Bonjour!

On Tuesday night, we took a night train from Fulda to Paris. It was a ten hour long train. We thought since it was called a “night train” that we would have beds, but we were SO wrong. They were rooms with 6 chairs inside. Needless to say we had very little sleep. I have never tried to sleep in such awkward positions. Then we arrived to Paris, we could not check into our hotel until 2:00 PM or as they call it in Europe 14:00. So our morning adventures included our enormous backpacks! We called it a good workout.

First thing we did was try to find street signs as we followed our map to Sacre Coeur, a basilica built as a memorial to French soldiers killed during the Franco-Prussian War.

But before sightseeing I had to get my first Nutella Banana Crepe (Yes Amy…our worlds combined Nutella +Bananas). It was great except for we got kicked out of the table we were eating at. Then the workout began.

See those steps…yes we climbed them all with our backpacks, but it was definitely worth it!
Inside, there are nuns who rotate constantly to pray for the dead souls 24 hours a day. There was a beautiful mosaic of Jesus, and I would show you but we weren’t allowed to take pictures. Then after the church we ironically head to see Moulin Rouge. Then off to the Metro!

Our first hotel is right near the Eiffel Tower, and right next to a street market where we browsed before checking in.

After checking into our hotel, we took a quick walk to the Eiffel Tower to check out what the fuss was about. It is magnificent! We didn’t have it in us to walk up it then. We went back to the hotel to shower, and then tried to find a place for dinner. We ended up at Le Zinc. This time I really just pointed and chose a menu item, because Jara doesn’t know a bit of French to translate the menu this time.

So this is what I got…very rare, red meat with a French Dip Sauce. Once again, my luck didn’t let me down.

We want to go to a pub to watch the World Cup Game, so we scoured Paris for a pub that looked friendly for Germans. During our search, we came across 3 teenagers wearing German Flags, so we asked where they were watching the game. Good thing we did! Turns out there was a public viewing at the Eiffel Tower!! Thousands of people were there with a pretty equal number of German and Spain fans. When Spain scored the Eiffel Tour began to sparkle its lights. It was awesome, even though Germany was defeated.

Tomorrow Champs Elysees, Arc Triomphe, Hotel des Invalides, and hopefully walking up the Eiffel Tower!


Three Things I Learned Today:
1. French people really do hate Americans…I got a very rude welcome from a man while walking on the streets.
2. There are musicians on the Metro trains!
3. The French word legumes means vegetables in English.