Christmas, Parisien style!
Wow, another post so quickly?? Unbelievable!!
Well, Contiki is over! It feels kind of strange because you are with the same people for 20 days then suddenley...poof! You are on your own again. They were really a lovely group of people so its sad to be leaving them but i'm looking forward to Portugal and France again. Of course tomorrow Bron and I split up so that will be the last time I see her until May but we do have to negotiate the metro very early in the morning first, which will be very interesting!
but...Christmas! We got a tiny sleep in on Christmas morning (9am! Wow!). I spent Christmas eve just chilling out in my room...I had a bath, went on the net for awhile, watched 'The Adams Family' in French which suffice to say is NOT what I would be doing at home but was nice just to have a bit of me time. On Christmas morning I lept out of bed (Bron told me I had to get up or i'd miss breakfast) and had breakfast (piece of bread, but alot better than what I'd been eating the previous days- nothing) and the entire tour went for a mini-tour of the city, driving past lots of the landmarks and stuff. We got off at the Eiffel tower and went up to the top...even on Christmas day there were huge queues for everything! The view is spectacular. We had a bit of a picnic in a jardin near the tower and everybody gave out their Kris Kringle prezzies (I won't call it a Secret Santa!). I hope my person liked mine, I always struggle with these things. My secret santa did a great job! I got a nice piece of jewellery and some yummy chocolates!
That night we went out to the MOULIN ROUGE! We had a 3 course dinner there and afterwards the show began. It was nice to dress up, I wore my dress that I bought at Primarks and did my makeup and all of that jazz. The first course I had was a salad of crayfish and beans. I picked out all my mushrooms and gave them to Jen. The crayfish was prepared exceptionally as were the beans. It was great. The next course I had was a fish dish. In comparison to the other dish (a beef dish) it was alot smaller so the other people on my table were kind of sad about it but because I am not eating much I got really excited because I would finally be finishing a plate of food! The fish had a mild champagne sauce on it which was also very well prepared. Dessert was this kind of sponge roll thing of chocolate and cream and I think something else (Jam or liquer??). Everybody else had some type of wine but I wasn't having that because I'm taking penicillan. The show was INCREDIBLE. I cannot overemphasise how amazing it was. The costumes, the dancers, the scenery, the music...!!!!! It was amazing! Everything was so elaborate and techinical and finished! You're not allowed to take pictures inside (partial nudity) but it was great. There was a girl who swam in a tank with pythons, a man who balanced a girl on ONE arm, lots of dance numbers...a juggler, a ventriloquist! It was all just amazing! Amazing, Amazing, Amazing!
After Moulin Rouge we went out to the Irish Pub next door where I had a pepsi (wow, I felt so tame!) and a bit of a dance before I headed home reasonably early. This morning was goodbyes to everyone and getting to the hostel which involved many tears from my part- I was just so tired! We had to climb this flight of like 100 stairs to get there aswell. I was just like I want to go home! I think it was a bit of post-Christmas homesickness. I had a good sleep this afternoon though and felt much, much better.
I have been trying to speak french where I can but half the time I erupt into coughs half way through or they reply so fast I cannot understand a word that they say! I'm sure that will get better once I am better though.
Soon it will be New Years! What a busy year it has been!
Alice xo
Well, Contiki is over! It feels kind of strange because you are with the same people for 20 days then suddenley...poof! You are on your own again. They were really a lovely group of people so its sad to be leaving them but i'm looking forward to Portugal and France again. Of course tomorrow Bron and I split up so that will be the last time I see her until May but we do have to negotiate the metro very early in the morning first, which will be very interesting!
but...Christmas! We got a tiny sleep in on Christmas morning (9am! Wow!). I spent Christmas eve just chilling out in my room...I had a bath, went on the net for awhile, watched 'The Adams Family' in French which suffice to say is NOT what I would be doing at home but was nice just to have a bit of me time. On Christmas morning I lept out of bed (Bron told me I had to get up or i'd miss breakfast) and had breakfast (piece of bread, but alot better than what I'd been eating the previous days- nothing) and the entire tour went for a mini-tour of the city, driving past lots of the landmarks and stuff. We got off at the Eiffel tower and went up to the top...even on Christmas day there were huge queues for everything! The view is spectacular. We had a bit of a picnic in a jardin near the tower and everybody gave out their Kris Kringle prezzies (I won't call it a Secret Santa!). I hope my person liked mine, I always struggle with these things. My secret santa did a great job! I got a nice piece of jewellery and some yummy chocolates!
That night we went out to the MOULIN ROUGE! We had a 3 course dinner there and afterwards the show began. It was nice to dress up, I wore my dress that I bought at Primarks and did my makeup and all of that jazz. The first course I had was a salad of crayfish and beans. I picked out all my mushrooms and gave them to Jen. The crayfish was prepared exceptionally as were the beans. It was great. The next course I had was a fish dish. In comparison to the other dish (a beef dish) it was alot smaller so the other people on my table were kind of sad about it but because I am not eating much I got really excited because I would finally be finishing a plate of food! The fish had a mild champagne sauce on it which was also very well prepared. Dessert was this kind of sponge roll thing of chocolate and cream and I think something else (Jam or liquer??). Everybody else had some type of wine but I wasn't having that because I'm taking penicillan. The show was INCREDIBLE. I cannot overemphasise how amazing it was. The costumes, the dancers, the scenery, the music...!!!!! It was amazing! Everything was so elaborate and techinical and finished! You're not allowed to take pictures inside (partial nudity) but it was great. There was a girl who swam in a tank with pythons, a man who balanced a girl on ONE arm, lots of dance numbers...a juggler, a ventriloquist! It was all just amazing! Amazing, Amazing, Amazing!
After Moulin Rouge we went out to the Irish Pub next door where I had a pepsi (wow, I felt so tame!) and a bit of a dance before I headed home reasonably early. This morning was goodbyes to everyone and getting to the hostel which involved many tears from my part- I was just so tired! We had to climb this flight of like 100 stairs to get there aswell. I was just like I want to go home! I think it was a bit of post-Christmas homesickness. I had a good sleep this afternoon though and felt much, much better.
I have been trying to speak french where I can but half the time I erupt into coughs half way through or they reply so fast I cannot understand a word that they say! I'm sure that will get better once I am better though.
Soon it will be New Years! What a busy year it has been!
Alice xo