"The slide is under construction. Besides, it's for children"

The last two days have been jam packed with sight seeing. Since yesterday I'm sure we've managed to walk at least 12 miles in the heat. And being the smart one I am, I chose to wear flip flops. Good call, dano ;)

Yesterday we went to the Arc de Triomphe, walked up about 250 some stairs to the top, and had an amazing view of Paris and Champs-Elysees. Totally worth the stair workout. After that, we walked all the way down the Champs-Elysees to the Louvre.. Which is apparently closed on Tuesdays. But we got to see the pyramid and sit on the edge of the water next to it, which was super relaxing after the long walk.

The people sitting behind us are all on the edge of the pool. We all had the same idea that day ;)

After sitting for a while, we walked on to find Notre Dame. It is absolutely beautiful and if you ever have the chance, you should go there. It's hard to describe because it's so amazing. Words aren't enough. From there, we went down the block to a little restaurant called Quasimodo's (I think) where they didn't have ice cubes, but they did have a menu in ENGLISH. That's right, english! Anything in english at this point is great.

Once we were rehydrated we went to get Julia, went to dinner, and went to watch the world cup game by the Eiffel Tower again with all of Philippe's friends. That night it was Spain versus Portugal. It was CRAZY. There were so many people we couldn't even get into the field. So we all stood in the masses and watched from afar. Almost everyone there was cheering for Spain, and after they won the crowd went wild. There were fireworks and lots of fans driving around honking and yelling "Espana!" Not to mention all of the vuvuzelas. Navigating through the giant crowds reminded me of a mosh pit. After making it throuhg, we retreated to Philippe's sister's flat in down town Paris where we spent the night.

The next day came too soon, as I rolled out of bed for a quick workout before starting off another eventful day. First on the list was Parc de la Villette. If you do not know what this is please look at this link and you will understand why I needed to go there so badly.

http://arch.ced.berkeley.edu/kap/2000_images/Europe/LaVillette/villette04.jpg

Basically I am a child.

So off Sam, Philippe, Julia and I went to Parc de la Villette. Except I thought it would be fun to take a boat there.. Unfortunately, they were all kind enough to listen and be a tourist with me. What we didn't know was that this boat ride would turn into 2 hours of locks. Once we had finally arrived at the parc, Philippe asked the tour guide where we could find the slide. He responded and french and the three of them laughed. I asked what he had said, and apparently the slide was under construction, and "it's not a big deal anyways. It's for children." Thank you kind sir.

While walking out of the Parc (Since we had to leave right when we got there because we didn't know it would be a two hour boat ride) I snapped a picture of this theater- 360 degrees of screen. Pretty cool :)

At that point we had to go because it would take an hour to get back on the train, so we hurried through the parc to the train and we were off again on another train adventure. At our last stop Philippe's neighbor picked us up from the train station and brought us home, where we all grabbed our swimsuits and made a run for the pool. To end it all, Philippe made us all dinner. How nice :) (it was delicious by the way. Ask him to cook for you sometime when you meet him).

Tomorrow's looking like the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre with Florence, Philippe, Julia and Sam. One last day in Paris tomorrow, and then I'm off to the Netherlands on friday.

Ooh Europe.