Our first free day in Paris. I decided to sleep in for a while. I wanted to use my pass while I had it. A lot of people had already taken off by the time I was up and done getting ready for the day. I then walked down to Elyse's room to see if the girls had left yet. Two of them had so they could go to church.But two were still there; I asked them what they were planning on. I wanted to go out but I didn't want to go off on my own. I didn't trust Paris that much. Elyse and Laura wanted to go to the Arch de Triumph and so did I. So at about 12pm we headed out to go visit the sites. We walked down our street and found a little market under the metro stop. So of course we had to stop and see what they had. Laura was looking at shoes and a guy who turned out to be the vendor started saying she looked so pretty and started majorly flirting with her. He was older, but not bad looking. He pointed out where is shop is and then continued to flirt. He was trying to get Laura to say yes to coffee with him. He spoke pretty good English. She kept trying to tell him she was on study abroad and didn't have a lot of free time to go to coffee. I don't think he understood or didn't want to. She then was looking at a purse as some person came up to him to buy something. It was 10 euros and Laura is the best at getting bargains. He asked her if she wanted it and that it was cute. She responded with yes but for five euro. He looked at her for a second and agreed. As he started wrapping it up Laura turned to us to get a five because she did have a ten and didn't want him to know it. So we did and then he came over and said 5 euros was too much. He then said that she was a pretty girl and that if she was his wife she would take him for everything. She did her giggle smile. And then he said that 3 euro was too much, anything would be too much. And he said this is a gift from me. He also gave her his phone number. He then gave her a hug and kiss on the cheek. She got a free bag out of the entire exchange. It was the funniest thing. Elyse and I couldn't stop laughing at her luck. Then we continued on up to the metro platform. We got on and headed toward the Arch de Triumph. Once we got out we had to figure out how to get over to it, as it is in the center of a very crazy roundabout. So we walked around to where a group of people were crowded around. We saw a clown and both me and Elyse went the other direction. It seems both of us have an aversion to clowns. We then took turns taking pictures in front of it. I took a picture for a Spanish couple and then we took one for an American couple and they took a group picture of us. We then went down this staircase that took you under the road and up under the Arch. So we were there and it was so impressive. All the carvings in the stone depicting the survival of the people and the fight they fought. There was even an eternal flame for the unknown soldier. There were flowers and gifts all around it. With our pass we were able to get up free and quickly. Well as quickly as you can climb a spiral staircase. If I never go up another spiral staircase I will be a happy girl. They are more tiring then straight flight of stairs, mainly because spiral staircases are more narrow. Plus these stairs were super worn and so there were dips in them and it just made for a more exhausting climb. But I was happy for the work out. You reach one level which is the gift shop and holds a big piece of a statue and a little model of the Arch. I also got a souvenir coin that printed the Arch on it. We then headed up another flight of stairs to see Paris from the top. What a wonderful view. It was truly beautiful. You could see the Champs Elysee. From the orientation and the view it looked like ever street in the city would eventually end up to this round about. All the main streets you could see streaming out like it was the heart. I got my picture with the Eiffel Tower. Then I broke away from the other two and went off to take pictures of the rest of the view. It wasn't too packed and you could get pictures without people. It was great to be up in the fresh air. I was totally enjoying myself. They eventually found me and we headed down after a few more pictures. We went to the gift shop where I found really cool pasta that was in the shape of the Eiffel Tower, Arch de Triumph, and Notre Dame. I was excited to buy those and serve them at my cottage. I also bought my mom a dish towel and my dad some Eiffel Tower shaped golf tees. It was a successful trip. Then we took pictures with the miniature Arch. Once we were done with visiting the Arch de Triumph we decided we would go with Elyse to see the second Statue of Liberty. It was a little tricky to find and we got out of the one train station and turned one way and instantly a guy was saying that Laura had a beautiful eyes. They are blue and she has a really dark complexion. We continued walking and eventually we were just plain confused. And a guy saw we were and offered to help. He told us at the station to go down the stairs, which was the opposite way. So we continued down and had to pass those guys again and they asked Laura if she spoke English and she said yes and they again told her she was beautiful. So we made our way down those stairs and saw two brides taking their wedding pictures. It was so cool to see the different dresses and the two couples. They were both beautiful! Then we continued on down this peninsula. We eventually passed tent city for the homeless and that was a little creepy. There were broken bottles and it was just really sketch. But we continued on to see the front of the statue of liberty. Part of her base was graffitied with pac man. We took pictures but then Elyse wanted a picture with her so Laura climbed over this railing where she totally could have fallen into the water and got the picture for Elyse. I was freaking out the entire time. I could totally see her falling into the water and not being able to get up. Then after Elyse got her picture Elyse climbed over so she could get a picture for Laura. I was in total mama bear mode and was freaking out. They were quickly done though and we continued on. Laura seriously takes pictures of every single thing. Which is fine because she has some amazing photos for it. I have know clue how she will pick her 50 design photos they are all that good. At one point she was taking a picture of this turqoise bench and was bending over. I noticed this creeper so I tried to stand in front of her back side and watch her and her stuff. Unfortunately this guy was kind of determined. He said something in french, I have no clue what. We thought he wanted to sit down with his friends. So Laura said one second and bent over to take more pictures and the old guy takes out his camera and takes pictures of her ass. He had no shame in the matter at all, not even when we all caught him. He just smiled and we went on our way. It was totally creepy and was another knock against Paris. We all laughed though and kept laughing. We just couldn't believe it! But we continued on and started to head back to the station so we could head back to the hotel. But instead of taking the station we decided to walk for some reason. We were slightly lost and Laura wanted a coffee so we went into this cafe restaurant place and she ordered a Mocha. In the mean time guys were at it again. They were so flirting with her and trying to get some guy with some other person and it was just another shocker. They took a picture with him and apparently the older guy totally had B.O. We finally figured out what way to go and we found a little restaurant that had some cheaper food. So we all decided to get food. I was getting cranky and hungry so it was good we stopped. I ordered alfrado and Laura got this wrap thing and Elyse got a pizza. It was a pretty good meal. And the tables were so cool; they had different kinds of pasta under glass. It was really cool! A great design aspect of the restaurant. It was really innovative and totally creative. After that our day was pretty much done. We made it back to the hotel and I went to blog like most nights.
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| Arch de Triumph |
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| Me and the Arch de Triumph |
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| View from the Arch |
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| Me and the mini Arch |
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| 2nd Statue of Liberty |
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| Noodles in the table. |
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