especially since there were only 34 of us and I got to have my own seat so I could spread out and sleep. I made sure to bring a blanket and my froggie neck pillow with me for that purpose.We arrived in Paris at around 8:45 Saturday morning and did a super-fast driving "tour" of the city. We stopped at the Champ de Mars to take a group photo and some pictures of the Eiffel Tower. After we took the group photo we were approached by a guy wearing a red cape and Superman underwear over his pants, telling us to stay there and take a picture with him. Everyone pretty much ignored him, but I have experience with this sort of thing, and since I knew he was celebrating his bachelor party, I took a picture with him. A couple of the Ukrainian girls took it with me, too. After we saw the Eiffel Tower we drove past he Louvre, the hotel that Princess Diana had just left when she died, the opera house, and the Arc de Triomphe. Like I said, it was a quick tour.
Our rooms weren't ready yet when we got to the hostel, so we dropped off our stuff in their storage room and headed out into the city. First stop was the Metro station, where it took like an hour for all of us to buy our Metro tickets. That's a slight exaggeration, but it seriously took a long time. It's because nobody there knew French, and you have to buy a whole bunch of tickets at once since you need a new ticket every time you enter the Metro, regardless of where you are or where you're going. Anyway, the first place we went was the Sacred Heart Church (Le Sacre Coeur). We only had an hour before we needed to meet back up at the Metro station down the hill from the church, so there wasn't any time to go in and really check it out. Kind of a bummer, since I didn't get to go in the last time I was in Paris, either. I at least got a coup
le of good pictures of it, and then the Ukrainian girls and I headed down the street to see the Moulin Rouge. It was a longer walk than we had been told, and they were starting to worry that it wasn't actually where we were at all. I was able to reassure them, though, by informing them that you know you're in the right spot when suddenly every building you see is selling porn/sex toys or advertising nude dancing. It's kind of hard to miss at that point.Next we went to Notre Dame. Once again, there wasn't enough
time to go inside and truly appreciate it, especially since I had to waste time finding a bathroom first. In fact, I think that Oksana and I may have been the only ones that actually walked all the way around the building. I don't think most of the group even saw the flying buttresses. Oh well, not my problem.Our rooms at the hostel were supposed to be ready around 4, so we headed back to get settled in and relax/refresh a little bit before our next excursion. I pretty much went straight to sleep. When we got into the room I immediately called the top bunk next to the window. I realized that it probably wasn't the best idea since, with the way I sleep and the minuscule size of the bed, there was about a 90% chance that I would be falling out of it during the night. Anyway, we almost missed the trip to the Eiffel Tower because the girl who was watching the clock had somehow reset her watch so that it was reading an hour slow. Luckily I looked at my clock and we rejoined the group downstairs just in time.
When we got to the Eiffel Tower it was still bright outside, but it was just starting to rain. I think that everyone from our group went up the tower to at least the second tier, but very few of us went all the way to the top. Personally I think it's a must when you visit the Eiffel Tower, especially if it's your first time. This was the second time that I've been, and both times it was raining. Luckily, I've learned a little bit more about my camera and how to take pictures in adverse lighting and weather conditions (although I'm still not very good) and my pictures turned out much better this time than they did the first time I visited. When we went back down the tower it was pretty late, and we were all exhausted, so we went back to the hostel and straight to bed.
Sunday morning we had to wake up early to get ready, get packed, eat breakfast, and meet in the lobby by 8:45. There was only one thing on the
agenda for the day, and that was to visit the Louvre. We walked together to the Louvre, which was only about 5 minutes from our hostel, and then we had the whole day until 3 pm to see the Louvre or do whatever else we wanted. With our au pair ID cards or visas it was free to get into the Louvre, so that was pretty cool. The only bad thing is that you could seriously spend a week in the Louvre, and 5 hours really isn't enough time to see everything you want to see. We did get to see a lot, though. The Ukrainian girls and I didn't really have anything else in particular that we wanted to do, so we spent the whole time in the Louvre. Unfortunately my camera battery died, and I was really bummed/pissed, but Elena let me use her camera to take a bunch of pictures. I still need to get those from her, but at least I got to take photos of the things I wanted to.At 3 we met back at the hostel, loaded into the bus and headed home. The t
rip home was longer because there were a lot more cars on the road, plus we weren't sleeping this time, so we made a lot more stops and breaks along the way. It still wasn't a bad trip, though. The Brazilian girls gave the bus driver a bunch of CDs to play, and they were having a dance party in the back of the bus. The guy who was leading our group, Rafael, told me and Oksana that we needed to dance, too. So we did.It was about 10 when we finally arrived in Köln, and the timing was perfect for me to hop onto a train and head home. I stopped by the neighbors' house first to check on the cats because I'm taking care of the kitties while Jan and Nina are on vacation. Kona, the black cat, had been
outside since Saturday morning (which is typical for these cats) but Lutzi had been stuck in the house and was dying to get out, so she was happy to see me. Amelie was happy to see me, too. It was almost impossible to calm her down when I got home. She was jumping and dancing and wiggling all over the place, and her tail was smacking the door, the walls, and the floor. Esther said she knew when I got home because Amelie was making so much noise. She's such a love.Monday I was absolutely exhausted from the trip, but luckily there were other things going on to keep Pauline occupied. Namely, the gardeners where building the playground in the back yard. Pauline and Gustav were so excited about it, and could hardly wait for it to be finished. Pauline was really good, though, in that she waited for Gustav to get home from Kindergarten before she
played on the playground. Gustav, unfortunately, was not so patient when he got home, and immediately climbed the tower and went down the slide before Pauline was even able to put her shoes on to go outside. Oh well, she didn't mind. It was so funny, though, because one of the first things that Gustav said was, "Wir mussen nie wieder auf dem Spielplatz gehen!" (We never have to go to the playground again). They're both so happy and excited about their new playground. To be honest, I am too. It's going to be a lot of fun this summer.
