17th Oct - 22nd Oct
5 days
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Ahhh, monameeee...haha, ok, so i dont know how to speak french ok....we thought we were going to have so much trouble getting by because of the people and how rude they would be (from past experiences) and I had warned the guys about this...they were like, ok, cool...we'll see...

Gorgeous French architecture

Well, after leaving Zurich (early!) we decided to see how we would go in finding accomodation after 11:30pm...we had to catch the train to Gare de Lyon so we got off there, in the end we saw that this station was closer into the city than where we were staying! we got off and started looking for a place to stay the night. There were so many hotels/hostels and we didnt know which one to choose but then again we found out we couldnt be too picky! its hard to house 3 people in 1 room these days it looks like, some places kicked us out because of it, some had no room, some were just too expensive and we finally found one and our backs were aching by this time! there was only room for 2 people, the guy oculdnt understand us, we couldnt understand him, he could have been talking about how he dyes his pet chicken Sven's feathers pink for all i knew, he was nice but not understandable so that sorta sux im thinking...in the end Sam sacrificed his night of sleep and slept on the floor cos he couldnt be bothered finding another hostel to sleep in at that time...with the sounds of a drunk coughing his guts up, we layout our stuff in our room then decided to go find something to EAT, we were starving!

There were times we just couldnt stop laughing! the public thought we were crazy...

We passed by a few restaurants and some were still opened, we walked into a late night one and sat down and breathed a sigh of relief! its good to be sitting down without backpacks on! The boys had steak and chips, I had a huge yummy yummy salad (anythings better than bread and cheese when youre hungry eh?) and we had a bit of red wine...mmmm, the server boy was quite cool, we befreinded him and he would come up and start talking to us about australia and france blah blah, he had a cute little accent...the boys were like "but you said french were rude?" and i was like, ummm, yeah thats what I thought too...hehe

Magnificent Sacre Ceour

After eating we walked back to our hostel...umm, yes, with the boys directions...hmmm, Sam and Dan were SOOO certain that it was another street, but im like, umm, no its this one, but they started making fun of me and saying yeah whatever and really digging into me that i gave up and decided to pass OUR street and go to the street that they THOUGHT was OUR street, without saying a WORD (thats good for me!)...hmmm, and just as i thought, it was the WRONG bloody street!! and u hear this "hey! wheres our hostel??" ah, yeah, back THERE where I first told you it was! man, seriously, this is why guys should be listening to girls more often, im telling you...definatley put this down in your "to do" list boys (it was funny though - Sams face cracked me up! haha)

One of my favourite European Cathedrals, Notre Dame

The nights rest was pretty good, we were all tired, Dan was sick, Sam was getting sick (not mentally, thats already happened, but physically) and I was ok, just tired...the beds were comfy (but i didnt tell Sam that cos his butt was on the floor!) and got up in the morning and went to the train station to find our way to our other hostel already booked...

Amazing art on the side of a Church in the city

Can you spell "LOST"? we looked SO lost in the metro system, it was our first time and we had NO idea how the system worked! we knew we had to get to Clingncourt, but had no way of knowing HOW to get to it...FINALLY I asked a lady who worked in a shop in the station and she rudely (yes! first rude frenchie) pointed us to track 1...from there we got lost again and didnt know where to go, I finally asked a guard and he told us where to go and after about an hour I started getting the hang of it and it was so easy! the only problem was that we had all our luggage with us and it was really hurting our backs and we were getting annoyed and we looked like such bloody tourists! ahh, mee, we got to our station finally and man, we were in DA HOOD im telling you, little gangs standing on corners talking, people everywhere, mainly guys and people staring, we were staying in the muslim section! and we were like *gulp* where do we go now? luckily enough, our hostel was so close by and everything was close by as well, like phone shop, internet, laundry mat (for da boyz) and other nicks and nacks, maccas was just there and that made the boys happy as well (and the pricing wasnt like switz so it was cool)

The Eiffel Tower lighted up at night (funny how sparkley lights make an ugly metal antenna look pretty)

Our Hostel had stairs, no elevators, just stairs, yep, and we were on the vourth floor. We lugged our crap up to our room and plonked onto the bed...no electrical plugs (so i couldnt charge my camera batteries which means dire situations for me) and the whole time we stayed there (4 days) we were given MINIMUM amounts of toilet paper! we each asked about 3 times for more and they still gave us nothing! it wasnt even toilet paper mind you, it was like paper bits in a pink cardboard box which wasnt even enough to wipe a diahorrea prone squirrels vor after going to the loo! it pissed me off and annoyed the guys as well... ah me

Sam looking a tad scarey! lol

Hanging out at our cramped hotel room

Group hug! (why do i put myself in these situations?)

The food at the supermarkets was CHEAP as...noice one noice one brotha! bought heaps of stuff and we all decided to go with the cheese and bread, i was happy cos the bread in Paris is IMMACULATE, honestly...no serious, really, seriously, honestly, truely....mmm yum

Across the street from the Arch de Triumph - such history

Well, this is the part where we started getting a bit umm, scared...

I finally got my directions wrong...yup, I started leading the boys OUTSIDE of Paris. We were already staying on the outskirts of Paris city centre and I turned the wrong way (we werent using a map becasue we basically had to just go straight down this road) we came upon a huge street all full of arabs and muslims and just people trying to sell clothes, leather jackets, jewerlly, BUY BUY BUY! everyone was stopping us and wanting us to buy something, we felt so out of place...we sorta compared it to Redfern in sydney, all 3 of us felt so uncomfortable, we were huddling together walking, trying to find out where we were (I think Sam cried out for his mummy, im not sure) but in the end we found where we were (we were nearly falling OFF our map!) and turned around REAL quick and headed in the right direction with me red faced, hehe, we were saying to each other that if the whole of Paris is like this then we HATE IT... ended up being juuust fine getting closer towards the centre of the city and we relaxed a bit and started getting the colour back into our face..hehe whoooewwweee, what an experience...(not as 'interesting' as my Harleem one, but SORTA close to it)

The local radio stations antenna

Eiffel Tower - the boys went up and they actually CLIMBED the first bit!! i was so proud of them, hehe. I dont know, i think the Eiffel Tower isnt THAT spectacular, like the boys said, its looks like a huge radio tower, nothing special. The funny thing is when you are up close to it, it doesnt look as bit, but when you look at it from far away, it looks like it dominates the skyline, wierd... I didnt go up because 1) ive been before 2) im waiting to go again with my mum/auntie in July, instead I walked around the area and looked at the surrounding sights and waterfalls and took many pictures (as well as piggin out on NUTELLA CREPES - I had 1 each day I was in Paris, I made sure I did, these you cannot miss out on when here - please)

After trying to shelter from the rain, Sam and I gave up and started singing and dancing in the rain (much to the surprise and joy of the homeless bums we were sharing the shelter with! they started singing and clapping!) the funny thing was that there was a pair of cute fluffy animal slippers sitting on the bench that didnt belong to anyone, looked good in the photo anyway...

By the way, we met up with Sams cousin here, I was so happy for them, they hadnt seen each other for like 7 years or something! I was thinking, hey, cool, ill get someone who can sorta be on my side since the boys like making fun of me constantly and hey, he might feel sorry for me, but you know what? he was WORSE than the boys! he was such a smartass and made so much fun of me! haha it was funny...sheesh, umm, 3 guys, all smart asses, now thats another experience I wont be able to forget anytime soon, lol

Sams Cousin Zoozoo, what a character!

Went and saw the usual sights, the Notre Dame Cathedral (fantabulous) this priest came up to us and was explaining a peice of religious artwork inside the church, he spoke english in the beginning and then he started his speel on the artwork and i think halfway he decided to start speaking french and he was talking so fast!! I kept nodding my head as if i was uderstanding (a few words i picked up in english!) and i saw the looks on Sam and Dans face and I was holding back on the laughter! he was speaking so fast and it sounded gibberish but when looking at us, looked like 3 aussies knew exactly what 1 priest was talking about!! we walked off stunned and not really understanding what just happened and in what language...sheesh, i didnt know preists could speak so fast...

Lourve...was closed, Daniel wanted to go in but couldnt which was a shame, I have already been inside and seen the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo, I want to go again though with mum and auntie so will have to wait till next year...we'll see...

The Lourve, having studied this my whole highschool life, it was amazing actually seeing it (again!)

The city was amazing, we walked around through some gorgeous parks and saw some nice sights. At one stage it started POURING down rain from nowhere! we found a tree to stand under before, that didnt work since squirrels and birds were dropping onto our heads all wet and stuff so we ran under into this tunnel and through it to the other side where we stumbled across 3 or 4 homeless men...reeking of urine! ewww, RAN past them and went to a close by shelter where we stood for over 30mins waiting for the heavy rain to calm down a bit, and it wasnt...Sam got this crazy (but fun) idea to dance under the rain...so he ran out and started jumping and singing and dancing on the seat! hahahah and the homeless guys were cheering him on and "whoop whooping" him! haha, I thought it looked like a lot of fun so i decided to join him and ran about in the rain and jumping from the seats..hehe, pretty cool...got wet but hey, who cares, we ran to the metro and we got wet anyway...so no big deal...it was so much fun though and the photos turned out great! haha good idea Sam..
luv ya man! haha

An aussie couple we met in our hotel, went out for drinks on the Champs de Elysees

One of the nights, Zoozoo took us out to some area with heaps of pubs and stuff, we went into a place that looked the least dodgyiest and sat down and had a few beers...got to know him and see his funny (and honest!) side...he was a character I tell ya! I think Sam was scared of him, his quote which I will never forget... "oh my GOSH!...he's worse than, worse than....ME!!" - Sam (in Paris) hehehe and yeah he was... night life in Paris is pretty big, a lot of people out, weather was a bit rainy but everyone was still dressed up and happy to be in heels on pebbly ground...we had fun that night...saw some sights too...

Acting normal

Our favourite Parisan pub drink! got hooked on this...

All in all, Nutella crepes - amazing, Paris was good, 4 days was enough and we saw a lot of what we wanted to see, even thought the wet weather stopped us from seeing a lot more...we had the eurostar to catch from Gare du Nord and that was fairly easy, got packed and headed to the station, it was like checking into an airport with the Eurostar...and in less than 2 hrs, we were in London...

Resting under the Arch de Triumph