Our Day as Tourists

Looking pensive while I gaze at the Seine
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What a day, what a day....

Gen and I woke up around 10:30, took showers, ate breakfast with Ivan and Glady's then decided to go to the Eiffel Tower to pick up our tickets (from the IES people) to take a bus tour of Pars.  Glady's said it was only about a half an hours walk to the Eiffel Tower, so we set off at about 11:45.  It was a beautiful day outside and we enjoyed the art on the streets and the wonderful views along the Seine River, everything was great.  We could see the Tower once we got to the river so we thought we were not too far away.  Ohh how wrong we were.  The IES people said they would only be there to give us our tickets until 1 and we were still really far away when we realized it was 12:46!  We were extremely late to our first 2 days of orientation, but we did not want to miss this - we power walked and ran all the way there.  We weren't sure exactly where they were going to be, they just said under the Eiffel Tower, so we decided to split up and run around to find them.  Luckily Gen spotted them immediately and we got our tickets.  We were hot and sweaty, but at least we made it there.

Eiffel Tower
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Once we got our tickets we decided to wait for the next double-decker bus (the current one was full on the top) and so we sat down on a bench.  As soon as we sat down a man came up to us and said "Can I draw you" (insert British accent here).  We said sure but we didn't have any money, he quickly left once he realized that we were serious.  After he left a woman came up to us and asked if we spoke English, when we said yes she had us read something and then asked us for money.  Gen said in French, "Sorry, we're students, we don't have a lot of money", but the woman didn't get the picture.  Gen had to say no at least three more times before she left!  A man next to us said just to act like we didn't know English because they will not leave you alone otherwise.

Notre Dame
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A few minutes after this we got on the bus and saw some amazing places.  We drove around the Eiffel Tower, saw Notre Dome, the Champs-Elysees, the Grand Palais, and of course the Musee de Louvre.  We didn't see them all in that order and we actually got off the bus at the Champs-Elysees to eat lunch, but you get the idea.  Lunch was good, but we got off at a very expensive part of town and it cost 27 Euros for 2 pieces of pizza, a salad, and 2 bottles of water.  Yikes!

Gen at lunch
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After our bus tour Andrew, a student from SU who's also in the program, called us and came over to our house.  We chatted with him for a little while and then decided to go across town to eat at a Thai restaurant he read about Paris guidebook.  Once we finally found it we learned it was very expensive (even though the book only had one dollar sign next to the name), but decided to eat there anyway.  It was, without a doubt, the worst dining experience of my life.  We didn't have a reservation so we got stuck in a corner and then we never got any water to drink.  We were all dehydrated and we practically went crazy while we were there.  Horrible, absolutely horrible!  Once we left we went to a McDonald's near by to buy some water and it was 2 Euros for very small bottle of Evain!  Naturally we vowed never to eat out again - at least not for a very long time.

Zizou!
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After this Gen and I went home, forgot to get off at our stop, but eventually made it home around 11.  Wheew - it's been a long day and a very long journal entry.