on the road again

i woke up a little early, but rolled back over. when i did, i noticed that it was overcast. being on the inside of the hotel, my view did not look out, so i couldn't really see the sky. when i went downstairs at 8:45 (of course), i saw the downpour! finally, the sky let loose, and dropped it in buckets. after i got done eating, my bags were already loaded, as were almost everyone else's.

then we were on the road. we head to amiens, where there is another notre dame, our lunch, and...a toilet? (that last part is a hopeful question, by the way.) we find our way out of the bus, then go to where the bathrooms are. except the door is closed. and today is small bladder day. at least for me it was. i had to piss like you wouldn't believe.

15 minutes later, when we find the information office, we find out that the sewer overflowed or something like that, and then we have to find another bathroom. the office is ever so helpful and directs us to the toilette a little ways down the road.

these toilettes are little one-headers that make life difficult for 25 people who all have to pee really, really bad. you're supposed to go in, do your business, pop out, let it do its business (it sprays the entire bathroom down after each use), and then let the next person go. the stupid americans as we are, decide to send one person in after the other until six people have gone and the "water" is almost to the top of the bowl. (luckily, i had no part in this, norbert scouted out another one like this, and i was over there the whole time they were breaking this toilette. god's honest trust. really.)

we lose about an hour with this, so are set free for lunch. some of the group (kelli, her mom and dad among them) want pizza. this slays me. i mean, how much pizza can you have on one trip? then again, have at it - it's vacation, after all. i just want a quick sandwich and to be on my merry way, which is what i get.

my merry way included a croissant-like thing with chocolate and some cream, by the way. and some milling around to kill some time with erika and karen.

then we meet up with the group and norbert tells us about the notre dame in amiens. this notre dame is bigger than the one in paris. it's really cool, too. supposedly, john the baptist's noggin is in there. and i got a picture of his alleged skull! how all of these biblical relics ended up in europe, i'll never know, but, even if it's not true, a great many people believed it and the catholic church got richer and richer, so...god bless 'em!

we load back up and head for paris. as we're driving along, i'm noticing a building excitement within myself. amsterdam was cool, the row houses on the canals were very beautiful. my last day in holland, however, i was starting to be bummed because sitting in churches listening to bells was not what i signed up for (then why are you on a bell tour, dummy? - the answer's simple: more free time, except that we landed in some obscure places where there was nothing happening! that means downtime, not free time!). brugge kicked ass, though, and my spirits started to swing there.

and the french countryside is definitely something to see! holland, to me, was rolling meadows, pretty in its own right, but a little boring (don't let norbert or gerard read this, they'll gang up on me!). i couldn't keep my eyes off the country on the way to paris, though. different crops roll by, red potatoes, flax, corn, strawberries, etc. we go through small towns. a ruin sitting in the distance, maybe bombed out from either of the world wars. little cemeteries marking bad memories on either side of the road. an excitement was building inside of me, and i couldn't put my finger on it.

then we get to the peripherique, the ring road around paris. then everything comes crashing down. it's friday afternoon and the traffic is atrocious. we have an hour, are trying to check into our hotel, then make it to supper on the other side of town by 7:00 pm, otherwise we won't be served. we end up cutting out the hotel check in, and make it just under the gun. gerard can't eat with us, though, because he has to park the bus a good distance away.

now, for starters, the city is really pretty. as we're driving along, i notice that it's the color that my mom likes her coffee: blond. everything's a cream color. this uniformity is oddly comforting as well. so, here's the part where i have to give my pops some props. remember when i was in venice and talked about his two favorite cities? well, paris is tops, in his humble opinion (yeah, right - humble, hahaha), and with good reason. this place is so very nice! now, it still doesn't trump florence, for me, and i'll probably need a month or so to re-evaluate, but it's a great town, and i like it very, very much.

supper is an appetizer of ham and cheese quiche with salad, a leg and thigh quarter over egg noodles with a barbecue-ish sauce, and a piece of flan for dessert. quick, easy, tasty. can't complain.

then we go to our hotel, seeing a couple of sites along the way. as we pass the eiffel tower, i overhear one of the ladies behind me say, "it's pretty on the tv." are you kidding me!?! i really hate traveling snobs, but what i hate more is traveling with people that can't appreciate what they're seeing! we unload, check in, and then some of us start rounding up others for, what i thought was, going to the eiffel tower. i mean, we're in paris. what else do you do on your first night?

i was way off! "nah, i'm too tired." "i'm not wearing the right shoes." "i'm just going to whine and complain and maybe not even see it." grr. oh, well, i head off on my lonesome around 10:00 pm (the sun was just starting to go down!). i have to cross the river to get to my metro stop, walk around 'til i find it, pay the euro fifty for my ticket, and then get off on the right stop. it's actually easier than it may seem, although it took a little while. i probably hit the line a little after 10:30 pm. of course, i want to go to the tippity top! there are three levels, you can climb the stairs up to the first two but then have to take an elevator to the top.

while i'm waiting in line, it seems as though there's a lightening storm above...or fireworks, but it was pretty silent. instead, it was the tower putting on a spectacular light show for the next 10 minutes. all of these lights start to flash, sort of a strobe effect, but it's amazing!

as i'm waiting in line, the updates on the screen in front of me change, the summit is closed. i'm bummin' pretty hardcore, but, hey, i'll still drop the cash to get to level two and see what i can see. after all, i'm here by myself, so the likelihood of coming back, maybe even a little earlier is great, maybe even with someone else. maybe.

anyhow, i make it to the top of level two, and i enjoy the sights and scenes and remarkable views for about an hour. there, i realize that i'm a sucker for city views. they're good contemplation spots. i go down to level one to walk around. at midnight, the "flashy, flashy, flash," as norbert explains it the next day, goes off again. then i start making my way down. there were about 700 steps between the two levels.

on the ground, i take some more picture, then make a break for the metro. i'm stopped by these guys behind me who ask, in broken english, if they can take a picture with me. who am i to stop my fans from immortalizing themselves with me, really? and that's how i meet alex and spiro, from kazakhstan. they're mixed martial arts fighters on tour (and their real job is personal security). spiro is taking alex and my picture first. i pick the little fellow up to quite the shocked expression. after the first picture, spiro's about to take another, and i ask alex, "like a baby?" he didn't know what i meant. so, i went for it, about to pick him up like a little girl. hahaha. he didn't go for it, but it was funny. then alex takes my picture with spiro. then i get their pictures with me on my camera.

anyhow, they end up staying at the same hotel and ask me if i want a drink. again, if the masses want you, go with the masses. eh, that theory doesn't really work all that well with peer pressure, but, what the hell. we go back to the metro stop, which is closed, so we take a cab back. we get an suv-like cab, higher off the ground, but only three seats in the back seat. poor alex has to ride bitch, he's the bigger one of the two. the ride seems to take forever, but we're cracking up talking about little things (you know, "wife?" "where you from?" stuff like that).

there's nothing really open around the hotel, but we find a little market. we each grab a couple of beers - and i get some water - and we head back. out front, there are some homeless guys, one a black man with dreads playing on his bongo drum, which, evidently attacted the others. they're drunk and dancing and having fun. alex walks over and dances...kind of. then spiro has to play the drum, poorly. but it was fun nonetheless. then, it's bedtime...

so, yeah - what a day, right? seeing a beautiful notre dame church (which was not even close to being crowded), then being up in the eiffel tower, and just driving around the beautiful city of paris...very nice. we'll see what tomorrow brings...