Today is a free day in Paris. After breakfast we were given a choice of three drop-off locations; the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triumphe or the Concorde. Figuring we’ve seen the Eiffel tower and didn’t need to go shopping down the path from the Arc de Triumphe, we got off at the Concorde which was closest to the Louvre. It ended up we were the only two people that wanted to get off there first, everyone wanted to start further away and head towards the Concorde. It’s great that I’m travelling with Diem, we havn’t disagreed on anything yet.

After we were dropped off, we went to run some errands. We first stopped by a bakery and had a second breakfast, being in France we just had to try the coffee and pastries ya know.. It was sorta difficult ordering since we didn’t know French and the Indian lady didn’t know English. So with a bit of pointing and nodding I got some cake-like flan, and hot chocolate (I thought it was coffee), Diem got some coffee and pastry. They were all very good. The flan was more like pudding pie, it was hard on the outside and pudding like on the inside, although not as soft as pudding, but softer than cheesecake. After we finished we found an atm, got more cash, then to the public phones to call home. Errands done, we’re ready to go to the Louvre.

We got a bit lost trying to find the entrance to the Louvre. We didn’t know it was under the pyramid. After going all over the place looking for an entrance we eventually lined up with a bunch of people at the pyramid. Some Americans behind us asked if it was the line in to the Louvre, we told them that we didn’t know but sure hoped so since it was starting to get hot.

We stayed in the Louvre for about 5 hours. It was just about enough time to see all we wanted but not even close enough time to really take a close look at everything that was in it. The place is absolutely amazing. It is so big and there are thousands of pieces of art. Dave told us that if we were to spend 1 minute on each piece, it would take about 9 days to finish. Fortunately for me, I’m not a huge art fan. We pretty much strolled through the rooms, stopping to look at the more famous pieces like the Mona Lisa.

The Mona Lisa is very popular, there were signs everywhere leading specifically to the painting. When we finally reached the painting, there was a huge crowd in front of it. Taking pictures near it was next to impossible. Both Diem and I ended up with nasty shots of our big heads in the foreground and the tiny Mona Lisa in the background. The painting is encased in a special glass case that allowed us to take flash photography, but the glass made the pictures turn out green.

I’m not too big into paintings, the type of art I like are sculptures, namely Greek, Roman and Italian. Some famous ones are the Venus de Milo, and Psyche and Cupid. I took tons of pictures, I even took pictures of ones I found pretty but didn’t know the names to. Good thing for digital. :P By the time we were done, my legs were aching.

There was no pickup today since we’re scattered all over Paris, so around 5pm we headed out to look for the metro to take us back to camp. It was very tricky and confusing. We knew we had to take the Red A2 line but it was so difficult to find. When we finally saw a stairway leading down with a red A symbol we decided to follow it. It was a metro station all right, but there was no one in the ticket booth and the ticket vending machine was broken. We stood around looking like idiots not knowing what to do until an asian guy coming out of the metro took pity on us and used his day pass to let us through.

Once underground, the nightmare started. It felt like an ant nest, everyone was in a hurry, speed walking past us, hurrying down the stairs, running, bumping, rushing, rushing. Diem and I walked as fast as we could, trying to read the signs and head towards the right direction before we get pushed by the mob elsewhere. I felt that if I tripped and fell I’d probably get trampled over. After about 10 mins of turning into new tunnels, going down stairs, and trying not to get run over we found the A line. We got our €1.30 ticket (at least it’s cheap) and proceeded down to the train tracks.

Aftere we got there we were lost again. We had trouble finding the right side of the track and the right train to take. they had announcements over the PA system but we couldn’t understand a thing. Trains were coming and going every 5-10 minutes. There were screens hung on the ceiling of each side of the track, all the cities were listed with a little light next to it. But it didn’t say when the trains would be coming. A train came but we decided last minute not to get on because the screen didn’t light up next to the stop we wanted to get off of. We were going to head towards the other side of the track, figuring maybe our train was on that side. After a few steps Diem turned around and looked at the screen again, and this time the light to our stop lit up! 30 seconds later our train came and we hopped on. Whew, that wasn’t TOO hard.

After we got off we found the bus stop that would take us back to camp, after an hour’s wait and a 30 min ride, we made it in time for dinner.

After a breakfast of fruit, cereal, eggs n potatos this morning, we piled into the coach to go back to Paris. We were first taken to the Chateau and the Garden of Versailles. The Chateau is huge! It took Kin Louis XIII 50 years to build. The place was great, the only problem is that all the rooms were connected by a door at the end of each side. I don’t know if it was originally built this way or not but to get to any rooms you had to go through all the previous rooms, like one long hallway. After a while all the rooms started to look the same.

At the pick up time three of the guys almost missed the coach because they were late. We learned that the coach doesn’t wait for anyone, you either be at the coach on time or you find your own way back, good thing I brought a $6 watch from Wal-Mart. After the Chateau we were dropped off at the Concorde for the rest of the afternoon.

We made our way to the Notre Dame for some pictures and to see inside the great cathedral. Like everything else so far, it’s huge. I kept thinking of the Disney movie, the Hunchback of Notre Dame… I wonder where the bell tower is… The stain glass windows inside are beautiful. There are a few really really big ones. I snapped a dozen or so pictures of the windows and archs before leaving.

We then had lunch at a café nearby. Lunch was extremely expensive, the club sandwich (ham and boiled egg on a baguette) I had was €7.80, and the chocolate crape I shared, €6.50. The cost of Evian water was €4.50 for a regular bottle and €5.00 for coffee. Man, how do people survive! I hope it’s this high just b/c it’s a tourist spot…My lunch was a good €13 without drinks… there goes my €5/day lunch budget for the trip…

After lunch we slowly made our way back to the bus, checking out postcards and posters along the way. I bought a few, but now I have to figure out a way to keep them from getting smushed… the posters don’t come with a poster container, they don’t sell it either. Gosh, if I set up a stand here selling only poster containers, I’d make a fortune!

The coach took us back to get refreshed for an hour or so. Afterwards we went back to Paris for dinner and cabaret. Diem, Ester and I didn’t go to the dinner because it was optional and we opted to go and wander the city and find dinner ourselves. We walked around looking at old postcards and letters dating back one hundred years ago. Esther loved the postcards and got a few for herself. I was a bit wary of it, postcards written by people long dead seems pretty scary to me. We also stopped to check out some antiques that people were selling in the little alleys. We found dinner at a pizza shop and met back with the group to watch the cabaret show.

The show, called la Nouvelle was pretty good, not as good as some vegas shows but it was a good experience. We each got half a bottle of champagne but most of us didn’t finished more than 2 glasses. By the time we were done it was midnight. After we got back, we grabbed a beer and then got ready for bed.

Got up at 5 am this morning, didn’t sleep too well the night before. It was warm, humid but dry at the same time. I kept waking up every 2 hours. By 6 we were downstairs with the rest of the group, there are 42 of us on this tour. We weighed our luggage (allowed 20 kg), loaded the suitcases and boarded the coach. And we’re off! Our trip has begun!

We took a ferry to France at the port of Dover, it was a very large ferry, holding tons of trucks, cars and most importantly our coach. Dave had mentioned that the coach would be with us everywhere, I didn’t know he really meant it literally, I thought we would change coaches every once in a while between countries.

Inside the ferry we found gift shops, cafes, bars, restaurants and a money exchange bureau. After exchanging for some Euros, we grabbed a slice of pizza and a juice. I’m not a juice drinker, but Diem and I were determined to stay as healthy as possible so that we don’t get sick, so that means eating my fruits and juices… yuck…

Contiki Paris Cabins

The 90 minute trip took us to France where we reboarded the bus and started the drive to Paris. We first stopped by the Contiki village where we’ll be staying for the next couple of days. It’s a very small camp, consisting of about 20 cabins. The cabin holds 2 people in each of the 2 rooms. The rooms are Tiny!! It’s just a room containing 2 bunk beds, that’s it. Once we got our luggage into the room there was no room wo walk. No wonder they only allowed one piece of luggage I dubbed it Camp Snoopy after some of the dorms at college.

After putting our stuff away we went out for welcoming wine, escargot (French for snails), and dinner. The escargot was gross, you had to pull the animal out of it’s shell with a toothpick. It looked like the big snails I use to see all over campus after it rains. The escargot was cooked and topped with some funky green, moss looking topping. I tried not to think or look at it before popping out the thing and swallowed it. Yum… not really….Esther wanted to make the experience memorable so she ate two of those suckers.

Inside of cabin

After dinner we went on an evening tour around Paris. We went all over the place, checked out the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Arc de Triumphe, Eiffel Tower, the Concord and a whole bunch of other buildings, I couldn’t possilby remember all of them as Dave introduced them while we drove by. We all clambered to the side of the coach to take pictures through the window. Most of my pictures didn’t turn out so well with the glare from the window and all. I’m sure we’d get a lot of chances to take pictures tomorrow, but being first day and all we’re all pretty excited.

We had a stop at the Eiffel Tower for about 20 mins to take some pictures. The structure is huge, I’ve been to the Tokyo tower in Japan and I had thought it was about the same size, but The Eiffel Tower looks much much bigger. The coach dropped us off on the far end of the tower and picked us up underneath the tower. While we walked across the park towards the tower we saw the coach park underneath it, it looked so small in comparison.

We also took a spin around the Arc de Triumph. There are 12 streets entering and exiting the roundabout. Dave turned up the music and Richard took us for a really fast spin around the roundabout (a few times) scaring the heck out of all of us. It looked like total chaos. I thought we were sure to hit something. Especially those tiny two seater cars the French seem to love.

The city of Paris is really beautiful; most of the buildings are very old and have a lot of intricate decorations. Everything had a lot of detail, the windows, doors, walls…It sure would be nice to live here.

Sunset in Paris

By the time we got back it was quite late, some people stopped by the bar for drinks but I went back to shower and sleep since tomorrow is going to be another long day.

5356 miles later we landed in Heathrow Airport England. We picked up our bags, exchanged some dollars for pounds and went looking for a way to get to our hotel. We were told by STA (our travel agency) during our booking that going by underground is the cheapest way to travel. I wasn’t too sure what the underground was, afterall, we’re Americans and from California, our only mode of transportation is the car. But, we’re smart cookies, it’s most likely a subway or train.

We wandered around the airport, following signs that pointed towards the exit till we found a sign leading to the Underground, it turned out to be a train. We got our tickets for £3.50 and hopped on the Piccadilly line. About 20 stops later we got off at Russell Square and headed off to our hotel, the Royal National. I was feeling very excited but a bit scared at the same time, I didn’t know what to expect of the coming weeks ahead of us. Would we like it or hate it? Are the people friendly? Will I be wishing to go home by the end of the week?

Our tiny room

We exited the station and started to look for our hotel, problem is we didn’t know where it was, we had a map but having no idea which way we were facing and having trouble finding the signs for street names it was no help. We dragged our luggage around the block a few times, my arms threatening to fall off from the weight of the bag, we finally located the hotel and checked in.

After check-in, we went to the Contiki office that was located around the building and in the basement. We brought our luggage along with us because we knew our luggage had to be weighed before departure. We lugged our suitcases down a narrow flight of stairs and checked in with Contiki. They told us that the pre-tour meeting was going to be at 6 that evening and that our luggage is to be weighed the next day. Having almost 2 hours to kill, we went back to our room.

The Hot or Cold but not warm sink

The key they gave us for the room was connected to this huge metal rod, I suppose it’s to keep people from stealing the key. But it’s rather annoying carrying it around because it doesn’t fit in pockets. And even if it did, if you happen to fall, it will probably stick you somewhere.

The room itself was very small. Two twin beds, a dresser, table, tv on the dresser and the restroom. It was smaller than my dorm room back at the university. We bearly had room to put our lugage down. I was not very impressed. It was also awfully hot. The weather outside is a bit on the chilly side but in the room it was warm and humid.

The facilities in the hotel took some getting use to. First the toilet is a dark puke green, just seeing it makes you not want to use it. As for flushing, it took skills to push and pump the lever just right before the water would come down.

The sink was confusing. It was the first thing I noticed when I walked into the bathroom, it had two faucets, one for hot and one for cold. I couldn’t figure out how to get warm water. So I’d be trying to wash my hand moving every few seconds from scalding hot water to icy cold water. My hands got quite confused, the left one thinks the water is freezing cold while the right one thinks it’s scalding hot. My brain couldn’t make up it’s mind, one second it’s screaming ‘ouch, you’re burning your hands, pull away’, and the next second I’m thinking ‘cold, cold!!’

After taking a short nap and a shower we went to our pre-tour meeting. During the meeting we met our tour manager, Dave and coach driver, Richard. They are both in their mid, late? 20’s and seem like great people to have fun with. After taking down our passport information we were told to meet at 6 am outside the hotel the next morning. Diem and I then claimed our plaid colored sleeping bags and left.

The streets

After the meeting Diem and I set off to find some dinner. We took a stroll around Russell Square and picked a place that had more customers than the places next to it. It’s a small Italian restaurant, the food and service was quite good. I had an olive oil and basil pasta and Diem had ribs.  When my pasta came, it was just what I ordered, pasta with a drizzle of olive oil and bits of basil… that’s it, no other sauce or ingredient. I felt cheated. We wern’t too sure if we had to leave a tip, the waitress told us it was similar to the American system. Looking at our bill, she told us £2 for our meal would enough.

After a brief phone call home to let everyone know we arrived asfely, we headed back and went to bed. Early start tomorrow!

Leaving America!

Finally, the trip to Europe is here.  After months of planning, waiting and even quitting our jobs, we are going! Over the last few days, my bags have been packed and repacked numerous times. We’re only allowed 1 bag weighing up to 20kg, which means recycling a lot for 6 weeks. Diem and I even took a last minute trip to Sav-Ons this morning to pick up some last minute essentials.

My mom, dad and Jae accompanied us to the airport. Being LAX we had to unload our luggage at the curb in a hurry, say our last goodbyes, gave our last hugs, and then they left and we were on our own. Just Diem and I, me and Diem…I was feeling a bit scared after parting, but then stepping through the sliding doors I had to put the fear aside and get things done. We went to the counter, checked in, and made sure our bags get plopped onto the conveyer belt. I sure hope that they don’t lose our luggage, that would be such a pain. After checking our bags, we headed towards our departure gate passing some security checks where they x-rayed everything we got. While waiting, we stopped at Starbucks, and browsed for some books and magazines before boarding our plane.

One hour, a snack and juice later we landed in San Francisco. From there we got to our next gate and got in line to board the plane, by 7pm we were in the air again flying over the Pacific. Good Bye USA!