Friday morning, I got up early and took the tube to the International Student House. We got on a bus and rode the bus to Dover. The ride was about an hour and a half so I had time to talk to other people on the bus and take a quick nap. At Dover, a French immigration person came on the bus, stamped our passports, and then we drove onto a ship. The journey across the English Channel is one and a half hours so we got off the bus and walked upstairs to the passenger decks. We went outside to the deck and got to see the scenic Dover cliffs and Dover castle. Unfortunately, it was quite chilly so we did not stay out there for very long. We went inside and found a spot to sit down. It was fun mostly because the ship felt like a cruise ship, it had a bar, restaurant, cafeteria, multiple cafes, and loads of places to sit. There was internet on the ship so we decided to plan what we would do with our free time. I had borrowed a map from someone on GIL so I was able to figure out where everything was.
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| Cliffs of Dover |
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| Rainbow! |
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| Inside cruise |
We landed in Calais, France and got onto our bus again and drove to Paris. On the way, we stopped at a rest stop and I got a delicious sandwich. The ride was scenic and we drove past the scenic French countryside. I took a nap, chatted with other people, and watched a bit of Lincoln, but that just put me to sleep! We arrived in Paris and drove to the Eiffel Tower. It was exactly what I imagined it to be. We were supposed to get on a cruise at 6pm, but the river was so high that they were only doing cruises on the hour (instead of every half hour) so we had to wait for the one at 7pm. Luckily, this meant that we had time to explore so we went to the Eiffel Tower. Our tour guide has warned us about the girls trying to get you to sign things (and then pickpocket you) and the guys trying to sell souvenirs. After Italy, I felt more comfortable dealing with people doing this, but it was still obnoxious and there were a lot of people doing it! Unfortunately, when someone tried to withdraw money, the ATM did not give him his card back and said it did so for security reasons. He somehow did not get very frazzled by this but it was not a great start to Paris. Then we went to get on the boat and had a wonderful cruise on the Seine. It was nighttime so everything was beautifully lit up. There was an indoor area where you can sit and warm up and there is an outdoor area for much better views.
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| Sacre Coure |
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| First view of the Eiffel Tower |
After the boat ride, we hopped on the bus and rode it through Paris, past the Arc de Triumph, on the Champs Elysees, past the Christmas Market, Opera House, etc. We got to our hotel and they had not given me a room. They realized that there was a girl named Chelsea who was not there and then realized she did not exist so I got a room and threw my stuff down. We went in pursuit of dinner and found a burger place next to an Italian place. Half of us got Italian, and they other half got burgers. I got pasta with four cheeses and it was delicious. Then, we went walking in pursuit of crepes and could not find a creperie. The people I was with were totally fine with wandering which was really nice but it was annoying not to be able to find crepes since we had seen so many on the boat ride. When we walked past our hotel, half of the group left while the rest of us were going to find a cafe. We stumbled upon a creperie within a minute and so everyone got crepes. I got a sugar crepe and it was pretty good. By this point, it was past midnight so we enjoyed our food and then headed back to the hotel.
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| Pasta |
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| Crepes |
