Journal 20 Saturday: Today was the day that my dad was flying into London from California... The problem was that I was still in Paris, France. We got up early that morning since we had a lot of stuff to do. The girl told me that the shower was just a nozzle that you had to hold above your head while you washed yourself off. So you ended up having to kinda kneel down and wash, then rinse yourself off while you were there.... it was interesting. We all changed and got ready for the day, packed up and left. The girls went to get breakfast at their hostel kitchen thing. Since I didn't actually pay to stay there I walked across the street to the bakery. A quick "Bon jour" and "Par le vous angle" (however you spell it), and I quickly found out the girl didn't speak any English. "No problem" I said, and then ordered in French, hehe... I'm smart, I learned the basics in the couple days I was there. After breakfast I met up with the girls again, and we headed toward the Metro station. We arrived that Train station so I could look into changing my train ticket home. They wouldn't let me get on an earlier train since I had a group rated ticket home. Oh well... I guess I wouldn't get to see my dad til that night. We found the lockers to store our luggage, after walking around for a while. We then decided to go back to the Eiffel Tower so the girls could see about getting a refund. The night before there was a shooting at the Tower when they were there, and they didn't get to go to the top like they paid for. Well, we got to the Tower and walked around taking pictures... it was soooooo freaking cold, oh my god. We got a bunch of pictures and then, after a while, Linn and Annie decided to buy tickets and go back up. Sara and I went walking around to find a place to buy some Hot Chocolate and warm up. We ended up having to walk about four blocks or so til we found a place. We sat and drank our chocolate and Sara made notes of the experience, since this was part of a class assignment. After we left we wandered the streets some more until we found a little market area. We walked up and down seeing what food they had. I bought wine for my mom and dad, and Sara picked some up for her folks too. We then had to go back to the Tower and meet up with Annie and Linn. Once there they were going to go to a coffee shop to do the same thing we just did. Both tired and cold, Sara and I decided to head back to the train station and wait out the next few hours til the train ride home. We wandered around the station from place to place trying to find a warm area where we could sit and wait. Most of the time was spent near the space heaters, other parts spent in the little restaurants when we felt like buying something eat/drink. Eventually people from class showed up and our time to check in finally rolled around. The ride home was really fast it seemed. People were talking about was they did over the last few days. I also sat and read up on my transfer stuff for school, and filled out my housing paperwork. When we got to the Waterloo station in London the Customs people pulled me aside as I was walking. Greatttt, just what I need, someone to want to search my stuff when I'm in a hurry to get home and see my dad. "Scuse me sir, how are you tonight" "Fine, thanks" "Are you traveling by yourself" "Yeah, sort of" "Can you come here so I can ask you some questions about your trip? How many are in your party" "Umm... about 25 I think, I'm with my school.." "Oh... well in that case, never mind." So I guess the lady didn't want to have to pull aside 25 students to talk to. But I suppose I looked like a bad person, what with my longer hair and unshaven scruff. I made it home, finally. My dad was sitting laughing with Sue and Ian who spent the whole day pretty much hanging out with him. I told my dad about my trip briefly before he headed to bed having been up for an entire day or so, traveling. |