Day 11 – Sunday, March 31, Easter Sunday:

Brothers and sisters, hear the Good News! Rejoice! Again I say, Rejoice! Rejoice, for He is Risen! He is Risen, indeed!
Bit of a somber morning, today, as we had to make our final farewells to the crew. Also a VERY early day, today – DST apparently didn't go into effect in Europe until today, and we had to be up at 5 so we could get all our stuff out the door and have breakfast at 6. Now I know what dad feels like when he has to get up at 3:45 every morning.
We were bused to the airport, arriving at around 8-ish. Our flight didn't leave until 10:45, though, so we had lots of time to get to our gate. Said gate was not that far from where we entered, actually. Checking bags at Schiphol (the name of the airport) was pretty cool – there was no attendant, but instead, you place it in a little cell with a gate on it, and the floor tips up to carry the bag off to be loaded on the plane!
The flight was pretty short – less than an hour, in fact, with very little in the way of seeing stuff from the plane. Pretty much what a flight from Seattle to Spokane is like – the plane goes up, and, more or less, right back down again. Our destination, Charles de Gaulle Airport, was, in a word, amazing to look at. The airport itself was clearly meant to feel open, with its large, curving terminal windows and high ceilings, and the walkway from the plane was essentially one long, glass tube meant to permit travelers to see as much of the airport as they could.
One thing that set me on edge today, and sporadically across the rest of our stay here, was the presence of soldiers from the French Military (I assume Army, but I'm not certain). Normally, the sight of soldiers doesn't rattle me too much – indeed, seeing soldiers usually fills me with a great sense of pride (support our troops, America!), knowing that they are the ones who keep us safe back home, but there was one key difference – unlike the boys in uniform I'd seen before, these guys had their rifles at the ready, and on patrol (alright, so there were two differences, sue me). 3 guys patrolling the airport terminal, each with a FAMAS ready to fire at a moment's notice – not exactly a very comforting first impression about the country.
Driving from the airport was also a bit hectic. Our driver knew very little English, for a start, so we couldn't really ask him much. The shuttle also had a couple already on board, so it was a tight fit for all six of us, and I had to sit backwards. In addition, his driving was...frantic, to say the least. While I certainly didn't feel in danger, even dad didn't drive as crazy as this guy, and I was actually nauseated afterward. I NEVER get car-sick. On the plus side, his arrival meant we had to wait an hour less than we would've had to were it not for the assistance of the representative we met in the airport terminal.
Our arrival to our new ship, the Spirit, was...disappointing, to say the least. Granted, it was an older ship, but even so, it was quite lacking. For starters, the lounge was at the front of the ship, while the restaurant was all the way at the back, instead of both being at the front. It pretty much meant that we would have to wait in line to enter the restaurant each evening after our briefings for the next day's activities. Also, despite having paid the same amount as our friends we were traveling with, we somehow ended up in a cabin at the BOTTOM of the ship. Internet availability down here is, in a word, terrible. And the bedroom of my apartment at college had more space than this little closet they called a cabin.
But, I'm getting ahead of myself. We dropped off our bags in our rooms before we took a small excursion of Paris. One thing the ship had going for it – it was maybe 20 minutes of a walk to the Eiffel Tower from where we were docked, so we made it our priority to get there as quickly as possible. How awesome that we'd get to check one of the biggest reasons for going to Paris off the list almost straight away!
...Or so I hoped.
I had figured there'd be a line to go up the tower, but...not like this. NOT LIKE THIS. The twisting, compact mass of people waiting to ascend the tower would've been an hour's wait, probably even longer than that – and that was if you wanted to WALK up the tower. So, no Eiffel Tower yet. Still got some awesome shots of it as we traveled down the path behind it to L'Ecole Militaire (Military School/Academy).
Just before the military school, there was a large piece of art in front of the building – a modern arch with pillars and glass surrounding it, with the word “peace” in numerous languages printed on the pillars and glass. To my dismay, however, a few of the glass panes had clearly taken a hit from something, with the resultant spider-web pattern seen throughout at least 3 of them. One pane was even removed from the structure entirely; a result, we surmised, from having been completely shattered by a heavy impact – maybe the vandal had a shotgun.
As we wandered about Paris a bit more, we stopped in a cafe that had been referred to us by another of our friends who visited the City of Romance previously, and had some hot chocolate and a croissant for a midday meal. On a side note, we learned later that croissants actually are not French in origin – they're Austrian. Who would've guessed?
Resuming our jaunt, we eventually happened by Les Invalides (literally, “The Wounded Ones”), which was, at one point, a military hospital. It was also the site of Napoleon's tomb, but we would've had to pay to enter, and we decided not to do anything that required us to pay our first day in France (time being the primary factor here). So, it was one more thing we had to add of our list of things to do when the cruise was over.
It was another hour before we got back to the ship – just in time for an overview of the entire itinerary of what all was going to happen for the next week. Once the briefing was concluded, remember my mentioning of the restaurant being in the back of the ship? Seating was, indeed, at a premium because of this. Our first waiter on this cruise was a greenhorn – very by-the-book, I couldn't substitute the cheese plate for my appetizer (and the plate came after I'd left the restaurant, as well), and we couldn't order more than one plate per course. The main course I had was advertised as being a “grilled leg of lamb,” but it was fairly apparent that the leg wasn't grilled so much as it was baked. The rest of the meal was average, but not worth going into detail about.
Now, as to the room we were housed in. Being down at the waterline, the window didn't open – which also means no circulation, so taking hot showers fogs up the place. As previously mentioned, internet also sucks – granted, the Embla's connectivity was nothing to write home about, either, but Spirit's online was so terrible, it made the previous ship's service look fast. And, again, space in the room is at a premium – we wound up stashing our suitcases upstairs in our friends' room, which was about equal to what they had on the last ship. About the only positives the room would be that the beds are separate (though they're also hideaway beds, which docks points somewhat), the bathroom is about as large as the last and has a curtain instead of a fussy glass door for sealing, and there's something that actually resembles a desk for my lappy to rest on. Even so, our last ship made us feel spoiled, a fact that would make itself more prevalent in the days to come...

Day 12 – Monday, April 1, April Fool's Day:

I'm not sure who the fool is, today – our crew, for their sub-par performance, or us, for not being more careful when it came to selecting our ship to travel aboard.
Breakfast was a disappointment. No omelets unless you ordered from a waiter, the eggs that were available were cold and runny, and our drinks didn't arrive until AFTER we'd eaten our meal, despite ordering before we had our first bite. Need I say more?
After our breakfast was concluded, we got ready for a bus tour of Paris. We traveled down Champs-Elysses, saw the Arc du Triomphe, and a few other interesting sights before stopping at Notre Dame (which, by the way, means “Our Lady” when translated). Unfortunately, the tour wasn't quite as good because we got sub-par seats (towards the back of the bus), and the only people who got good shots when the bus slowed for the more interesting sights were those up front.
Notre Dame...a place as famous as it was would understandably have a fairly long line, but it only took us about 20 minutes to get in. And explaining her beauty would be both redundant and pointless – redundant because the fact goes without saying, and pointless because there are no words that exist to describe her. She is, again, something you have to see in person yourself to truly know what it's like. If the fact that the two hours we were given weren't enough time for us to see everything doesn't tell you how incredible the experience was, nothing will.
Lunch was about as bearable as breakfast was, so instead I'll skip to the main event of our afternoon – the Louvre. We actually drove through the museum on our morning tour before the excursion that afternoon.
No, you didn't read that wrong. It was actually possible for cars to drive through some of the archways of the Louvre, though it was a tight squeeze for our bus. The garage required us going on a side street, though, instead of through the building proper.
It turned out that the current museum was built upon the remains of the old fortress that it once was, and had been excavated for public viewing. Of course, we saw the “big three” at the Louvre – the Venus de Milo, the Winged Victory statue, and, of course, most famously of all, Mona Lisa. However, we also saw the French Crown Jewels (which are actually fake!) in addition to countless other works of art while there. Our guide told us that if you spent a minute looking at every piece the Louvre had to offer, it would take three months before you saw it all. Granted, not everything is on display at once, but even so, at the pace she was going, it would've been three YEARS before we got through the tour. Thankfully, once we got past Mona Lisa, there really wasn't much else to see, so we left the group and had a small snack at McDonald's, of all places, and joined back up a little later.
Before dinner, I knew that there'd be a bit of a wait before we could go into the restaurant after the briefing, but I had no idea just how bad it would be. They seemed awfully adamant about not letting anyone in until the announcement came, even though dinner was a bit late because of the things beforehand. Already, I was starting to miss my old boat. Even though we had a new waiter tonight, it still took forever before our food came to us. I actually skipped dessert for once because things were taking too long.
Still, we have to play with the cards we're dealt, and I can only hope the cruise improves as it goes on. We bid Paris farewell for the next week and set out to our first stop – the town of Vernon (with a long “o” sound).

Day 13 – Tuesday, April 2

Breakfast was slightly better this morning. The eggs at least stayed warm this time, but drinks still took forever and a day to get to us. Once finished, we got ready for a trip to the town of of Giverny and the house and gardens of Claude Monet – one of the original impressionist painters. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a letdown – as cold as it was, there wasn't a whole lot of the grounds that were in bloom yet, so it wasn't as colorful as it could have been. Still, the water lily pond for which his paintings were famous for was still quite beautiful to look at/walk along.
The trip was, again, undermined by several factors – notably, the pace our guide was going at. Our guide at the Louvre looked like a sprinter next to the one we had today. With almost none of the flora in bloom, it only served to exacerbate the issue. Ironically, if the grounds were in bloom, she'd probably be going too -fast- for our liking.
In addition to the above, one of the big strikes against the visit to Monet's house and studios? No photography of the interiors. NONE. They wouldn't even permit non-flash photography. Probably to keep people coming back, but even so, there were posters and whatnot of the artworks inside at the gift shop. It was still a nice place to visit, but, again, was let down by the circumstances with which we were given to experience it.
Once we had finished visiting the grounds, we headed into Giverny (say “zhee-ver-nee”) for the remainder of the time we had available to us, and visited the church where Monet and his family were buried. After our time was up, we headed back to Vernon and the ship for lunch, “A Taste of Normandy,” it was called. Some bread, cheese, and wines – nothing particularly interesting.
Afterwards, we toured the city of Vernon, exploring its history and observing the scars that World War II had left on its buildings. We also stopped in several shops in the city, and had a baguette as a snack early in our venture. Baguettes in the USA either are hard as a rock, or little else than white bread. The baguette we had in Vernon, however, was crispy and warm. We spent around 4 hours walking around in the small town – by the end of the walk, I was so drained of energy, it was all I could do to make my way to a chair and collapse in it.
The rest of the evening consisted of the usual briefing and dinner. Again, nothing really worth noting/mentioning.

Day 14 – Wednesday, April 3:

Back to crappy breakfast this morning. Eggs runny again, food cooled down awfully fast, and the oatmeal was overloaded with cinnamon. The rest of the morning was spent on the river, as we weren't due to arrive at our next city until after lunch was concluded – I took the time to update this journal a bit more, as a result. Lunch was semi-decent, at least – fish fingers, bread, and poached salmon – it was a welcome change from what we'd had the past couple days.
We had arrived in the city of Rouen (roll the “r” and say rew-ohn) for a walking tour. It was here in Rouen that Joan of Arc was tried and executed by the church – we actually visited the very spot that she met her end by being burned at the stake. A tall pillar topped by a cross now sits at the appointed spot, in front of a church meant to look like a ship turned upside-down...mostly. There were also two windows meant to look like fish, but if looked at straight on from the interior, where they are divided by a pillar, a more memorable appearance is achieved – that of a face looking towards the altar.
Rouen may have 35 churches and a famous gilded clock that dates from medieval times, but there's no way we would be able to see all of the former in the time we had, and the latter was part of our tour through the town, anyway. We did, however, make reservations at a restaurant for dinner that night, having been quite fed up with the quality of food thus far on our Tour de France, but that wasn't until 7:30 that night. So, we mainly roamed the town for the rest of the day, checking out a few more churches (and some ruined ones, as well), and getting some more chocolate from a shop whose name translated as “The Tears of Jean of Arc.” Can't remember the reason behind the name.
Anyway. We headed back to the ship for a little bit to hear the briefing for tomorrow's activities concerning Normandy before heading off to the restaurant I mentioned earlier. And my goodness, was it the right choice. Since I took some French in high school, I was able to translate a little bit of what the menu had to offer, so we knew what we were getting ourselves into. I had a grilled steak (it was slightly overdone, but didn't detract from the taste too much), dad had lemon chicken (wonderfully flavored, I must add), and our friends had veal with a mushroom-type sauce (which was absolutely divine to taste, and complemented the mountain of french fries we received quite well) and a leg of lamb done to perfection. Whatever dinner on the boat was, I sure didn't shed any tears about missing it.
It was a good thing we left when we did, as we noticed that it was starting to rain – I could even smell a little hint of ozone in the air. Once back at the ship, we had little else to do but get in bed – tomorrow was going to be a long and emotionally-challenging day.

Day 15 – Thursday, April 4:

The day started off fairly well for a change – I ordered a ham and cheese omelet (as opposed to getting eggs) from the waiter and it tasted pretty good – the french toast I had as an afterthought could've been better, though. Still, the sausage, bacon, and oatmeal I had accompanying my meal stayed fairly warm for the duration I was eating. I knew I had to load up on food, though, because it was a 2 hour drive via bus from Rouen to Normandy – the ship wasn't designed for using the waterways that could take us to the coast.
I zoned in and out of sleep on the way to Normandy, our first stop being along of strip of Gold Beach in the town of Arromanches (say “Air-row-mahnsh”), home to the D-Day Museum. It was here that we saw how the Allies planned, executed, and used the mobile harbors known as “Mulberries” to aid in keeping the soldiers supplied after landing on the beaches. The remains of both the titanic concrete caissons used to form a breakwater and steel pontoons for keeping the portable bridges afloat can still be seen at this beach – though there are only about 2 dozen of the 116 caissons left today, and the pontoons are clustered together, savaged by the elements. And, wow, was it windy. The wind must have been blowing at 30 miles an hour at the least, and didn't let up while we were there.
The museum showed in great detail how the Mulberries worked – the bridges were secured using long cables fed out by boats built specifically for the landing, and the massive mobile harbors anchored themselves in place by means of four giant steel pillars that would be hydraulically embedded in the sea floor. All of this was designed to move up and down with the tide, so the troops, supplies and materiel could continually be offloaded 24 hours a day. Two Mulberries were meant to be used, but Mulberry “A,” at Omaha Beach, was destroyed by a fierce storm. Needless to say, Mulberry “B,” at Gold Beach, survived, though repairs were still needed.
The lunch we had in-town at Arromanches was alright – the appetizer was a salad plate, causing no small measure of ire for me (in case you couldn't tell already, I hate fruits and veggies), but the main course was scalloped potatoes and chicken. Dessert was some kind of chocolate cake on something like a cracker, but it, too, was quickly devoured. Dad and I used some of the remaining time we had to take more pictures of the beach and some of the military hardware that were now monuments before we had to return to the bus.
The next stop was the Longues-sur-Mer battery, which overlooked Juno and Omaha Beaches. Four massive naval guns had been taken from their original ships and mounted into these concrete bunkers to put shots down range of 6 miles out to sea. Two of the bunkers were completely intact (ignoring natural erosion), one was mostly intact but had some structural damage, and the fourth was almost completely annihilated – a massive piece roughly 6 feet by 6 feet by 8 feet was almost 50 feet away from the destroyed bunker. Barbed wire completely surrounded the most heavily damaged bunker, while the other bunker that was partially destroyed only had barbed wire around the hole in its roof. I couldn't help but straddle the barrel of the last turret in an homage to Dr. Strangelove, though I sadly had no cowboy hat with which to wave about. We stayed at the battery for about 15 minutes, but that was plenty of time to get all the pictures we needed before heading to the hardest part of the day...

Omaha.

(NOTE: For a truly moving experience, I suggest the next part be read while listening to Honor from the mini-series The Pacific.)

Nine-thousand, three-hundred and eighty-seven.

That is the number of Americans who are buried at the American Cemetery, overlooking the cliffs of Omaha Beach. And of those who lost their lives in the initial landings at Normandy, one-thousand, five-hundred and fifty-seven could not be identified or located; their names are written on the walls surrounding the entry to the memorial. Even as I write this, I find it hard to hold back tears. Ascending the steps into the memorial proper, there was a statue of a man, reaching out to the sky. At his feet was inscribed the following:

“MINE EYES HAVE SEEN THE GLORY OF THE COMING OF THE LORD”

That alone was enough to tell me that this visit was not going to be an easy one. Unbeknownst to me, the cemetery had been expecting us, as they had arranged an event for us in remembrance of those lost in the war. First was the Star-Spangled Banner, which I could only sing in a low whisper without choking up, but after they played Butterfield's Lullaby (or as it's more commonly known, “Taps”), dad and I were reduced to tears. I'm glad I had someone to hug, as I'm sure he was, as well – I don't know how either of us would've been able to handle the experience if either of us was alone.
The entrance to the memorial also detailed the European Campaign from D-Day to VE-Day on one wall, and the full extent of the D-Day landings on the other wall. After the ceremony, we were each given a rose to lay at the grave of a soldier lost in the line of duty. I would like to take a moment to honor the two men we chose, both Washington natives:

SSGT ROY C. KOHLER, 18 BOMB SQ, 34 BOMB GP (H) – JULY 24, 1944

1LT ROY J THOMSON, 365 FIGHTER SQ, 358 FIGHTER GP – JULY 14, 1944

After paying our respects, we wandered the grounds of the cemetery before finishing up in the Visitor Center – we unfortunately couldn't see as much of the center as we would've liked, as the line was so long to get in. While we were exploring the site, there were a bunch of kids, probably no older than high schoolers, who were laughing as they were going along, treating the whole thing as a joke. My God, angry and sad tears at the same time. Do these kids not realize that they own THEIR lives to the lives of the men here? That they wouldn't be speaking French but German if it wasn't for these men? There are no words to describe what I wanted to do to them to make them realize their ungratefulness, but I was able to restrain myself.
As we left the Normandy Cemetery, I gave one final farewell salute to the brave men and women who now rested at this hallowed ground. But we still had one more place to visit, and that was Omaha Beach proper. If I thought Gold Beach was windy, Omaha had gale-force winds. There were a couple monuments that had been erected in honor of those lost on the beaches – one was made of granite and built in the '60s – the other was made of metal and was a more modern addition. Now try to picture landing on a beach with 40+ mph winds, going against troops from the Russian Front, who were probably the best Germany had to offer, and no way of knowing if you were stepping on sand or a land mine.
While on the beach, dad used his foot to write “OMAHA 2013” in the sand. I assisted once I saw what he was writing, and we photographed our handiwork. There was another line I wanted to add below this, but I soon discovered that the water was coming in too far to permit its completion. The most disappointing part is that I could have finished it in plenty of time had it not been for the tide. So, instead, I will write what was intended to be the final product:

OMAHA
2013
THEY GAVE THEIR LIVES
FOR OUR FREEDOM

On the way back from Normandy, I was feeling a bit nauseated – I still have no idea why. Some napping managed to remedy the issue, though, and in a little under 2 hours, we were back aboard the ship. I managed to get a table for us that was closer to the entrance with a different waiter tonight, and I think our service improved as a result of it.
I will never forget this day, or the men who we owe our very existence to. May their sacrifices never be forgotten.

Day 16 – April 5, 2013:

The omelet wasn't quite as good this morning – it was a little cold, and it was more ham than it was egg. The rest of it was alright, though. We were also on the river again for this morning, but I didn't really get around to updating until around lunchtime. It was actually snowing a little bit this morning, but the flakes were so small, I couldn't tell. We reached our destination of the town of Les Andelys (say “Lays An-dell-ees”), and the castle of Château Gaillard (say Geel-ard), castle of Richard the Lionheart, therein, at 1:30 PM.
The hike up to Gaillard was an exhausting one – the grade was between 10 – 15 percent the whole way up, and thanks to the snow, was a little slippery near the top. Château Gaillard was also built on top of a very steep set of hills, if not outright cliffs, and there were little or no guardrails/fences at the top to keep us from slipping over the sides. Did I mention I'm acrophobic (afraid of heights)?
However, once we were safely down from Château Gaillard, dad and one of our friends still wasn't done with the climb. Instead, we headed farther up the hill to its summit, allowing us to get a fantastic view of Gaillard, Les Andelys, and its surrounding countryside. My legs were pretty much destroyed from the hike, but I wouldn't trade the view I saw for it. Besides, I needed the exercise anyway.
We didn't stay in Les Andelys for long – we left at 3:00 PM, 1.5 hours after we arrived. There wasn't much else to see in the town, anyway.
Since it was the Captain's Dinner tonight, the meal consisted of 4 courses and a dessert. However, as yesterday's little note mentions, I had to get to the restaurant doors early so I could secure the same table as the previous night. It turned out there was another woman who was making for that very table, so I had to be clever in my execution. I sped up slightly, but not enough to make it obvious that I was determined to get to the table, and got in on one end of the table before she noticed me or sat down. When she told me that there were going to be 6 people sitting at the table, I asked her, doing my best to play innocent, “Are...there not other tables like this one?” In my opinion, I wasn't being rude, but matter-of-fact, and it was enough for her to find another table.
As to the dinner itself, it was up-and-down the whole way. It started off well-enough with the cheese plate and seared pepper salmon (which was cold when it got to me, oddly, but still good), but the waiter brought my father and I soup that neither of us ordered. Since we didn't specify not wanting the soup, my guess is that the waiter took that as us still wanting it. It was alright, but both of us only had half the bowl before we stopped. Then came the twice-baked potato...cake. Not only did it not taste as good as an actual twice-baked potato, the layers of the cake dad and I received were burned. How that managed to get by the cooking staff is beyond me.
Luckily, the main course, Filet Mignon, was every bit as delicious as it was generously portioned – a big 'ol slab of the priciest beef money can buy, each about the size of a tea cup saucer. The dessert, unfortunately, was underwhelming, though I did get a taste of what crepe suzette actually tastes like.
After dinner, I spent a bit more time updating the journal before calling it quits for the night. Tomorrow was going to be a busy morning, and I wanted to ensure I was well-rested.

Day 17 – Saturday, April 6:

Another 6 AM wake-up call in order to get off the boat by 8. However, by the time I was done getting showered and dressed, I still had to wait 25 minutes (until 7) before I could have my breakfast. Oh, Embla, how I miss thee. No omelet this morning, just runny eggs. At least they were somewhat warm. Conflans(-Sainte-Honorine) (rhymes with “con scrawns”) was where we stopped before making our trip to the Palace of Versailles, and is named because it is where the Seine and Osie (say “waz”) Rivers converge, or confluence with each other (Conflans, confluence – geddit?).
It was a little more than 45 minutes of a bus ride before we reached the grand palace that was to be our final stop before reaching Paris once more. Versailles was so large, in fact, dad wasn't able to take any pictures that included it all in one shot! Three kings, Louis XIV, Louis XV, and Louis XVI, were its only inhabitants before the French Revolution deposed the monarchy. There were still countless works of art to be found in its opulent, spacious halls and rooms, however – while we couldn't see all of it, we got to view the pieces from the king's and queen's quarters, which gave a definite feel for what the rest of the palace was like.
Once we had concluded our tour of the palace interior, there was still the matter of the gardens to visit. One thing I wasn't aware of (or forgot, perhaps) was that the gardens were undergoing restorations from a storm that occurred in 1999. In spite of this, it remained a sight to behold – and at the time we were visiting the gardens, the numerous fountains that were working were being operated in sync with music that blared across the vast expanse of greenery.
While the option was available to spend the entire day at the palace, my father, our friends, and I felt that we would be finished long before the extra time we would have had. Though we wish we could have seen more, we nonetheless felt we had made the right choice, and we were back at the boat by 1 PM. Lunch was considerably better than what it had been; certainly better than breakfast, if nothing else. Smoke ham, a bit of a leg of lamb, and some veal, plus bread and a Parisian pastry – I can't remember what it was called, or what it even was, but having had it, think of a Bavarian Cream-Filled Doughnut on steroids, and you've pretty much nailed the taste.
As it turned out, Versailles was the only activity that was going on today – so, once again, the afternoon was spent on the river, and again I updated the journal. We still have 4 days left before we head back to the USA, but I'm already feeling homesick in spite of the sights I've seen.
It was the Chef's Dinner tonight, but not much worth mentioning, as was so often the case. However, since we would be leaving for our hotel in Paris tomorrow morning, we had to be sure that everything was packed away and ready to be shipped off to the bus at a moment's notice. I'd be glad when we finally got off this tub.

Day 18 – Sunday, April 7:

We're free! WE'RE FRRREEEEEEEE!!!! We're finally out of that Godforsaken closet of a room for good, and it feels AWESOME!
...Can you tell I'm happy? XD
Breakfast, as usual, was a bit of a letdown. Otherwise, we got our room cleaned out and we were on the bus to the hotel at 9:30. When we arrived at the hotel, we discovered we couldn't actually get into our rooms until later that day, so we headed out to explore some more of Paris. First stop: a return visit to the Arc de Triomphe.
Actually, it would probably be more accurate to say it was our first visit, seeing as driving around it in a bus wouldn't really count as a visit. Show of hands: how many of you knew you could actually go up INTO the Arc? There was almost no line to ascend the arch, but there were a lot of steps. Tiring steps, at that. But once we had ascended the final steps of the column, we were finally in the first level of the arch proper.
It was quite interesting seeing the inside of the arch – the first tier had a camera that gave you a view of the exact center of the arch if there was a hole straight down through the middle. The second tier had a pair of rotating models of the arch that you could pivot around to see the details of the sculptures and their significance. I was quite entranced by the whole sight, and I looked around to call dad over.

...Dad?

...Uh-oh...

There wasn't any sign of him or my friends anywhere. At first, I decided to wait for a little bit, feeling that he'd be back to come get me. After a few minutes, though, I wondered if I should head up to go find him. However, I had the feeling that if I continued up to the top of the arch, he would've arrived at the second tier a little bit after I'd left. Sure enough, that was exactly what happened. Once at the top of the arch, I waited until he had come back up. Once he found me, he scolded me, sobbing because he was scared something had happened to me, and I apologized for giving him a fright like that. It may be one of the few things I'll never let myself live down.
The view from the top of the arch was truly spectacular – in fact, we felt that it may well have made for a great substitute for going to the top of the Eiffel Tower. There was next to no line, it was cheaper, and it gave us just as good of a view of Paris in its entirety. After taking as many photos as we could, we descended the arch to its base and took more pictures of the Triomphe roundabout, in addition to more accurate pictures of the arch itself.
Once finished with filling our cameras with photos of the arch, we headed down Champs-Elysses (which I found out translates as “Elysian Fields”) for some more sightseeing. We passed by several shops (and explored a few, as well), but we were starting to get hungry and so headed to find some lunch. As it turned out, we headed to the first place we visited for some food in Paris, Cafe du Marche. Unfortunately, while the hot chocolate we had was good, the food itself was...questionable at best. We spent an hour and a half in that restaurant, most of it just waiting to be served. Two of us ordered cheeseburgers, and one of the burgers was scorched on the outside, but practically raw on the inside when it was finally served to us. Even the burger I had was pretty pink on the inside, but at least it was edible. Most of the time we waited for a club sandwich and chicken burger we ordered, which the waitress had forgotten we had ordered. Felt like I was back on the boat again. Blargh.
With our disappointing (albeit filling) lunch done, we headed to Les Invalides to take a tour of the museum, detailing all sorts of arms and armor from medieval times up through the second world war. As much as I wanted to ogle at everything in the museum, we had a bit of a schedule to keep. So, while we took stock of all the military hardware, we kept a brisk pace as we made our way through. While I didn't see (or notice, seeing as we were pressed for time) a flamberge (flame-patterned sword), I did see a Chauchat (say show-show or show-shaw) Machine gun. Its construction was so shoddy, there were probably just as many deaths as a result of the gun jamming as there were deaths from enemy fire (take a look on Wikipedia or TvTropes for a look at just how bad it was).
With the military museum visit completed, we ventured to Napoleon's Tomb, which was part of Les Invalides. Inside Napoleon's Tomb, aside from Napoleon III's coffin itself, were 4 other coffins containing other famous individuals, though I didn't recognize their names. There was also a scale model of Les Invalides and its surrounding area towards the back of the building, which gave you a sense of just how large the entire complex was.
It was around 5:30 PM that we finished our walk around Paris for the day and began the trek back to our hotel to check into our rooms, taking photos of numerous other sights along the way. Before we headed out that morning, we had checked some of smaller items, which included my lappy, into concierge before we headed out. Turned out to be the best idea – not 10 minutes after we left the hotel, a wannabe pickpocket tried to distract us by showing us a ring he claimed we “dropped.” However, we weren't about to fall for the ruse.
Finally, having gotten our gear sorted out and stowed in easy-to-access places, we settled in for the night. Tomorrow waits for no man, and certainly not us.

Day 19 – Monday, April 8:

Breakfast was SO much better than the crap we had on the Spirit, consisting of sausage, bacon done just right, and ham-and-cheese omelets cooked to perfection. However, when we walked in, it made me glad we had meal cards when I saw the price – the buffet breakfast was 29 Euros per person! Now, don't get me wrong, the food was great, but not 29 Euros great.
It was a good thing we had a full list of things to go see today – internet at the hotel wasn't free, and I would have been mighty bored, otherwise. However, that also meant a lot of walking to do, as well, so I also was sort of dreading the trip. Even so, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do, so I wasn't going to complain.
Our guide handed out some tickets for the metro ride we would take to begin the trip around Paris. We were shown various sights around the city before we decided to take our leave in the Jewish Quarter for our lunch, which consisted of most of a baguette and a cheese pizza. Don't think it was any pizza like you'd have in the States, though – here, there was no tomato sauce, just tomatoes cooked into the bread, and it was a rectangle about a foot and a half long and about half as wide. It filled us up so well, we figured we would be skipping dinner again this evening. Oh, we also bought a chocolate eclair after the meal, which we quickly devoured.
Lunch concluded, we set off to meander about the city some more. Our eventual destination was Saint-Chapelle, a church within the Palace of Justice on the central isle (where Notre Dame also was). Unfortunately, before we got in, we discovered that any items the police considered dangerous would be confiscated and not returned to us – one of my friends had an engraved pocket knife that held some sentimental value, so they couldn't enter at the time (they got to see it later via a concert, which they thought was excellent). Saint-Chapelle was...wow. Words cannot do it justice. You'd have to see it yourself to behold how awesome the visit was.
After the visit to Saint-Chapelle, our friend who had to wait took us across the river where they had gone, and we eventually found ourselves inside a gelato shop. Alright, I know gelato's Italian, but, hey! It was my first ever taste of it. It may have set us back more money than I would have liked to spend, but it was just so good.
Once we were done at the gelato shop, we accompanied our friends to get their tickets for the concert at Saint-Chapelle before bidding them farewell, showing them the metro they'd need to visit. Actually, we had to run back to them a second time before we headed out, because we discovered that the metro spot wasn't where we initially thought it was! Once the course correction was relayed, though, we made our way to the metro, taking photos along the way. We'd spent nearly ten hours walking, and though it was longer than I would have liked, I was glad I got to see the sights I did.
Arriving back in the hotel room, I decided to journal some more, but as I sat down at the computer, typing away, I thought to myself, “I don't have time for this. I need to be spending more time with my dad, not staring at a screen.” So, I finished journaling early and we put Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows on my laptop for the rest of the night. During the movie, our friends called us to let us know they'd arrived back at their room safely, and when the movie was done, we went to sleep for the night. One more day of sightseeing before we got out of here.

Day 20 – Tuesday, April 9:

Rain, rain, go away, bother me some other day...

Breakfast was awesome, once again. And still made me feel glad that we had the meal cards to avoid forking over 60 Euros just to eat. One of our friends wasn't feeling particularly well this morning, so we decided we'd keep the sightseeing to a minimum today. Fortunately, there was only one more place we really wanted to see: Sacre-Coeur, the white cathedral atop one of Paris' highest hills.
Our best option for seeing Sacre-Coeur, we were told, was to get a packet of tickets from a tobacco shop just up the street (ugh). There was a funicular cart to the top that required a ticket each way, so round trip would be 4 tickets each. Each packet held 10 tickets, so we could easily ride the metro, take the funicular up and down, and back to the hotel easily.
Once we arrived at the metro station for Sacre-Coeur, I had a feeling it wouldn't drop us off right in front of the church, but I just didn't know how far from the church we'd be. As it turned up, it was all uphill from the stop to get to Sacre-Coeur, not counting the funicular. Speaking of which, we discovered the funicular actually wasn't necessary to use to reach the top, but we had the tickets so we figured we might as well.
When we reached Sacre-Coeur, I wasn't aware that you could actually climb the structure up to the dome to have a view of the city. With 300 stairs to climb, some of which took us onto the building's rooftops, it was a long, tiring climb. However, as was the case with the Arc du Triomphe, I couldn't complain about the view.

...Or what was remaining, anyway.

A massive rain squall was quickly making its way toward us from the Northwest. As time passed, we could actually see parts of the city become engulfed by the dark clouds of rain that would soon make it very difficult to get back down. As previously mentioned, some of the stairs we had to climb were on the rooftops, exposed to the rain. The stony roof was incredibly slick as we made our descent – at one point, I actually slipped slightly. Not enough to fall, but it was a close call, nonetheless.
Safely down from the dome, we made our way into the crypt. It was dark, quiet, and filled with artifacts from the medieval period. There were also two statues that had been made in 2005 – likely in honor of some more modern leaders of Sacre-Coeur. Perhaps I'll never know. Maybe when I get back home, I'll hop on Wikipedia and see what that yields.
All the same, we took all the photos we could of the dank underground before proceeding into the chapel proper. Inside Sacre-Coeur itself, however, photography of any sort was forbidden. A shame, really – unlike the situation with the Monet house, there was so much that I wished we could have taken pictures of. Infuriatingly, there were some who not only disobeyed the no photography rule, they were using FLASH photography. Do these idiots have no respect for sanctity or history?! But, best not to dwell on the negative, and we marveled at the amazing works, nonetheless.
Our tour of Sacre-Coeur finished, we decided not to take the funicular down the hill – there was a set of stairs right next to it that we walked down, instead. The rain still hadn't let up, though, and the steps were a bit slippery. Thankfully it wasn't to the extent that was present on the rooftops, but we still used caution as we went down. Feeling a bit hungry (and wanting to get out of the rain), we walked only a short distance before we found a small bar. Inside, we ordered 2 steaks with fries, a buckwheat pancake plate, and gorgonzola pasta dish. It was all so good, we rated it one of the best lunches we had on the trip.
While we had talked about going to a museum known as D'Orsay, we didn't feel it was a must to visit it – and with the rain still pouring down (and one of us a bit sick), we decided to skip it. We wandered around for a bit before we got on the metro again, but my dad and one of our friends wanted to stay on and visit the end of the line, known as La Defense. I gave dad a quick hug and kiss goodbye before I got off the train, and I walked with our friend who wasn't feeling too well back to the hotel.

Now, it was my turn to be worried.

Ever since dad started going to Europe every now and again, any time he was on his own, I always felt worried that I'd get the call that I'd never want to hear. Maybe it had something to do with my mother's death, but now the thought of being without parents absolutely terrified me. Arriving back at my room at 4:30 precisely, I sat down in front of my lappy and began, once again, to update my journal. But, as you may have guessed, I was incredibly anxious, looking out a window that I quickly realized I wouldn't be able to see him from, checking down the hallway every few minutes, and just pacing around my room. To what purpose, I couldn't say, except perhaps a vain attempt to somehow calm my mind.
5 minutes became 10, then 10 became 20...it was a very unnerving time as I waited for my dad. Though my friend reassured me that he'd be fine, you could tell from my behavior that words just weren't good enough for me. In a moment of clarity, early on in the ordeal and at various points throughout, I prayed for his safety and that he'd return.

Suddenly, a knock at the door.

My mind raced with thoughts. The police? The hotel manager?

No, just my friend who'd come back with me, delivering our boarding passes for tomorrow. I again told them of my fear for my father's safety, and they repeated that he'd be fine – their kids also were like me when they went out of the country and out of contact, thus. Still, I couldn't help but wonder where dad was at that moment. 45 minutes had passed and there was still no sign of what had become of him. I kept trying to update the journal, but my restless behavior only continued to worsen. In spite of all this, I kept my spirits up, and my faith that the Lord would not let anything happen to dad without His allowance.

5:30. An hour after I had gotten back to the room, the phone rang. Now what? Cops? My other friend who had gone with dad?

No. It was him, this time. I was almost in tears upon hearing his voice once more.

Dad had said that they were going across the street to see if there was some chocolate to be had, and wanted to know if I would go with him. Considering my rather fragile state of mind at this point, I agreed to the offer, thanking God once I had hung up for getting dad back to me safely. Looking back on it as I was writing this journal, maybe that's something else God needed to reveal to me – my fear for those who I held dear was irrational to the point of ridiculousness. Just one more step along life's strange, long and bumpy road.
Anyway. Having rejoined dad, we made our way across the street to check out the mall. There honestly wasn't much that looked all that interesting inside – clothes, a grocery store (yep), and some furniture, but otherwise, not a lot to write home about. However, just when I thought that we were heading back to the hotel room, dad threw me a curveball by proposing we go to La Defense (which he and our other friend who'd gone with him had already taken numerous photos at) to check another mall there.
Well, there was a lot more than just the mall there, lemme tell you. The main draw of La Defense is La Grande Arche, an ultra-modern arch that was directly in line with the Arc de Triomphe, but several kilometers away. The rain was also starting to clear up (finally), and with the sun coming out, a pair of rainbows made their appearance. We took many more photos in La Defense before having our last meal in Paris, and Europe by extension (our breakfast notwithstanding) at...McDonald's of all places. Pricy McDonald's, at that – a double cheeseburger will set you back 2.5 Euros, or slightly more than 3 bucks in the US. But, it was nice to be able to know I could go to sleep that night on a satisfied stomach. La Defense was an awesome last stop on our tour of Paris – I only wish we could have found it sooner to enjoy it some more.

Day 21 – Wednesday, April 10:

Urgh. Waking up at 5:30 is what I did in school, not on vacation. But we had to be up as early as we were in order to get our stuff ready for the airport (bags out at 6:30), and have breakfast (which started at the same time). We skipped the omelets, good though they were, due to the time constraint, having plain scrambled eggs instead. Unlike the eggs on the ship, the scrambled eggs in the hotel were done to perfection. All in all, an excellent meal to end our trip.
Once we had made a final check of our room, making sure that we hadn't forgotten anything, we left the ritzy pad for the last time, and at 7:18, bid Paris, and Europe, au revoir. Roissy-Charles de Gaulle International Airport was waiting for us, half an hour away.
Security...ugh. The less said about it, the better. Granted, security usually takes the better part of an hour to get through, anyway, but it was a very inefficient hour we had to endure. We must have had our boarding passes checked 5 times before we actually got to our gate to take off. Then it was another hour or so waiting for us to be checked in. Once on board, though, the plane was a vast improvement over the one we took to get here. We actually had enough leg room to stretch our legs completely, and I could plug in my laptop and not worry about the battery going dead. So, after watching Battleship for the first time, and getting my dad to watch Dark Knight Rises for his first time, I plugged in lappy and updated the journal, once again – my last time before I got home at 2:00 PM, PDT. During the flight, we passed over Iceland and a frozen section of the Arctic Ocean – both made for some awesome photos.
I also attempted to finish writing my next section of the story, but between my laptop's poor heat dissipation and the turbulence of the aircraft, I had to wait until I was home. Even then, I was so exhausted that I had to wait until today to get it finished. Hopefully I can write the following section soon. This trip has truly made me realize that I need to turn my life around – and keeping at the job hunt and a constant writing schedule will do much to aid in that process, I feel. It has been an amazing experience, and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

To those of you who made it this far, my hat goes off to all y'all. Mike and the rest of the Imperials will be back VERY soon.