this is going to be a long one. the final entry before I set home.
my last entry was very rushed so i'm going to recap from venice.
(french keyboards are a pain in the ass btw)
We took a private ferry into Venice, I got onto the bow and peered out through the side of the ferry full speed... that was cool, Danielle (aussi) Shawn (a canuck from none other than Wilfred Laurier U) and i toured around everywhere and had lunch by the river side just off of the Rioto Bridge (italian pizza!!) we met Johan and Juric (2 guys from south Africa from our tour) and did shopping and more sight seeing. what i love about venice the amount of culture, music and romance pouring out of every corner. their houses have doors that open right into the canals; i saw a plump old lady and her husband open their bedroom window in the morning with the biggest smile on their faces... i'll trade with them in a second. We also saw a glass making demonstration from a glass blower with 25 yrs experience... he immediately began to talk on his cell phone while the tour guide was still explaining what he'd just made... i guess the times change but the art is still the same.
I got very sick in Switzerland but took advantage of my time there. Danielle and i shared a cable car up with the south african boys. looking back at the photos i took; it's hard to believe i witnessed such a sight with my own eyes. My only regret is not being able to take a deep breath there... everthing was plugged up, even my ears due to the change in air pressure. The town of lazern was nice too... i saw a statue of a lion carved out of a mountain to comemorate the Swiss guards that lost their lives during Louis XIV's rein of terror... it was so beautiful and large I looked at it for 15min and ran back to see it agagin after i left the place.
ok... so paris... VIVA LA PARIS!!!!!! i've been screaming that ever since i got here; the weather's great and above 30°C all the time. the first day (after a long bus ride) we went onto the Eiffel Tower during dusk... the view was magnificant esp. after the city lights up. A man proposed to his fiancé on the top of the tower... we all clapped and i invited myself to their wedding. Dave, our tour manager gave us a night tour of the city. Peter MacDonald (Macca) is our coach driver. I know him as the best driver i've ever met. he drove us through crazy roads in 8 countries + London when the driver seat was on the wrong side!!! anyway, an interesting fact: the round-about around the arc de Triumph is not covered by any insurance. An accident occurs there every 7 min. Macca drove us around the arc with cheers, ohs & awwws and a lot of applause; we also went down ave des champs elysées. everyone got smashed that night, but i had no choice but to take it easy for a while.
the next day was ours. Johan, juric, Danielle, Rene (33yr old Canadian) and I hit the city. We went to the louvre for a bit just to see the 3 big ones (winged victory, venus de Milo, and the most beautiful woman in the world) the mona lisa was spectacular! you've seen posters of it all over, but it's just not the same as the real thing... she was just beautiful. the crowd around here was huge... everyone was taking pics of her (some with flash; which really pissed me off) We then headed over to the top of the arc de triumph to see the city line and the crazy Parisian drivers. the round about has NO LANES!!! other places include the sacred heart Cathedral and the Notre Dome Cathedral; we did some shopping and headed down to the Jordin du Luxemborurg (a nice city park) for some wine in the evening. We took a spot on the lawn and drank crappy wine (much to the stares of the locals)... we didn't know why until some french cops approached us. We appologized for drinking in public and started to put our bottles away... but the cops motioned that it was ok to drink... we just had to get off the lawn HAHAHAHA. We headed down to the Effiel tower at night and sat on the grass of Parc du Champs de Mars to watch the lighting up of the tower (every hour for 10 min) we drank wine and toasted to the end of the tour and the delightful company. The tower is amazing, esp when there's a million lights flickering on it. We all laid back to watch... it doesn't get any better than that; the highlight of my tour and the best day by far... full of laughs and joy. The night wasn't over yet.
we met the rest of the tour at a dance bar right beside the moulin rouge. it was a riot!!! so many locals there; they played english mainstream music too. i have come to conclude that paris has the most attractive boys than anywhere else i've been to. Angella the crazy 18 yr old started the night off with some crazy table dancing, to be joined by myself, Canadian hotties Erin and Chritine and the local hot boys... geeez what a night. just as i start to recover from the flu... the night ended at 5am. I had so much fun, but unfortuately i did a little too much screaming and cheering that i lost my voice. i sound like a crow right now... no amount of water seems to be helping. Johan (the south african guy) is awesome... he knows 0 words of French; but you stick him into a crowded Parisian bar for a couple of hours and suddenly he's friends with everyone... we met a lot of people that night and all understood one another through music and dance.
The tour wrapped up this morning. most of the crew took the free ride back to London. i've decided to stay in Paris for a couple more days. I was sad to see everyone go, esp Johan... we'd come to like each other a lot in the last few days... so that was the hardest goodbye during my trip. Hopefully i'll keep in touch with some of them, to swap photos and such.
today i headed to the musée d'orsay by a friend's recommendation. I am so glad to have taken the time out. The place is so Grand and overwhelming, the building itself is a work of art. the art on display was mostly impressionism, which was a great change from the 15-19 centry art i've been seeing. it's great because i had already seen paintings in mom's art books; now here i am starring at the original masterpieces. I loved the pastel drawings by Edgar Degas and anything by Renoir... WOWY. Van gogh tooooo dooo dooo dooo.
I went back to Jordin du Luxemborurg to see the fountain. i say again...this city is amazing. you're in the middle of the city then all of a sudden here is this beautiful park with lush grass, trees, fountains and chairs everywhere (and a big palace). I sat by the fountain, had lunch and fed sparrows that flew into your hand. it was the best time i've had with myself :D
hope to meet some people when i get back to the hostel. I was told to go see the palace des Versailles... so might take a train out there tmw + the catacombs? (sp) and some more museums. I then leave first thing on the 3rd for my bus right up to Manchester for a fun night at the airport. It's been a great trip, i'm not ready to go home yet... but i'll be back here another time. These 20 days have been an experience unlike anything... and the best decision i have ever made. can't wait to see everyone again.
until next week sexies!!
VIVA LA PARIS!!!!! gaaa i fall over with so much joy!!!! MUA MUA I LOVA YOU ALLLL!!! I LOVE PARIS!!!!!
Lou.
HB beer hall, Munich
the most attractive women in the whole damn joint 
on the road, Austria 
Innsbruck, Austria 
Innsbruck, Austria 
The bridge of Sighs, Venice 
The glass blower
Rioto bridge, Venice 
