Don't get me wrong, I've had an absolute blast on this trip, and I love exploring new places and trying new things, and I genuinely like the people I'm here with, but I'm ready to not be doing any of those things and not being around these people for a while. Well, except for Steve, but that can't be helped.
I've come to this conclusion because I heard Steve chew today and wanted to shove him off of a building. Actually, I think I'm just ready to have some time to myself for a bit, back in my own house, maybe go to a store without an entourage, and not wear pants for longer than an hour at a time. It is possible to be genuinely fond of the people you are traveling with and be sick to death of being with them every hour of ever day. I think that's where I am right now. No malice intended, just...tired. Luckily for all of us, this is our last full day on the trip, so hopefully the feeling of slight irritation we have with each other will get no worse.
Having said that, though, today has been a lot of fun! We only had a couple of places we were scheduled to be today, so we took our leisure in getting up and having breakfast this morning. You know how I said the children were out of control yesterday? They were worse today. I don't think they are bad kids, but they are with parents on vacation who seem to have 100% checked out of parenting them and they are just running buck wild. Oy. At any rate, we got all that taken care of and jumped back on the subway to do a bit more site seeing. Oh, we've finally figured out how to use the subway! You can't look for where you want to go, but the terminus of the line you want to be on. It's all very backwards, but makes sense when you look at the maps.
Today we had tickets to the Eiffel Tower! Woot! We were actually scheduled to go at a certain time, but our usual group decided to head out there early to take some photos and see what is around. There is a lot of construction around the base of the tower. They are building some kind of safety wall or barrier around it that is bullet proof. It's a shame that something like that is necessary, but that is the world we live in right now, I guess. We stopped along the street in front of the tower and had a fun little photo shoot.
Oui, bitches.
Lots more photos were made, just not with my phone. I wish I had them, but I'll have to wait until we get around to sharing them, I guess! We walked through the park and went ahead and got in the security line so that we could be searched and whatnot. They don't let you take much up there! It was too early to get in line (as we had a scheduled time to go) so we hung out underneath the tower for a while.
This feels uncomfortably like an upskirt photo. My apologies, tower!
I had already known that the Eiffel Tower had only been intended to be a fancy showpiece for the 1887-1889 World's Fair, but what I didn't know was that it's pieces were all made someplace else and just assembled at it's current site. So basically we were standing in line to be carted up with hundreds of other people onto the world's oldest IKEA coat rack. Yeah, that made me feel safe! Haha!
The view from the second level was amazing. I took a few photos, but mostly just looked. You can really see everywhere from up there, so if you get a chance, you should go up there! I know it seems hopelessly touristy and maybe a little cheesy, but still...it's worth it!
We left the tower and headed to the only other thing we had on our list to do today, and that was take a cruise down the river Seine. For some reason I thought it was a dinner cruise, but no, it was just a nice drive down the river. We sat inside the boat instead of on top, so I didn't get any photos, but it was nice just to rest our feet and enjoy the ride. I have no idea how long the trip took, maybe an hour or so, but it was a fun way to see the buildings along the river. I think the original idea had been to do this particular tour at night, but we went ahead and did it during the day. No city of lights for us!
After landing, we walked around a bit more. We had dinner at a very French outdoor cafe (making up for Five Guys the day before.) We found a small chocolate shop and bought a few things, wondered along several streets just looking about, and then headed back towards our hotel so that we could go back to the creperie that we'd gone to on our first day in the city! I didn't take any pictures of what I ordered, but it was full of ice cream and chocolate and pears, and although that combination sounds gross, it was not! That was really a great way to end our trip, by the way. Relaxing in a cute shop that sold delicious things. Every day should end like that.
We finally had to come back to the hotel and get everything organized for the trip home tomorrow. I wish this was a place I could come more often and see more of, because even though I'm ready to go home, there is still so much I'd like to see here. Eh, that just means I'll have to come back! No problem!
Heh, I did a weird thing on the way back to our room. Someone had ordered room service and had left the tray outside of their door when they were done. I saw some little bottles on the tray and wanted to know what they were, so I snagged one as I passed by. It was a cute little jar of mustard! I love tiny condiments! I didn't want to linger and make anyone who saw me think I was eating off of the tray, so I took it with me and now I'm not sure what to do with it. I mean, it's unopened, so I guess I'll take it home? Is that weird?
Damn, I'm tired.
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