have a fit in there. Anyway, our plan of action was to circle the places we wanted to see, find them, and leave as fast as possible. And that's exactly what we did. It was a good system.( I still don't see why the Mona lisa is so special ). To keep with our museum theme we went to the Hotel de Invalids afterwards. There we saw the armory museum (largest in the world!), a world wars museum, and Napoleon's tomb. All of which, was, of course, amazing. After that we grabbed some lunch at a place with really good French fries where I happily got to eat them with mayonnaise without being criticized!! :P We moved along to the Arch de Triumph and window shopping down Champseleaees where the Abercrombie was a mansion, you had to wait in a line to get in, and two extremely good looking models greeted you!!
As if that wasn't enough for one day we took a small nap and went to Sacre Coure around dusk and went shopping/hung out with the millions of other tourists watching the sun set from the steps of the church. That night however things sorta took a turn for the worse.
Taylor got really sick. The poor thing was throwing up what little dinner we had (we had chocolate crepes for dinner) all night, and the next day. So Tori, Reyes, and I had to venture to Versailles all by our lonesome. If we had thought Paris was crowded before... It was nothing compared to the masses of people trying to get out of Paris and to that Palace. Lordy. I have never waited in lines with that amount of people in my life. That day we spent 4 hours in line (first the line to buy the ticket, then the line to get in) followed by an hour walking through this beautiful palace with little to no walking room. Haha. It was an adventure... But completely worth it. To me anyway. The rooms and grounds of this place are the most beautiful things I have ever seen. Ever.
By the time we had gotten through everything an we're heading back to home base we had left Taylor for a full day of like 8 hours. We were hoping he had used it for some good R&R but as it turned out he was still really sick :( First, we took care of his "dinner" of 7up and crackers, then the three of us headed off again.
This time we ventured to the Latin quarter of Paris for dinner, which according to my book was supposed to have a lot of good restaurants, which it totally did!! We sat down at a traditional French place that had three courses for 10€. So worth it. We finally found our French dinner that didn't make us sick or wait for two hours! On our way home we stopped to watch some street dancers that were really funny (especially when they scared Reyes!! ) and we stole one last look at the Eiffel tower by standing on a rail you probably definitely weren't supposed to be standing on. Oh well....
So that was Paris!
The final day was spent going our different ways (T&T going to one airport and us a different one) and going "home". Where Reyes and I faced little to no problems and Tori and Taylor, as far as I know, went to Frankfurt their second day and are trying to get home from there. I bet they are already on a plane now, while Reyes and I enjoyed our first dinner at home in a long time :)
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