Ah, Paris. One key memory of mine was being stuck in traffic on the bus and having a homeless man wander over to it (the bus) and whip it out and start peeing on it. I think it was some kind of statement. I asked Sammi what her impressions were. "That is one sketchy city. And dirty."
Yep.
But it's still Paris.
And there was the requisite trip to Versailles, for the Glory of Louis more than France, and a place you can't help but take dozens of pictures, none of which accurately convey the immensity of this palace or how lavish everything looks coated in gold. This is where Sammi watched a pickpocket at work. The girl was fresh faced and innocent and not looking at anything in the rooms, but at the tourists. Since Sammi is at waist level, she has more of a pickpocket vantage point and saw the girl slip her hand into a bag and disappear. Sam just stood there open mouthed.
Once you make it through the tour and get back out into the insanely large gardens and fresh air, you can't help but look like this...
Paula was chaperon to her daughter, Nora, Elly, and Sam. The five of them were a tight group among what one tour guide told them was the largest single EF group he'd ever seen (50 kids from three places lumped on the bus and sightseeing together.) Paula taught the girls the stranger and scarier you act, the less likely pickpockets are going to want to mess with you. She's doing her mutant "here pigey, pigey" act in this one.
That night, also in the typical EF Tour, is the evening float down the river Seine.
Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris as seen from the Seine
Oh, I know this look. Heck, I am this look.
And, next day, the Musée du Louvre
more lions!
And then back to Cathédrale Notre Dame
Then, to the night train that would take them into Spain. Four girls, beds that pull down from the walls, and on their way.
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