Day 3

Day 3 of Paris.

After breakfast I went to the Louvre with two Aussie friends. (Of the 45 people on this tour there are 5 Americans, 6 Canadians, the rest are Aussies. If I return with an Australian accent this is why.) We decided, to my relief to split up and meet for lunch. I find a musuem outting is not something to do with friends.

There was no way to see everything, but I did stop at things that pulled me in, such as the, 'Portrait De La Comtesse Julia Aprarin'. Here are a few notes that I wrote in my journal, "Those tight black leather shoes - ringlettes in hair - plump cheeks - green eyes - she was someone's prized possession."

I also noticed that in a lot of the french works that people rarely smiled, ha or were painted with a smile - I rarely saw any teeth. This may be a silly observation, but it irked me enough to write it down. Yes, of course I saw the Mona--and to a specific person- for your information - it isn't small!

After a crab sandwhich, which I mistook for claw slow, (not yum) my friends and I went to a boutique. I bought this blue watch with little fruits on it. It was a children's watch, but it made me laugh. After the boutique my friends and I decided to split up and meet at the Eiffel Tower at 7 for dinner. The whole group was supposed to meet.

Until then I wandered the streets, took pictures, and bought fruit at a market.

The plan, or map was way off. It took much longer for me to get to the destination point than estimated. I arrived at the Eiffel tower at 7:30 and could not find my group any where. I would normally wig in these situations -- yet there was no violent pumping of the heart -- I was in Paris, at the base of the Tower. Who cares if I ditched the group for the second time in two days? At least this time it was unintentional. There was a public concert going on nearby so I went over and took photos of the funny dancers.

Once darkness arrived I thought - hm how to get back to the hotel. There was a metro nearby, I then thought -- I'm some what skilled with the NYC subway system, I can master this, so I went down. I met this lovely young French girl who assisted with directions. And it would have been right if I had only given her the correct address.

In no time houses and parks started to pass by, I was on the RER - the route to the suburbs of France! By this time it was 12 p.m. I got off with a few skater looking youngsters who jumped the train entrace. I approached them and asked if they spoke English. One of them said, "Yes, Yes I speak." He then told me to wait for the next train because it would take me back to Paris and to be careful because it was dangerous to travel the metro by night. ( Ha Awesome) I didn't want to pay to re-enter, so I threw my bag over and also jumped the entrance the selfsame way the boys did - They liked that and rooted me on. It was a smile moment.

Well, I got on the train - and yup, it was the wrong one, so I got off at the next stop. I approached this middle aged Frenchman, who was a scientist, and who is currently working on Colfusion. (Right.) He walked me to the opposite plat- form, told me to get off at Paris Dorm, and told me to, "beware because the metro isn't safe at night, especially for a young beautiful American girl."

I then approached a group of french teenagers to request use of a cell phone. I figured the tour guide, Claudia may be wondering about my where abouts. They were darling!  One of them called my hotel and spoke to the front desk.

I then took the right train to Paris Dorm, and caught a cab. The cab driver said, "you're a beautiful girl," I would typically say I know under such cirsumstances, but I was too tired, and it would most likely confuse him, so I responded, "thank you."

 Due to his lack of speed the fare commenced to add up, as did my anxiety. I didn't want to be rude - people were being so kind to me everywhere I went, there was no rudeness to be found within myself. So, I asked him to pull over because I wanted to walk the rest. He told me no, it was too dangerous. I told him I didn't care - I think he sensed that I noticed that I was worried about the fare, so he said, " pay now and I take you." I asked him if he was sure - he said "yes yes- I take you". Well, folks he did. (I had to watch my budget, it only being day 3.)

This is my testament that French aren't all bad. Wink. Enjoy.