Our week in Gay Paris had come to an end and our last night was going to be spent basking in the splendid glittering delights that the city had so far delivered. We booked our last tour - the illumination tour (for those of you going to Paris - beware) which was to include being picked up from your hotel, taken on a cruise up the Seine and then shown the sights all lit up after dark - all with comentary by our tour guide.
Here's what we got instead..... pick up at our hotel (check), there was already a quiet English couple in the van, then we pick up another 3 people - an Italian family (couple and young girl), who now live in Columbia and who speak Italian and Spanish..... it's then that we are informed that the tour will be in both English and Italian. Now, I'm not a huge fan of the language combination tour. I always feel that I'm never sure if he's speaking English and then I miss the beginning and end of everything that he says - but this time, it didn't matter because the Italian Columbian overrode the whole tour and spoke non stop in Italian - monolopising the tour guide who had to answer in Italian! So we sat in silence and waited until we understood something. One thing we did understand though is that 10 mintues after they had been picked up - they realised that they had left their phone at the hotel and wanted to go back and get it. Without a word the driver turned around and did just that. You would think perhaps an "I'm sorry" or " mi dispiace" or "Lo Siento" or "je suis desole" - but nothing!, niente!, nada!, aucunement! He, in fact a long with his wife had no idea that there were other people in the van. She talked on her mobile phone then they passed the phone around and all had a conversation with the woman's sister in Rome (I think) - all the while the tour guide is trying to point out monuments and give information.
We finally get to the boat and it's not a sedate cruise run by the tour operaters, but a large ferry that carries about a million people on it at once and when I say people...... I mean tourists and when I say tourists, I mean those tourists that nobody wants to be associated with no matter what country you come from. These are the people that will stand in front of you to get a better view - with no regard to your view! The people who will physically manhandle and elbow you out the way to get in front! The people who have no respect for personal space! Well..... they were all there on this boat. It went for about an hour and the cruise itself was actually lovely - although Jodie and I did have to brave the bitterly cold wind in order to get away from the "tourists" - we left Jen to fend for herself.
Clearly we were all in pretty good moods (sarcasm) after walking all day (very tired), it was very late (for the lights to be on), we'd dealt with the Italian Columbian's and then we were driven around Paris for an hour in what seemed like peak hour traffic even though it was midnight listening to our tour guide explain things in Italian...... we were ready to get out of the bus and get to bed.
Tomorrow we board the Eurostar - always a thrill for an West Australian, where there are no trains to speak of!
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