It took 12 hours to get there from Hannover. Tom and I were so tired that we tried to sleep on the bus. We were listening to a conversation in English behind us. A 73 year old man was talking to a phillipino man, visiting is aunt for 3 months. He was talking about all his travels to Kuala Lumpar, Australia, Guam etc. He has travelled all over. He was a manager for an exporting company. However, he talked and talked and repeated himself. Yet, he had more energy than both Tom and I put together. He was a very energetic and friendly 73 yr old, who was married to a Korean woman whom he met in Korea when he was teaching English and German there. His wife only spoke Korean and German and not a word of English. We understood each other. I was afraid my German was not so good, so I did not attempt to speak it, but I understood everything well. We stopped along the way for three bathroom breaks and snacks. The first place we stopped at it cost 70 cents to go to the washroom. I was appalled. At the entrance to the washrooms, there are bars and you put the money in and the bar will open. They have a lower entrance, where kids can just walk through because kids are free. I could not believe that they charge you to use your bladder. It reminded me of George Orwell's book "1984" where he talked about the thought police and how big brother is watching your every move and no one has any freedom anymore over their own minds and body.
We arrived in Paris at 8am, we took a city tour and checked into our hotels at around 12pm. The first place we went to was the sacre cure, I can't spell it, it's a French cathedral. It was situated on the top of a hill. We walked up a cobble stone path surrounded by little souvenir shops. We got to a huge fence lined with gold. We walked up another hill. There was a merry-go-round, not working. Furthermore, there was a round walk way up the hill. One could also take the stairs. Immediately we were harassed by peddlers wanting us to buy things. They were black and spoke English and they were trying to make an african bracelet and ask for money for these green, red and black string bracelets. Tom had to save me a few times. They do not take no for an answer. The peddlers in France are really aggressive.
While, we had a lot of free time before the sightseeing tour began in the evening, we went to take a walk in the city, where the Eiffel tower stood in the distance. The water ran through the city with boat tours going every hour. We had steak and fries in a restaurant for a fairly good price for steak. It was very nice to be able to sit with Tom and listen to him speak french with the people to get us around. Most people in the heart of Paris speak English because they are tourists as well.
My first impression was that Paris is a very dirty city. People litter and do not care. They throw their cigarette butts on the ground without a care in the world and don't put them out. I think what if a child comes a long and picks it up and takes a puff. That is just my worried brain. I can't help but worry about situations that have not even happened but they could happen. I have been like that ever since I had Markus.
We met the tour guide along with the rest of the group for the sightseeing tour around 8pm. At first, we thought the tour guide was very condescending and patronizing because of how he talked to us. We later realized that he has been doing this a very long long time and so he will state things in a sharp way because in his experience people do not respect or listen to the rules. I get that. Moving on, it was getting darker and the city lights came on. We walked through the streets of Paris. There were no cars, only cobble stone, outdoor cafe's, souvenir shops and from a distance, the Eiffel tower lit up the city as well. I came across a walk way that reminded me of Van Gogh's painting "Starry Night". It was exactly like the cafe. It was gorgeous, I had to take a picture. We also drank red wine in the streets of Paris without hassle from the police. I understood, why they called it the city of love. When the buildings are lit up and the people come out to play music with their violins, guitars, piano etc, then you can't see the litter on the ground, broken beer bottles or wine bottles on the streets and cigarette butts. Your focus is then turned else where.
We only slept in the hotel for 6 hours, before we had to get up again to eat breakfast and be at the bus at 8am. We were very tired. The first stop was to the castle Versailles. So much open space. The fence was outlined in gold platings, the castle was grand with it's white and gold trim. The ground was a red tone color. The sun was also beating down. It was about 30 degrees. Inside, we saw paintings done by Mary Antoinette, the wife of Lois 14th, I believe. He had many wives. They all did back then. We learned about Charles de Guale and Henry the 8th etc. We walked down the famous hall of mirrors. It was amazing!
We stuck by the group and talked to people, getting to know them, we talked in English. We met an Australian, from Melbourne, who complained about how it is going into their winter and it is about 10 or 15 degrees right now. Tom sarcastically said "OHHHHH, Oh no". We could not feel sorry for that, while in Canada, we get into the negatives.
The tour ended at 12;45pm and after that we drove back to Paris and had the rest of the afternoon free before meeting for the boat tour at 9:30. We had a lot of time. We walked to the Eiffel tower, to sit in the park, have an ice cream and coke. Tom started to feel sick, his throat started to close up and he could only whisper. Poor Tom, we were so tired and I guess him immune system was letting him know that it was enough now. After bird watching and people watching in the park, we walked all the way to Notre Dame. It took us one hour to get there. We were exhausted. We could not enjoy it thoroughly by the end. We continued to walk all over the city, we walked for 7 hours straight. When evening hit, we were so hungry. Walking in the inner city was a huge pain in the butt because of all the people. Also, there were people forcefully trying to get us to come into their restaurant to eat. We ended up leaving each place we walked in to if we felt pressured. We eventually found a pizza place and we sat outside and had a great meal. The pizza's were huge. Tom had an egg in the center of his pizza. There will be pictures to come. I just have not figured out how to put them on the site yet. I just want to get my thoughts out before I forget. So, I am typing fast without worrying about grammar and spelling.
Now, it's 9:30pm. Tom can not talk at all. We are both sneezing and coughing and the thought of still having a boat tour to go on is draining. We were counting the hours that we had before we can rest our heads on the fine leather seats in the bus. We walked to the boats, this was another half an hour. We waited in line which was another hour and we were packed in like cattle going to the slaughter house. We were dehydrated and in desperate need of water. I spent twice as much for water because I had to buy it there, once I got in the gates because there was no convenience store to be found near the touristy spots. The Eiffel tower started to flash bright lights. People were taking out their camera's, they were ohing and awing.
People were on the boat in front of us Kissing and hugging. To the left of us, kissing and hugging. To the right of us kissing and hugging. Here Tom and I were coughing and sneezing and complaining. The tour took an hour and a half. We were cold, sick, tired and we managed a few little kisses on the lips here or there, but not much. Finally, we were on the bus. The tour guide told us that he would take us on a city tour again with the bus before leaving. It was already 11pm. Oh well, it did not matter at this point, I was going to sleep through it, at least I was warm and on the bus. Tom and I slept. So I don't know exactly what time we left Paris. But I remember, waking up and the sun was peering around the corner, it was just waking up as well. We stopped for Paris and it was just 4 more hours to go before getting to Hannover. We arrived in Hannover at 12:30pm. Mom and Markus were waiting for us at the bus stop. We exchanged emails with the people we had met. The philipinno woman introduced herself to my mother and said that she had a wonderful daughter. It was nice to hear. Markus was smiling from ear to ear. Mom said he was the perfect child, he did not cry, but he knew we were gone. He wanted to come to me right away and he would not let me go. I was so happy to be back. Happy that I had the experience of being in Paris and now I know what I know. Happy that I was back with Markus and happy that I do not live in Paris.
Paris.....city of love. You will forever be in my heart, but my heart is wherever, my son and husband are.
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