Goodbye South America, Hello Europe!!

Bonjour!!!

That is one of about five French words that we now know......still a very long way to go! So we have arrived in Paris on time, poor Em got very sick the night before our flights in Cusco and we were not too sure if we should fly, but she toughed it out and we made it to Paris.....Yay, however just getting to the city was the easy part! When we arrived at the airport we had been told that it would cost us about 50 Euro to get a taxi from the airport to the city and we were staying at a hotel on the other side of the city so we were not too keen to fork out too much money. We decided to take the RER and Metro, looked easy enough.....three different lines, two change overs....... in peak hour..... Not so easy!!!!!

We both have our back packs and a carry on bag also so it was difficult getting on the train to then be squished into the window by hundreds of others who wanted to do the sqme thing!!! Not so fun, it was here in one of the metro stations where we made our blondest mistake yet..... but I will argue that anyone else in the same situation would do the same thing! We must have looked really lost, trying to find our next platform and a guy approached us asking if we need any help. The most trustworthy looking man..... mid forties, very well dressed, spoke english. He took us to a ticket machine where he began to buy us our tickets, he asked how long we were in Paris and a ticket price came up on the screen that seemed very high...... but we figured the pass would last us the whole time and we could go anywhere on the public transport. He said that you had to pay for it with a French bank card and obviously we did not have one so he just proceeded to pay for it.... we then gave him cash and took our tickets, it all happened really fast and he just did it..... you have to understand it was a very stressful situation!!

Anyway the ticket worked and got us to our hotel and a few more rides the next day, then it stopped working; we were then told it was a Childs ticket..... and should not have cost us the amount that we paid!!! So 50 Euros each down the drain!!!! not sure what he did but we got done..... very silly. We have continued to use the metro but just bought individual tickets as we go!!!

So yesterday was our first day in Paris, we had a bit of a sleep in and then went out. Wow what a city, just like in the movies...... I really love it! First thing we did was the Eiffel Tour, went up to the second level and very quickly came back down again....... I panic quite easily about very small things (I get it from my mum) but it was a short view as it was a really foggy day and we could not see very far. We still got some good photos.

Then we went to the Arc de Tromphe....... really cool!!!! got some more photos and went a had a coffee in Maccas. It was about 6pm and we had booked a seat at a Moulin Rouge show that night, we were already half way there so we thought we would just hang around until the show and then go home after that....... so we hung and hung and hung, got a bit bored but it was definatley worth the wait!!!

Oh my god!!!!! It was awesome..... a bit expensive but worth every cent!! They had the most colourful costumes, a massive tank of water filled with snakes that a girl swam withn, ponies, clowns...... apart from the different parts of the girls that were exposed during the show, it was almost like a circus!!! So we came home (on the metro.....much the wiser) really impressed.

Those good feelings did not lqst too long as I started to get a really bad belly ache that then turned into something similar to what Emma had in Cusco.... Mabey not as bad but still there and really horrible!! So unfortunatley today we have not done much at all.... I have slept alot catching up on what I missed last night. Oh well, it happens..... Im just annoyed that we lost the day, we only had two here

Tomorrow we are off to Ireland to stay with Emmas relies, should be good, maybe relax and wind down a little. We have organised a shuttle to the airport through the hotel, cheaper than a taxi, and more comfortable than the metro!!!!!

So far we are very impressed by Europe (still lots to see) just a nice change from South America..... Oh so different!

Miss you all

Love Ash

OXOXOXOX