Paris continued... :)

Its been a while since I had good wifi, so a bit of a delay in the blogs... Get ready for it!!

After our first night in paris we woke up and got dropped off at the Eiffel Tower for a free day. On the way to being dropped off at the tower, we passed over the exact spot where Princess Diana died. It was quite sad. Theres a monument there now in rememberance of her which is good to see.

We decided to join the queue for the lift rather than the stairs at the tower. It was a lot longer, but we figured even with a queue we would probably still beat the others to the top. Plus I was still feeling pretty sick and had a blocked nose which wouldnt make for good climbing...

We then proceeded to stand in the hot sun for about one hour and 15 mins queueing for the lift. It was so crowded!! There were illegal street sellers everywhere trying to sell little models of the tower, silk sheets and all sorts of stuff. They were so pushy!! Then you would see cops come into the square and they would all go running. Was quite funny really.

By the time we got up to the top of the tower, we were all pretty over it. We didnt stay up there for long. We came back down then slowly walked back up towards Trocadero and the Arc de Triomphe. I stopped at a souvenir shop and bought a t-shirt. The man that sold it was saying how much he loves americans and how beautiful we are, I was about to tell him I was Australian when he said "I have a gift" and filled my shopping bag with little Eiffel Tower trinkets!! I checked my change, cos I figured he was short changing me or something, but no, he was just giving me gifts which was cute!!!

We met up with others from our group and went under the Charles De Gaulle roundabout and into the Arc de Triomphe. It was so beautiful. Such a detailed structure. Plus standing there you had a great view of all the crazy drivers trying to make it round that roundabout!!

After that we slowly made our way down the Champs Elysees back to the train station. The only thing I could afford in that street was a coffee from Maccas and 3 postcards!! But it was still a great experience. I was trying to speak as much French as I could... lots of bonjours and merci's. But I was still getting all confused and mixing it up with Italian. By the end of the day though I had it fairly well down pat.

The boys here are all so good looking and well dressed. Its crazy, they are all just like you see in hugo boss ads or something :) Its giving us lots of eye candy anyway!! There are all so polite also. Very chivalrous. Opening doors and things. Soooo not what im used to! haha

We took the underground train back to the hotel. Found our way easy!! We are seriously naturals at this. I need to audition for The Amazing Race!!!
After getting ready for dinner and the show we all got taken into the city again. We were dropped off near the Moulin Rouge and had to walk up to the restaurant. Dinner was awesome!! 3 courses of amazing french food. The waiters were all quite funny as well and really got into the spirit of it all.

After dinner we walked down to the cabaret show, the Nouvelle Eve. It was actually a really good show. I didnt know what I would think of it at first, as I had heard some bad reviews on the contiki website. But it turned out to be a great show!! Very burlesque, but I figure if you are ever going to go and see a cabaret show, you are best going to see one in Paris.

We then got taken to O'Sullivans, a nightclub right next door to the Moulin Rouge. Drinks were so expensive there! It cost 22 Euros for 2 vodka and red bulls!! But it was worth it, it was a great night out!! We were sposed to catch a bus back to the hotel at 1.45, but realised at 3am it was a bit too late so had to catch a taxi!! I will note that at the club I did meet a lovely man, Alexander from Nice. I love France :)

We got back to the room at 4am and had to be up by 7.30 am to catch the bus. Needless to say everyone was fairly tired and hungover by the next morning.
We went to see the Louvre in the morning, but the crowds were massive and I wasnt that fazed about seeing inside. So a few of us decided to try to walk to Notre Dame Cathedral while the others were at the Louvre. We got so close but seemed to be lost and running out of time so we ended up turning around and going back for the bus. Turns out we were only half a block away!!

We then spent almost the rest of the day on the bus. We stopped at Chateau de Fontainbleu for a look around and a rest stop which was really nice, but everyone was so hungover that we just wanted to get back on the bus to sleep.