On that EuroStar, I fell asleep rather quickly after eating my ham, cheese and cursed mayo sandwich for lunch. Along with the “Walker’s” chips, which were essentially the UK’s version of Lays which I found hilarious throughout my time in London. When I awoke, we were in the midst of slowing down. As we approached the train station in Paris, I could see graffiti on the walls of the city. None of it made any sense to me until I realized this was a completely different language which completely slipped my mind. I spent around five minutes trying to google translate the words and phrases I saw along the walls which didn’t produce anything that made too much sense to me. Regardless, we arrived at our destination, a little outside of Paris.

We left the station to get on another coach taking us further into Paris, where we got out at the Ville Hotel where Olympic athletes stayed this summer. The hotel was lathered in Olympic banners and flags for the upcoming games. We ventured to Notre Dame, where I took my day three Polaroid, before we received our first free time in Paris. The free time, for Jadon and I, mostly consisted of shopping for friends and family along with trying what I thought was a baguette but ended up being some other type of bread. Purchasing the bread was embarrassing as I ordered in French and I fumbled over my words and still didn’t get what I went in there for. Walking around in our free time truly helped me appreciate how stunning the architecture is in Europe as a whole. I will touch on that more in Italy, but France’s buildings and architecture truly left me stunned as I walked through the city. We transitioned to our dinner soon after our free time concluded, with our dinner being a “French pizza” which was quite amazing. After dinner, we took the coach back to the hotel, which was once again a decently far drive. This time around it was just me and Jadon in a room together instead of having a third person with us. Our room was definitely smaller comparatively with the two beds right next to each other with only a foot or two of space from the wall on each side. Winding down that night, we found a French game show called “Burger Quiz” on TV where we couldn’t understand a thing being said, yet laughed throughout the whole show. After we came down from that high, we fell asleep relatively quickly once again. 

That next day, I wore my Real Madrid kit because they would face Borussia Dortmund that night in the Champions League Final. This morning intelled a bus tour through major landmarks and sights throughout the city where we would hop out of the bus for around 10-15 minutes to go snatch some pictures in front of the said landmarks. One of these stops, Jadon and I managed to correctly order a baguette and devour it throughout the day. And it was quite amazing. During this time, we stopped by Napoleon’s tomb and the Eiffel Tower, where I took my day four Polaroid. I failed to mention the daily polaroids in the previous installment of my Europe blog, but they were another thing to look forward to where Jadon and I took pictures in front of famous landmarks. We usually had Ms. Marion or our small group leader, Mrs. Panzerella take the picture for us which is just so sweet isn’t it? After we got our pictures of us and my small group (team Panz), we headed towards Versailles where we’d be visiting the Palace of Versailles. In Versailles, we faced some light and annoying rain on our walk throughout the Garden of Versailles. The garden was truly beautiful with sights I could’ve never imagined myself seeing. After my legs were already tired, my group began the tour through the Palace. This Palace put the artistry of France on full display with beautiful pieces lining the walls and ceiling of every room we entered. The rain picked up as we left the palace, but that didn’t matter to me and I was still having a great time. The coach saved us from the rain as we made our way to dinner. Dinner wasn’t too special, so afterward we headed back to the hotel with the Champions League game looming ever closer. After showering, Jadon and I headed to the lobby where we began to watch the final while in a European country. So cool. Our curfew was set for 10:30, and as everyone retreated to our room, Ms. Marion once again came in clutch and told me we could finish the game. Let’s go! Coach DT and Coach Brewer, other chaperons and group leaders, also stayed out there with us to watch the game. Even though we weren’t out in the town and seeing the incredible sights of Paris, that June 1 night vividly lives in my memory. 

With the following day being a travel day, we woke up to make it to the Louvre early that morning. Gail, our tour guide in case you’d forgotten, said that if you went to the Louvre every day it’d take around three months to see everything there. A mind-boggling fact. Our first order of business was to, of course, see the Mona Lisa which was on level one in the Denon Wing. After going through security, we took a left walking through old and ancient artifacts before climbing a flight of stairs where we saw the Winged Victory sculpture. Snapping a quick picture of that, I climbed the stairs to the right marked with a “Mona Lisa this way!” sign. Impatiently walking through the Denon wing, passing many iconic paintings, we finally found the room. Keep in mind it’s 9:15 at this time and the Louvre opens at nine. The room had already filled up. Jadon and I wiggled our way through the crowd to the front, lined with a black retractable barrier. Somehow Ms. Marion already made it to the front and offered to take a picture of me with the iconic painting in the back. The second awesome sauce picture she’d taken of me. We spent three and a half hours walking through the legend– (wait for it) museum. We headed off to the airport directly after our visit, and this airport was less than favorable. We made it through the horrid security and after some airport shopping, we finally boarded our flight. Forza Roma.

DARY.