Paris

Had a hard time getting up today with all of the socializing last night but this is the last full day of sightseeing on our tour. I had plans of getting on the road at 8am to beat the crowds and see more but I woke up at 8am instead. No big deal. Our bus was driving everyone in at 9am anyways – I just wanted to take the train in early.

We got dropped off at the Louvre but I figured I would do the Louvre at the end of the day because it’s gigantic and I didn’t want to spend all of my time there. My goals were this: Palais Garnier (Paris Opera), Arc de Triomphe, Napolean’s Tomb, Notre Dame, Louvre. I decided to walk everywhere today unless it rained because I wanted to see as much as I could. There is great architecture everywhere. On my way to the Opera House, something amazing happened:

After throwing out yet another shitty espresso I had in my hand, I rushed inside, made out with the cashier and ordered a double. It was unbelievable. It also confirmed that French coffee is shit. Following Italy is tough so I wasn’t sure if their espresso was bad or just bad by comparison. Starbucks is a chain so if Starbucks is better then you, your coffee is shit. Or at least that’s my logic. Then again, I was ordering French espresso the whole time thinking it would get better so my logic isn’t that reliable.

As luck would have it, the Opera House wasn’t open when I got there so I just took pictures of the outside. Yes I realize this has turned into Pat’s Architectural Tour of Europe but whatever it has the word Europe in it so we all win. Here we go with the Opera House. Click the link in the 2nd paragraph for more information, including how the Phantom of the Opera was inspired by this building. It’s huge and super impressive – I just only have one picture because I couldn’t get inside.

I continued along to the Arch and I ended up passing a church which said it belonged to Saint Augustine. Saints were rich apparently.

When I arrived at the Arch the line wasn’t too long so I hopped right in. Here’s a photo of the outside and underside of the Arch.

Here’s a photo of the 284 stairs I had to walk up:

When I got to the top I had some great views of the city, which I think is the only reason why people would pay 10 Euro to walk up a 284-step spiral staircase. The Eiffel Tower is taller so it provides better views of the city, but it doesn’t provide very good views of itself. Arch to the rescue!

I walked back down the Arch and started my journey towards Napolean’s Tomb.

Since I had walked everywhere today and didn’t take the subway, things weren’t looking good for the Tomb. I started walking towards the Louvre instead and took pictures of everything interesting that I passed. These include the Grand Palace, more Eiffel Tower, Pont Neuf (bridge), Louvre.

After lunch I walked to Notre Dame but it was raining pretty hard and the lines were long so I only took a few pictures and then started back to the hotel. We had to leave in a few hours for the dinner & cabaret show and I was hoping to take a quick nap.

The cabaret was at La Nouvelle Eve which Greg claims is better than Moulin Rouge. I have a picture of Moulin Rouge anyways because well it’s Moulin Rouge.

The dinner was delicious and it was great to see a legit French cabaret show. I had Salmon Terrine as an appetizer, Chateaubriand with Bernaise sauce as main, a cheese sampler and ice cream. The show featured singing, dancing, flashing lights and variety acts. There were also lots of boobs. I fully excuse them for having shitty coffee now. The show let out at 12am and a handful of people that were flying out the next morning went home. I will miss them dearly. Here are Sarah and Scott leaving us for good.

The rest of us went to a club to keep the party going – this was our last night after all. But not before Pip and I found some crepes! Yum. Nutella and Banana. Here are Sam and Pip us showing how it’s done.

This was the end of Day 15. Tomorrow half the people will return to London and half will get dropped off at the airport. I will post tomorrow about London if anything interesting happens. Otherwise I am signing off and I will see you all in the States. And no offense to you, but I won’t be happy about it.

Love Patrick