So to catch up what you have missed the past few days. Friday, I went to my friends surprise going away party (she is the girl I am actually going to be rooming with in Florence, yay!) And supposedly she was very surprised. A lot of people were there so it was really nice to see everyone and our night consisted of Just Dance 1 and 2 for the Wii and also Glee Karaoke, which I must say is pretty damn fun!
Then the next day, Saturday, I had a going away BBQ at my sisters house. There was a really great turn out! I was slightly surprised and it was pretty fun. I am happy I got to see a lot of those people because I know when I come back either I will be moving away or they are going to be off doing their own thing so who knows when I will be able to see them next. Kind of sad really to think about but no sad subjects right now! Later on Saturday night, I went to San Francisco and met up with some people for my friends birthday party. I realized later that it was closer to my birthday then her birthday. So secretly it was my birthday party, but she doesn't have to know that. Haha. Then Sunday and Monday consisted of packing, buying last minute things, stressing out, emotional breakdowns and family time. Nothing unexpected from an adventure like this.
So my flight left from SFO on Tuesday around 3:30 pm. I have never taken an 11 hour flight before so it was pretty interesting. Waiting by the gate, I met up with the rest of the pre-tour group. We all just knew right away that we were part of the group, plus it was pretty obvious. So we all chatted it up, then boarded the plane. Air France was pretty decent. We got unlimited amount of drinks, and two meals. The meals were okay, but it's airline food. You can't expect much out of that. I maybe fell asleep for a total of 20-30 mins the whole flight. I am not sure if a lot of people or not fell asleep but literally sleeping on a plane is nearly impossible for me. But there was a lot for me to do on the plane, tons of movies to choose from. I watched the beginning of about 5-6 different movies. I didn't finish any of them. I kept getting distracted by other things. I read some of my book, played some games. There was a dance party on the plane at one point, that was interesting. Also I made sure that I was up to see the sun rise, which was absolutely beautiful. That picture doesn't give it justice. So overall, it was pretty good plane ride and I don't think I would mind doing it again.
Even on the plane, I don't think it fully hit me I was going to Paris. Once I was able to see the French ground and safely landed on the ground, it hit me. I felt like a little kid in a candy shop, I became so giddy. Despite the lack of sleep, I felt fully awake; definitely gained some second wind. Luckily no ones luggage was lost, we met up with our tour manager, Heather who I must say is pretty bloody awesome. We got some tutorials on the bus ride to our hotelabout Paris, the metro and safety issues. On the way to thehotel, I didn't really feel like I was in Europe, nothing seemed to be different. But then we gradually started to further into Paris and I could tell, nothing at home can compare to this. The buildings are absolutely beautiful! I am in love with this city. The weather is dreadful but honestly, doesn't matter what the weather is like here. The drivers here are way more aggressive then back home but I already expected that. Pedestrians don't have the right away so its interested trying to walk across the street but I notice a lot of locals don't give a crap and walk in front of cars anyways, so nonchalant.
So we got to our hotel room, which is pretty sweet. We settled in then we went off to la Seine to have a boat tour. We first were introduced to the metro which reminds me a lot of the subways in New York, fast passed and crowded so it didn't seem like anything new to me. We got off at Tour Eiffel and headed towards the boat tours. As we were walking out our tour manager, Heather, ran out in front of us with a camera. I am like 'Aw thats nice, she is taking a group photo of us.' Then she was just standing there not taking the photo. She told us to keep moving forward and then I started to get confused. Then at that moment she told us to look up and BOOM! There was the Eiffel tower. It was simply amazing, my heart dropped to my stomach. We stayed there for a while and did some photo ops. Even with gloomy, gross weather, it was beautiful. We then jumped on the tour boats and started the tour. It was so freaking cold and I was jet lagged and tired as hell but I stuck it through because not a lot of chances you get to come to a beautiful city like this. The tour was awesome!
We passed the Louve, Notre Dame and some other historical buildings. Even though la Saine is really gross, it is magical at the same time. I enjoyed people watching, lots of couples hang out by the river but also then again there are lots of couples in Paris. No wonder they call it the City of Love or as the tour guide on the boat said, City of Lights. After the boat tour, we headed back to the hotel because we were supposed to hand off one suit case that would be sent to Florence so we would have lighter baggage for the rest of our travels on the pre-tour. But let me just say, we were all pretty zonked out by this point!
We all wanted to go out and get dinner together then hit up a bar or pub afterwards. Everyone went back to their hotel rooms to get ready but most of us realized we didn't even know which rooms people were in so it was hard to get in contact with people. Facebook was our only form of communication. So I got in contact with a few girls and we met up. There were 6 of us and we walked around near our hotel and found this cute little place. We walked in and saw about 8 other people from our tour group there so we all hung out. We ordered some amazing pizza and a bottle of wine. We all goofed around and had fun. The group we met up with at the restaurant decided just to go back to the hotel room because they were pretty whipped out. I was kind of bummed because I really wanted to explore the night life but being up for over 30 hours isn't very ideal. Our waiter was so funny, we goofed around with him and generally you don't have to tip here but we gave him a 3 Euro tip because he was really awesome. I wanted to take some pictures of the Moulin Rouge because it was just right down the street. So we all walked down there and took some photos. And someone noticed on the ground a lovely latex object on the ground. Yes, we found a used condom on the ground right in front of the Moulin Rouge. It was disgusting but amazing at the same time. We got a pretty good kick out of it.
I went back to the hotel room and pretty much passed out. But because of the time difference I woke up at 3 a.m. my time and pretty much have been up since. It is now just about 7 a.m. our time and we are all about to meet up and get free breakfast at the hotel. I am extremely hungry so I am pretty excited. Today we have a half guided tour of Paris then after that we are going the 2nd floor of the Eiffel tower because I guess the top floor is being renovated. Then after that we have the rest of the day free! So probably a lot of us will split off. Most likely we will all meet up later tonight. There is this restaurant a few blocks away from out hotel room that serves fondu and wine in baby bottles so I am kind of stoked to go there. Then after that we will most likely hit up the local pubs and night life. I will most likely update this again when I am in London or if I can't sleep. Until then, Au Revoir!
