Leaving Zurich, we
rounded off our trip back in Paris. As I mentioned in my first Paris post, we
didn't take the time to see the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, etc. because we were
going to do that the second time around.
We got to the
airport in Zurich with plenty of time to spare. Since our phones only worked on
wifi, we connected to the 2-hour allotted airport wifi. We soon realized that
our flight was delayed 30 minutes. No big deal. It was a 12:35 pm flight which
meant we would get to Paris at around 2 pm. No big deal. We really weren't in
any hurry. It was the most relaxed I felt about a delayed flight - much more
relaxed than I felt about our delay to Rome. The 30-minute delay turned into a
7-hour delay. The incoming flight was
delayed because of weather. Then they needed to work on our plane. Finally, by
the time the plane was fixed, the pilots couldn't fly us because they were over
on their allotted time. They kept changing our gates and not giving us
information. It was a very frustrating experience. According to some EU
regulation, we might be entitled to reimbursement because we were delayed more
than two hours. So, that's in the works and we might get a free flight out of
it!
Upon landing in
Paris, we had another mission. We needed to go to the cash exchange place. When
we arrived in Paris at the end of June, we exchanged the USD we had on hand
(the more expensive way) instead of just pulling money out of an ATM. Our
school paid us in USD for June and July, so we had USD on hand. Instead of
transferring it home and then pulling it out using an ATM, we just exchanged
the cash. We decided to put 800 Euro each on a prepaid credit card and took the
rest in cash (Euro). Since we were only in Paris for about 2 days, we had no
need to use the card. By the time we were in Brussels, we wanted to use it to
pay for things, but we kept being denied. We called the number on the back of
the card and they told us there was nothing they could do. The lady who set up
the cards for us did it wrong and we were not in the system. The only way to
fix it was to return to the money exchange place in Paris and have them fix it.
That means, for our 5-week trip, there was 1600 Euro hanging out that we
couldn't even use! Frustrated isn't even the word for it!
When we arrived in
Paris, we spoke to a supervisor who seemed just about as mad as we were about
the situation. She fixed the problem and told us she would take care of the
lady personally who messed with our money. I wonder if she got fired over this
situation?
Working cards in
hand, we took the train from the airport to the train terminal in downtown
Paris. Since we were staying at the same hotel as the first time, we knew where
to go and walked there. It was a beautiful night. (It was about 10 pm by the
time we got to the hotel.) As some of you may have seen on Facebook, we needed
to do laundry. So, the next morning, I took our clothes to a laundromat. Zach
worked on his homework that was due that morning. (He was going to do it the
night before, but since our plane was delayed, he was exhausted by the time we
got to the hotel. When I got back from doing laundry, Zach was so asleep that
he didn't even know I walked in the door. I laid down too, and we both slept
until about noon. We were exhausted, I guess, and really needed the sleep. The
only thing we did that whole day was walk down the canal to grab a bite to eat
and people watch.
The next morning, we
got up early so that we could avoid the lines at Notre
Dame. When we took our tour a month earlier, we saw an extremely long
line, and I was done with lines. When we got there a little after 8 am, we
thought it might be closed because there was hardly anyone there. However, we
were able to walk right in! It was like St. Peter's Basilica when we went -
hardly anyone there. We were able to enjoy it without a bunch of people
everywhere. It was very enjoyable. Since the only other thing we absolutely
wanted to do that day was see the Eiffel Tower, we were able to take our time
getting there and enjoy Paris. It was a beautiful, cool morning, and getting to
the Eiffel Tower from Notre Dame meant
following the river, we decided to walk it. The 3-mile stroll was very
enjoyable. We (by that, I mean Zach was) were even able to help direct a couple
of older ladies get to Disneyland.
I knew the Eiffel
Tower was huge, but it was even more massive than I had imagined. We never had
any intention of going up, so we found a park bench and just looked at it for a
while. We ended up feeling drops of rain and decided to seek shelter in a café
nearby. Once the cloudiness passed and the sun came out again, we went back to
look at the Tower some more. We went to the main park area where people take
their iconic Eiffel Tower photos. Again we people watched, but this time was
more amusing than any other time we've done it. People are so silly when trying
to take pictures. We spent hours sitting on a park bench taking turns looking
at the Eiffel Tower and laughing at people. It was a wonderful afternoon. On
our way back to the hotel, we stopped and got a few bottles of wine. The plan
was to have some wine and then go out to dinner. That didn't happen. We ended
up drinking all of the wine, ordering in pizza, and watching YouTube. The
perfect ending to a perfect day.
The final full day
we were in Paris, we went to the Louvre. What a massive place! At the beginning
of our trip, we decided that the only museum we were going to go to was the
Louvre. As I think I've said before, we just aren't museum people and tend to rush
right through them. Why waste our time and money if we aren't interested just
because "you have to go there!" We kept our word. The room where the
Mona Lisa is housed was annoyingly packed full of people, But, we got a picture
with her! Haha! After taking only a few pictures of some iconic works of art, I
put my camera away and just enjoyed walking around.
After seeing all of
the art we could handle, we went back to the canal near our hotel and had
drinks and dessert at an outside table. We talked a lot about life and our
upcoming school year, graduate school, and everything in between. The weather
was beautiful. Our last two days in Paris were probably two of our most
enjoyable days of the whole trip.
Now, it's back to
Cairo. (I'm writing this on Thursday - on the plane ride back to Cairo.)
Tomorrow we move into our new apartment. Then, it's working on grad school,
getting ready for school (our jobs) to start, and waiting for friends to
return.
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