Monday 9th July

It's a bit too much to comprehend that already I've done as much of Paris as I could have done in the time I had.

Paris felt like home and as much as I love Melbourne and hold it close to my heart, Paris shares that title with Melbourne. Maybe London, Rome or Berlin will do the same to me. Mum, sorry to say, but I have my resume with me and I'd be happy to pass it around while I'm here. Everyone was amazing in Paris and very hospitable. The language seems to be a cross between English and Italian so there weren't too many barriers.

Now Alicia and I are on the Eurostar Londres bound (London, for you players at home. See. Not difficult after all. Except New Zealand, there's some fucked up way of saying it)

Yesterday Alicia and I got up and went straight to the Eiffel Tower (Tour Eiffel) and walked from the station to the tower. Unfortunately there was a triathlon and the photos don't make it look as pretty as one would have hoped. But that's life. We joined the first line we saw and it was massive. We were warned to get there early, but we thought being a Sunday it shouldn't be that bad! Nope. We arrived at 9.45 and the line to go up was at least 2 hours long. Lucky I overheard a tour guide saying that the line to take the stairs is shorter. Yes, only 5 minutes long, so we took that option. Let me suggest that option to everyone. Because the walk from and metro station the the tower is as much effort you'll need to go up the actual tower. It's not difficult in any way, so man up and just walk it. You just walk up the two levels then you must take an elevator to the top. There's nothing to fear about heights because you just look up the steps and not out the elevator window.

We had to deal with stupid American tourists again. Some stupid guy saw a sign saying that the USA had built the largest building after the tower, his first reaction was "ha we beat you France". This is why people hate American tourists. And they yell at everything, complain, talk loud in general, are obnoxious, mock everything and become pushy. The Asians aren't far off from that too. They have no manners or respect for anything or anyone. If a sign says do not touch, they touch. If they see someone and they're blocking the path, the just stand there and continue blocking the path.

As we got off the tower there were gypsies who were part of the dumb deaf and blind thing again. American tourists signed up and Alicia wanted to warn them not too. I said bad luck for them, they should have studied the warnings for Paris. I'm not going to piss off some gypsies for that. Then there was one guy telling them off for being gypsies. Good on him. But it's sad that not even the authorities do anything. There were army officers walking everywhere around Paris with massive guns as well. Police are everywhere. Police are the border control! No such thing as customs officers.

We also had lunch on the tour, at 58 on level one. It was good even though it looked like plane food. I loved it. Then we headed off to Basilique du Sacre-Coeur. We arrived by metro and saw guys in the street taking bets for guessing the correct thing. The three card monte. You know where they have three cards and they move them around and for a sum of money you guess it? Well we saw a lady get ripped by €100. He was only taking bets of €100. On the way back the lady was still there. Pretty sure she was a prop. We also saw the church which has amazing views and that gold Egyptian guy was there again. He photo bombed Versailles and now this!? Eh. Well played.

We also got bombarded by blacks to buy their shit. We just ignored them and walked past. They're just string and they call it friendship bracelets. One girl we saw kept saying "be quite" over and over. The guy goes "I am not a bad man. I am from Africa". Oh so that makes you good?

We also saw an amazing bakery with chocolates and baked goods with a big chocolate Eiffel Tower.

After that we went to the hotel and had a nap. We had dinner at a nearby bar for €40 we got two lamb chops cooked so well and the plates were massive, I had a coffee and Alicia had a crêm brûlée. The waiter gave us a shot of apple liquor each, without charging us. I gave him a tip for the service. Seriously Parisians are a lot nicer than the English and Americans say they are. Maybe because I keep saying in Australian.

Now we have about an hour left on the train and we're in London! Amazing how we go from France, Belgium and England all within two hours. The views are amazing as well. It seems like every little town has beautiful and old churches as well.