The 15th of April

Alas! We finally made a successful attempt at waking up early and leaving our hotel in time to "beat the crowds" at the Louvre. After a bit of practice from the previous days, we managed to make every metro stop efficiently and in time. I enjoy riding the metro a lot- it's a bizarre feeling flying under ground at such fast speeds, and watching the people around you. In the metro it is an excellent case study of what type of people live or visit Paris: businessmen in silk ties and shinny shoes, immigrants surviving with their children close to their side, young stylish teenagers with their iPods plugged sinking into their own thoughts, the old couples, young couples, people with their dogs, people with their shopping bags...

We walk off into the streets of Paris- breathing in the idea of our last day on vacation. When we arrived at the pyramids of the Louvre there was a line that circled around the base of the gigantic glass pyramid- so much for beating the crowds, eh? It was only 9am and we were already just another tourist entering the museum. It took some time to buy our tickets, we researched the map and planned out the most efficient way to see the vast museum. Once we had our tickets in hand it was as if someone shot shot the starting gun- and off we go! Samuel and I ended up spending 6 and 1/2 exhausting hours visiting the Louvre... after about 4 hours of that (after lunch) it no longer was 'touring'- it was a game. A game of dodgeball is which one has to be on their toes at all times, running across the court, dodging tour groups, avoiding being hit by 'the ball' and all of the chaos. In fact at one point Sam, mom and I were in the room that was displaying the Kings Crown Jewels with the other game players and an alarm went off somewhere. To our great suprise that alarm was for the very room we were in- the gates automatically shut us in and locked as all in like sardines. People gathered around the gates in awe. "Wow. Did we really just get locked inside of the Louvre? Awesome! Just like the movies." It was more entertaining than it was worrying.

We viewed the endless halls of sculptures, paintings, ancient artifacts, and historical sites. After awhile it became too frantic... we started off in such awe, but now it was just too congested and it was draining too much energy for what it was worth. It was a pandemonium inside a beehive- I had gotten stung twice by confused bees and was sick of trying to survive in here. We all met at 3h30 at the Roseline, which wasn't even visible underneath the hoards of tourists with their short shorts, fanny packs, and flip flops.

We returned to the hotel in absolute exhaustion. Sam and I slept for awhile, and we never heard Mom and Karla return- in a bit of a panic I thought they might have been kidnapped! I rushed around looking for them and they ended being in the lobby reading e-mails. All obviously still in shock from the mayhem of the day- we needed to refill our tanks... there was a really terrific restaurant by the corner of our hotel in which we took refuge at. It was our last night in Paris and we all had over exhausted ourselves in the past two weeks. We were content with just taking it easy for our last night. Our feet simply couldn't carry us further- so our last night on vacation we drank champagne and fresh strawberries on our hotel beds and reminisced on our experiences...


"You know you've had a fruitful and busy vacation when at the end you have to exhale upon exertion"

"When your overflowing with memories, sites, music, and laughter- you've had a successful trip."

"Seems like the Tour de France's perpetual motion in the triathlon has let us go home feeling like winners."

"You know you've had a good trip when all your exhaustion melts away and all that's left is the memories of the food, laughter, and the company of all the people you've traveled with."