Wednesday got off to a quick start. After getting up, getting backed again, we settled our hotel bill and headed to the train station for our trip to Paris, France. If you are traveling by train make sure you mark down your day of travel on your Eurpass. The conductor warned us if we didn’t do it the next time it would cost us 10Â for failing to do so. I thought I would end up sleeping a lot on the train ride. My friend didn’t have any problem. I nodded off only to have a sudden jerk on the train wake me back up again. The rail was a great way to see the countryside of France. Lots of little villages all of them anchored by a little church. You also see a lot of livestock grazing on the green hills. The train from Basel to Paris booked down the rail with very few stops. Once we arrived in Paris, we needed to find a hotel. We took a taxi down to the Chammps where we were told we’d find a hotel that was under construction and offering cheaper rooms. We didn’t find it. We departed the taxi and started looking for help. We checked out several hotels in the area but they were booked. We were told to go to the information center on Rue de Pyramid. They were swamped because everyone was suffering the same trouble as us. They dd not have reservations. “Paris is booked!” the woman at a travel information center told us. 76,000 rooms in the city and not a one of them available? Hardly! She found us one on the Rive Gauche or the Left Banke. We reserved a room but once we arrived the clerk informed us there was a mistake. She spoke a little French and threw up her hands a couple of times and then smiled after a phone call, exclaiming “Success!” She had located a room for us just down the “rue”. The price was cheaper than the first hotel. 185Â a night. The room was very small and tight. It was much smaller and nowhere as luxurious as the Hotel Victoria in Basel. It would have to do because of the number of tourists in Paris. The walls were covered in fabric with padding behind. It appeared as wallpaper. A beautiful room but small. The bathroom was nice. It was all white marble. Instead of a shower curtain, there was a swinging pane of glass that covered about 1/4th of bathtub. It did not stay in any one position so it made it tough to shower. Good concept though. It looked workable. The water pressure everywhere we stayed was great. I had always heard about the problems with that over here. After getting situated, we decided to try to see a couple of sights. We heard that Notre Dame was close so we went there. It was beautiful. Tons of people there to check it out. Travelers’ note: Men wear jackets a lot in Paris and you won’t see too many guys in tennis shoes. Mostly you’ll see dress shoes. Take a pair of black shoes and a sport coat or be willing to wear your suit coat alot. We bumped into three people on Segways. One of them was the tour guide. I really wanted to take the bike or Segway tour around Paris. My feet would not hurt so bad. One of the girls on the bike was very cute. More on that later. We asked the tour guide if it would be too aggressive to head to the Tour de Eiffel. He said not on foot. We decided to spread our wings and try out the RER. That is the subway. The Metro in Paris refer to the buses. We got on the subway and preceded to the Eiffel Tower. It was a perfect time to get there, dusk and just before the hour. At the top of hour, lights sparkle from the base of the tower up to the top. I thought there were a lot of people at Notre Dame, but there were a ton of people at the Eiffel Tower. It was a carnival atmosphere. A merry-go-round, cotton candy, people selling all sorts of souvenirs and just all sorts of tourists. It was very beautiful and breath taking. It was more than I thought it would be. After trying to take it all in, we passed the two girls from the Segway tour. I made some small talk with them. They were younger but they were cute. They were gigglers which increased thei cuteness. We took the RER to Left Bank where we were staying. We grabbed a bite to eat at a restaurant. Our waitress was from New York and staying in Paris for the summer. She provided us with some information about Paris. We went back to the hotel room. Fell asleep then I developed a little stomach problem. I had to lay down in the bathroom because I felt so horrible. I ended up sleeping on that cold marble floor all night long. We’d hoped to get up the next morning early but that wasn’t to be…
