I didn't even realize that I'd gotten used to people not being particularly friendly, as I never thought I'd been slighted by a French person and also thought they did smile a lot despite what we'd been told. However, it was like coming up out of water to take a breath when the customs officer was friendly and smiled and said "he didn't bite," which was very different than the way I was greeted by the French equivalent: silence and a placid half-smile. It didn't really matter to me either way; it's customs, it's annoying, and I didn't care to have anyone make small talk with me.
Getting used to being around a lot of Americans again was strange for a little while ... and I was unhappy to be in Detroit of all places (my connection from France to Tulsa), rather than Paris. I did not want to leave Europe at all, so I sat and cried about it for a little bit, which was also due to a massive lack of sleep and total exhaustion.
The first thing I did when I got back to the U.S. was buy a Dr. Pepper. I never ever saw Dr. Pepper anywhere in France or Italy. The rest of the OSU group and I pretty much love Dr. Pepper more than any other soda, so we were all suffering with the soda choices of Coke and Coke Light for an entire month. It was sweet consolation. Another strange thing: in Europe, Coke was almost as expensive, and sometimes more expensive than, alcohol. About 7 dollars, and often more, just for a regular 16 oz. Coke. Lucky I don't really like Coke at all, so I was never tempted to pay that.
Here are some pictures from our last full day in Paris:
A Paris Metro sign. I think I saw more of the Metro subway system than any other part of Paris itself. We'd finally gotten a good handle on the routes when it was time to go home. Of course.
On our last day, we decided to take a BatoBus, or bateaux (boat) bus, to tour the city down the Seine River. I would definitely do this again ... except I'd wear sunscreen next time, as I got a pretty good burn from standing out on the deck. The cool thing about the little water bus was that you can get off at different sites like Notre Dame or the Eiffel Tower, tour around, and then get back on whenever you want. We got off at the Notre Dame stop, the St. Germain stop (to eat lunch at a classic French cafe), and the Champs-Elysees stop. A long day of sightseeing!
Actually this wasn't the last day in Paris, but the day before. I like it because I was having fun with everyone at the Louvre. A lot of the kids tried the Da Vinci Code audio tour after I said it was the bomb, and everyone loved it. I tried the regular audio tour on my second visit, and it was extremely dull and obvious.
On the last night, the whole OSU group met at the top of Sacre Coeur, or the Sacred Heart Church, on top of a hill in Montmartre. It was a crazy hike, involving a walk up toward the hill and then another 180-200 steps up to the top, but worth it to see the city as the sun was setting on our final day. We all ate dinner at a little French cafe (it was gross and reminiscent of the cafeteria food we'd eaten in Dijon every day) and hung out one last time before we all splintered into little groups ...
My little group and I headed over to the Eiffel Tower for one last visit. I went to the Tower about 4-5 times while I was in France, and I could definitely see it many times again. But my final plan was to take the elevator up to the top to see the entire city lit up at night. So, Shane and I got in line about 2 hours before the Tower closed down for the night. It was really busy there, of course, and the sign was threatening an oversaturation of people but we didn't pay attention. However, as we kept waiting in line, suddenly the sign flashed "Troisieme etage ferme" which means "3rd stage closed." There was no more going to the top of the Eiffel Tower at all ... it was extremely disappointing. But that's only one more reason to go back - I have to take that elevator to the top someday!
Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. I'd always wanted to go to this airport after seeing the U2 video for their song "All That You Can't Leave Behind," which they filmed entirely in this futuristic place. Since I was the last person to fly out that day, I had some extra time to take pictures and take a good look at everything. I ended up being at the airport about 7 hours before my flight took off! But only one bus took all of us from our hotel to the airport, and I was worried I'd get lost if I didn't go with everyone else at 6:30 a.m. ... it was worth it.
This is an advertisement in Charles de Gaulle, which I thought summed up my trip. Next to the funky shoes it says "journey," and to the right of them, it basically says "To be open to the world is to understand the differences in points of view." And that was the note with which I ended my amazing month-long adventure in Europe.
