Pictures
Had to wake up at 2:30am today to head to the airport. We got there, had to wait until 4:30 to check our bags, and then we had to wait until 6:10 to board the plane. It was supposed to take off at 6:30 but it didn’t actually leave the ground until 7:30. Ryanair is super cheap, and I don’t know if I really liked it. But they did get our bags over fine, which was nice.
So we landed in France at the BVA airport, got off and had our passports stamped with visas, then bought a bus pass to downtown Paris. It was an hour long ride, but the countryside was nice. Once we got here we had to take the metro to a stop near our hostel, the Aloha hostel. The metro gates ended up rebooting, so we got our fare for free! The metro wasn’t as nice as the NYC metro though. We met some people in the lobby and are actually still hanging out with them right now!
We walked and saw the Eiffel tower, the Arc d’Triumph and loads of other stuff! We’ll try to do some more stuff tomorrow, but there is so much to see, it’ll be impossible. The French people have actually been really helpful in giving directions and helping with food choices. We did eat some good food tonight too! They haven’t been rude like I’ve heard from a lot of people!
After that we walked around, found some places to get some wine and then found a random square and sat down and the other people drank some of the wine. I’m not a big drinker, let alone wine, so I had some water.
We’re sitting in the lobby now talking about how Michael Jackson is dead and where all we’re going to be going in the future. It would be awesome if we could meet up with them again and tour another city!
We’re in a group with Australians, British, Spanish, Canadians all here right now in the lobby! Geting to talk about all the differences in culture and where we’re all going! Alright, need to head off so I can socialize more!
Update: I forgot to mention the Gypsies before! We ran into quite a few Gypsies at the Eiffel Tower, Metro, and other places. They usually came up to us and asked “Speak English?” but they dressed in such stereotypical Gypsie ways that t was easy to avoid them. Needless to say, we did not get pick pocketed by them. Either Brittany or Chelsea said they had someone come up with a 20 Euro bill and want to make change. I suspect that they either try to see how much money you have and then take it, or get you to give them the wrong amount of change some how. It was good to see quite a few Police around the Eiffel Tower who literally ran the gypsies off! And on the cops note, we saw several cops around the Gare De Lyon metro stop walking around with automatic rifles. I wonder if they have ever used them…
#1 by JOAN at June 27th, 2009
So world traveling is fun. This is an experience of a lifetime. The world will seem a little smaller now, isn’t that cool. Can’t wait to see your pics.
#2 by kyle at June 29th, 2009
Yeah, it is very fun! I plan to do it more in the future though, so this shouldn’t be the only chance I get!
I’m working on uploading the pictures to facebook now, so hopefully you’ll be able to see some soon!
#3 by Ryan at July 2nd, 2009
You are doing the exact same thing I was doing about two weeks ago. I remember the gypsies. I just said “Nein, Ich spreche Deutsch” and they would leave you alone. Ha. Good luck on the rest of your trip.