When we walked up the sign was 'all tore up' and I was a little nervous about it, but Aloha became our home away from home. It was about a 15 minute walk from the Eiffel Tower and had a Heineken machine that served a special form of Heineken that was different from that in the bar....not really, but some people seemed to be under that impression.
We had no time to get settled in. We grabbed lunch (mine was a box of strawberries) and headed over to the Musee D'Orsay which houses some of the best Impressionist art I've ever seen. We had to wait an hour for everyone to meet up because we were all staying in different hostels. The museum was an old train station that had pieces by Renoir (my fav) and Van Gogh. After that we headed to Notre Dame. Having stayed near there the last time, it made me kind of sad to go around that area. The church was as impressive and beautiful as ever. Dylan and I split a chocolate crepe after, my first!
We then headed to the Louvre. Even though it's a huge and magnificent museum, it's definitely not my favorite. It's much too large, and I preferred the Musee D'Orsay. The best part of the Louvre was taking pictures outside it. Team Aloha bonded. See picture.
We then headed to the Champs de Elysee to find a McDonalds. For some reason, I'm still not quite sure why, but we found it necessary to eat Big Macs. We took our Big Macs to the front of the Eiffel Tower and took some classy photos. Then we met up with the group to travel to the top of the Eiffel Tower. It was a lot shorter of a stay than when Caleb and I went up. The wind was a lot stronger, and it was very cold.
We then headed back to crash. The next morning Team Aloha went on the optional walking trip with the two professors, Jay and Rachel, who came with us to Paris. It wasn't as good as I thought it would be. We stopped first at a large industrial building which was very interesting and housed modern art, but JMU "thought our funds would be better used somewhere else" so we didn't go inside. Afterward we took a long and very complicated metro ride that took more time than any informational lecture they provided. We finally got out at the Eiffel Tower and then stopped at this museum that held artifacts from ancient cultures.
The time after this was a dark time in Team Aloha's history. Tired, hot, hungry and a tad cranky we began to slowly turn on each other. After several wrong turns and grumblings from the group, we found a place to get food and sat in the park and everything was automatically better. Elizabeth, Sean and I took an adventure out to Jim Morrison's grave. The grave yard was really cool, and we tried to see Oscar Wilde and Marcel Proust's graves but the cemetery closed before we could find them.
We headed back to change and then went to a fancy dinner. We had a fixed menu of salad, steak, and fries. I was perfectly content with the meal and then the waitress brought out REFILLS! Excuse me what? They don't even refill food in America. I didn't think they knew the word refill in Europe, much less France.
After that amazing dinner we headed out to the Eiffel Tower and had the best evening of the trip thus far. Team Aloha got some wine and sat out on the lawn. We got to see the Eiffel Tower light up three times which means we stayed there more than three hours. Though I hadn't had a drop to drink, I felt drunk off the night. I loved the company and conversation. We all had so much fun. Elizabeth and I had a moment when the Eiffel Tower first lit up when we were just really grateful to be on this trip. It's truly been a life changing experience for me. Then SBP was so excited she dropped her camera, broke it, tripped backwards over some girl's ankle and then fell on the ground, so that kind of broke the mood. The very last time the Eiffel Tower lit up (at 1 a.m.) the inner lights turned off and when the twinkling ended, the tower went dark.
Sadly we went back home to Aloha. The next day was my big day out. Elizabeth, Sean and Lawler went to Versailles and Dylan and Ryan went on a walking tour. SBP, Ingrid, Vikki, Chris and I went on Mom's Big Day Out. I was really proud of myself for being able to navigate everyone around the metro and the city in general. We first went to Notre Dame and got crepes for breakfast. Then we walked around the area with the vendors, and I bought some souvenirs.
We then took the Batobus (boat cruise) down along the Seine River. We stopped at the Champs de Elysee and walked to the Royal Opera House. This was where Phantom of the Opera was supposed to be set. I got to go inside, but to see the entire thing I had to pay for a tour so I remained satisfied with just seeing the entrance.
We stopped at Starbucks to rest and strategize. Then we took the metro to Sacre Coeur, which was this gorgeous church overlooking the entire city. These guys came up and hassled us in the most annoying way, but we moved past it to head up. The view was beautiful and the interior of the church was very spacious and ornate. After that we headed back and stopped for dinner near our hostel. Everything was good except Ingrid accidentally ordered two meals and the waiter wasn't very nice about it. Brushing it off, we went back collected our bags and headed to the train station. We arrived somewhat late and rushed through customs. However, we made it on time and were back home in London in no time.
Today was uneventful except for the play we saw tonight. It was called the Beauty Queen of Leenane, and I really enjoyed it. It was an Irish play and it really reminded me of my Scotch-Irish Grandma. We all had a nice discussion afterward, and I'm definitely going to miss that class. We've seen some great productions.
Well, I must end here. Big day tomorrow. Only 12 days left! I can't believe it. It's going to be so sad to leave, but none of that now!
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