Paris, part 1

we had a long drive today ... about 8 hours or so. we had two stops and two games along the way. i was tired, so i closed my eyes a lot and listened to my iPod a lot ... much more than any other time. the first three hours everyone slept. the next three hours we played two games. one was sorta like a scavenger hunt, right and left side of the bus were different teams. Rachel would call out an object and we'd have to find it on our side of the bus, pass it back to touch the window and pass it up front to her. whoever got it up front first won a point. items were such things as a British passport, lip balm, a bra, a kiss, car keys. our team (the right side of the bus) was winning for a while, but then we got stumped on car keys and lost it from there. the winning side got a bottle of tequila to share.

the second game was a game the back of the bus came up with. Rachel has a thing called "booth of truth" for those who show up late on the bus. they're supposed to stand up front and answer any three questions we throw at them. the questions are supposed to be designed to embarrass them enough that they won't be late again. but everytime someone had to face it (three times, i think), we failed miserably at coming up with a question, so finally she gave up and if you were late you didn't have to try to face the booth of truth. so, because of our failing at coming up with a question, the back of the bus people took time to think up 17 questions and then had us ALL participate on our way to France.

most of the front of the bus weren't thrilled with this idea because we all had a basic idea of what the questions would refer to ... SEX. but we played along anyways. we were to write down three numbers next to our name, from one to 17, and then Rachel would ask us one question that corresponded to one of the numbers. as soon as it started it was a mess. and soon thereafter Rachel decided it wasn't appropriate for her to be asking the questions, so she assigned one of the girls who came up with the game to ask the questions. some people refused to even answer the question given to them. thankfully i was given an easy one ... at what age did you have your first kiss.

finally it was over. and finally we arrived in Paris. just so happens our full day in Paris was a Tuesday and the Louvre is closed on Tuesdays, so as soon as we got to town we made a mad dash over to the Louvre so those who wanted to see it could quickly go in, find the main attraction (Mona Lisa), and hurry back out. in all we had about an hour in there and had to practically run through it to see Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and have a glance at some of the stuff in between.

then we went to the hotel to check in and have dinner ... tomatoes & mozzarella, pork with french fries, apple pie, bread, and water. afterward we jumped back on the coach and had a driving city tour. during the tour the back of the bus was being rude, talking and laughing enough that Rachel could hear them up front while she was talking (this was the third official time she got frustrated about it enough to stop talking). so finally Eelco grabbed the mic and told them off. basically saying if you don't want to be on the bus and hear what she has to say, get off at the picture stop and go somewhere else. they shut up after that.

we drove past all the major sites ... Arc de Triumph, the Louvre, the statues of Joan of Arc and Michael the angel, many other things, and of course the Eiffel Tower. we stopped at the Tower and walked from one end of it to the other, then got back on the coach and went back to the hotel. during all this Rachel gave us great history and fun facts about each of the stuff we were seeing.

when we got back to the hotel i got out my map and info sheet and sat with the sisters in the bar to plan our day. we got it all figured out, they had a drink, talked to Eelco and others, and finally went to bed, excited for the last day on tour, and feeling confident about tackling Paris. :-)