and ‘The Bastille’.

Posted by Ben on Apr 27, 2010 in updates | 4 comments

On the first night, Donal and I were roomed with a fella from China named Ling Tong. He ended up being the nicest guy on tour. But when we first met him, we had no idea what he was talking about. He said he was 22, 23 and 21 years old. 22 here, 21 someone else and 23 in China. He also told us his name was then Tony. I didn’t know what to do, so I started calling him Ping Pong. This eventuated into Ping which about a quarter of the bus began to use.

He didn’t like it, so we ended up all calling him by his ‘English’ name – Tony. He gets a special mention here because he was one of the guys who made the tour. He was odd; he was always looking for Chinese restaurants, hugging my mate Rich down the streets of Europe until they looked like a gay couple, and would laugh on end until everyone else was laughing. You are a legend mate. Good ole Ping Pong.

Anyway, enough rambling. I’m sure you want to hear a little more about the actually trip!

We all got on the bus at about eight the next morning and were all dropped off at our chosen destinations. My mates and I decided to get off at the Louvre as it’s free on Sunday’s. I forgot to mention that it happened to be Easter Sunday, which was pretty cool in itself spending Easter in Paris. With these factors combined though, crowds were a nightmare. The line to the Louvre was at least five hundred meters long by 830 in the morning. So any attraction in Paris, get there nice and early. We made it around the Louvre for about four hours, but I spent about three of these lost, looking for Donal and the others. From what I saw though (including the Mona Lisa), it was an amazing place. They say that if you spend two seconds looking at every item in the Louvre you’d spend six months in there or something ridiculous like that.

From here we went and saw the Notre Dame Cathedral (again packed because of Easter) and the Eiffel tower. After this we met up with Sian and had coffee at a cafe near the tower. It was awesome seeing her. She was a great help guiding us around Paris while we were with her. So thanks Sian!

Again, watch the people around these areas because they sit there and try and sell you crap, trick you into buying things and follow you around like they’re your shadow.

After this, Donal and I had booked a bike tour around Paris. It took about four or five hours which seems like a lot but it flew by. It was really cold but well worth the money. Surprisingly our tour guide was from Texas, America. He was great. He knew everything about Paris and I saw and learnt a lot more than I would have doing it myself. I highly recommend doing this if you are going to be in Paris. It’s called the ‘Fat Bike Tour’. Get onto it.

After we had finished the bike tour, we met up with the rest of the crew under the Eiffel Tower in the Park for a gourmet picnic dinner. It was brilliant. The people on tour were still getting to know one another but people were starting to mingle and gel and you could tell everyone was going to get on great. By this stage I had already eaten about six feet worth of baguettes, the bread in Paris is sensational and it’s cheap. I definitely suggest buying one to chew on throughout the day. I honestly filled my pockets up with the stuff. The girls from American – Cassie, Lauren and Bre did the same. I ended up eating most of theirs too. They generally carried around nutella. Gotta love ‘em.

The American girls, an American guy (Boston Rob), Rich and Hunnibell, who are from Tassy, which is from Australia – I suppose. Donal and I, a couple from Queensland, Jenna and Troy and our mate Ping decided to begin the celebrations and go on a bender.

What a bender it was. It basically summed up what the next three weeks were going to be like – painful.

We went to the district which is referred to as ‘The Bastille’, go there! You won’t regret it. Although you get all those guys again, trying to sell you roses and other pointless crap. Idiots.

We went to a club that highly resembled a strip joint, it was dark and comfortable and we smashed the beers and long island ice teas here. The girls had it spot on. I was paying almost as much for a pint as they were for the teas, and they were consuming about quadruple the amount of alcohol I was per drink. I needed to step up the ante.

Five of these later and I may as well have been in bed, because the night kind of turns into a blur. We were all wasted but we managed to make our way down to an Irish pub called Murphys – pttf. Why are we going into an Irish pub when in Paris I was asking? Well I didn’t care after all; it was a great move and great choice by whoever made it. All I remember is dancing with my new found friends, being called a ‘ficking Australian’ by the bartender who sounded German but wasn’t, someone said he was Scottish, although he looked more Aussie than I did. The other boys and I then met some girls from Nice, another town in France.

I’ll leave the next few hours blank, maybe it’s because I don’t want to share it, maybe I just don’t remember. My blog isn’t for this purpose but it will still keep you guessing. If you ask and I feel like sharing, I will.

Early that morning, my mate Hunnibell and I were lost. Now let me tell you something, Alex Hunnibell, as I quickly found out had an alter-ego when he drank. He was a quiet bloke by day, when sober and a fucking mad man by night. He doesn’t remember stuff, he punches people in the mouth and he drinks himself into oblivion. I loved it. He made the nights that much more enjoyable.

Going back to what I said, me and this crazy drunk guy who I had just met were lost in Paris, we had no map, no idea where we had just come from and I had 11 cents left on my new English prepaid phone. I sent Donal a text message and miraculously received one back saying, “We are back where we started” – Thank god! Otherwise my tour was over then and there. We were gonna be spending the next few weeks in Paris. We finally relaxed and went a bought a kebab. We spoke to some other girls from America who didn’t even compare to our new Californian friends, we so said we had to go to the toilet and snuck out the back exit, Hunnibell has no recollection of this. Hilarious!

After that we had a few more drinks in the first club I was talking about. But I have no more stories because I go blank. I kinda do that a lot.

I walked into the room with Donal and Ping and crashed at some absurd hour of the morning. My liver was no longer in training; it was competing with the spirits.

I can promise you one thing; this became a subdued night when comparing it to what was to come.

My liver is still filtering alcohol.

I will post another blog when my brain cells have started to recuperate again. I lost my journal when my bag got stolen so this information has had to be dug out with a spoon.

Until then, Au revoir!