Paris, France - June 21st

Tuesday, June 21^st, began much like the day before. We woke up, ate our breakfast of croissants, fresh milk, and nectarines, and walked down to the Eiffel Tower. There, we bought tickets for the double-decker bus tour. The bus took us to all the great attractions around the city. When we had first arrived in Paris, my Dad had said that all of our days in France we’ll have to spend making day trips outside to city because of how ugly it looked from where we were staying. However, we were all shocked at the beauty the other side of Paris held. The list of historic buildings and monuments was enormous but among the ones we saw from the top of the bus included: the Louvre, the Grand Palace and Petit Palace, Pantheon, Invalids, Notre Dame, San Michele, the Opera house, Military Academy, and the Plaza de Concorde where King Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette were guillotined. We also saw numerous famous bridges, the modern stadium which has everything from stock car racing to windsurfing to skiing. We got off a few times to walk through gardens and eat. The buses carried us around for most of the day until they stopped driving at 5:30. Geoffrey and Wade had already taken another bus back to the hotel but Mom, Dad, and I wanted to see the last area the bus hadn’t carried us, the Arc of Triumph. From the Plaza de Concorde we walked for what seemed like forever through the packed streets full of shoppers. On the way we spotted two Maserattis, a Rolls Royce, a Bentley, Lamborghinis, and an Aston-Martin. We reached the Arc and circled around it to head back towards our hotel. On the way back we walked through the square where the Marine Museum and Architecture Museum were. The square was filled with people and there were a few bands playing. From there, we had a view over the city. We walked the rest of the way back and met up with Geoffrey and Wade. With the parents exhausted, the three of us went out to get dinner. We ended up trying the French McDonalds only a few blocks away. The place was immaculate and was doing a good business. Geoffrey got the Royale with cheese like they talk about on Pulp Fiction. Wade and I stuck with Big Macs. Later on that night, the three of us went out on the town back to the square I had been at earlier. There was a huge mass of people but not much music other than some “engines” as Geoffrey called them. So we set out to find more entertainment. I tried leading us back to the street the Arc was on but we came to a roundabout which we circled a few times, ended up not knowing which way to go, let alone which way we had come from. After attempting to communicate with a few Frenchmen we were pointed in the direction of the Eiffel Tower. The whole way back was a serious conversation where Geoffrey and I tried to explain to Wade how selfish and unappreciative he is of the parents, but he of course refused to listen.