I've heard from many people that the French are rude. However, I tried not to let this knowledge affect how I interacted with them - so as to not trigger any self-fulfilling prophecies.

We took a train to Paris - about 4 hours. Not too bad. After arriving at the train station, we got in line at the info desk, and I asked about how to get to another part in Paris. The lady was talking on her cell phone, printed out 2 tickets, and I paid. I tried to ask about where to get the next train, and she just answered with 'What?!' and then she pointed to some obscure place. The second French person I met confirmed such stereotypes.

Other than a couple smelly French people, Paris was amazing. There is so much to see! We stayed there for 3.5 days.

We went to Musee du Louvre - and saw the Mona Lisa! That museum was huuuge!

We also checked out Notre Dame, and of course the Eiffel Tower!

The transportation in Paris is so efficient! Why can't Los Angeles or San Jose have something like that?

Interesting stories in Paris:

-Elevators are for wimps.

Our hostel has 6 floors. And our room is 607. No elevator, we had to take the stairs. (Also, in Europe the ground floor is not considered the first level. So we actually had to walk up 6 flights of stairs and not 5). Our toilet was in a closet. Another bathroom (w/ toilet and shower) was on the floor below us. After getting out of the 5th floor bathroom, I took the stairs to my room, knocked on the door—and realized that I was on the 4th floor and not the 6th. I ran to the stairs and went up before the door was answered. It's a good thing I knocked first instead of just walking it. Ha. That would've been awkward.

-Marlene or Marilyn?

We were walking out of an electronic store, and Johnny was looking at the camera, and I was just walking contentedly. There were a few employees outside of the store and some people walking on the street and sidewalks. A couple was walking in the opposite direction as we were, and in my peripheral, I saw the woman start to laugh and point. It was as if she saw it coming before I even realized what was about to happen/happening. We walked over a subway vent, and I was wearing a dress!! Sooo, my dress flew up and half of Paris saw. It was embarrassing. After a couple seconds of trying to push my dress back down, and move off of the vent, I looked back, and the woman was clapping.

:::Sigh:::

I could've at least gotten slipped a 5 or something.

-Everyone's an artist, but you gotta pay.

After leaving the Louvre, we were walking around, and a guy came up to me. Like I've said before, I can't be rude to polite strangers. So this guy starts talking to me, and asks me to hold out my finger. (That sounds like the prelude to a stupid joke). Anyway, Johnny turns around, and walks back toward where I am. (So after knowing that I'm okay, I hold out my finger, and the guy loops my finger through string. He starts making conversation, asking where I'm from…blah blah. His friend joined him, and did the same to Johnny. They kept saying "It's okay, we are artists. We come from Kenya. We are artists" --all the while braiding the strings on our fingers. They take it off, and tie them on our wrists. Then of course, "Now you pay us." Johnny and I are just like "Umm..We don't want it, we'll just take it off." So we're about to pull them off, and they keep trying to negotiate a price with us. The guy talking to Johnny says "5 euros." And Johnny asks "What about her?" And so they're super trying to rip us off. Anyway, we just gave them 2 euros each. We still got ripped off, but whatever…

-Scalper-scamming at the Eiffel Tower

After doing some souvenir shopping next to Seine River bank near the Eiffel Tower, the gold lights on the Tower came on. We walked up towards the tower to take more pictures. Around the Eiffel Tower, there were a lot of people trying to sell souvenirs - mostly key chains and light-up figures of the tower. These guys just walked around trying to eye as many tourists as they can to try and sell them their goods. After so many instances of such propositioning, I considered more and more getting a light-up tower. Across the street from the ET, Johnny and I stopped to ask a guy how much it was. (I don't remember the initial price. 6 or 7 euros). Then I said "Oh, okay, nevermind. I'll just get it for cheaper from someone else." Him: Okay, 6 euros. And you can also get a keychain. Me: 1 or 2 keychains? (I just kept trying to push it J ) Him: this and a keychain. 6 euros. After some pondering, I finally decided okay. (I asked Johnny if he had smaller change, because I only had a 10. Johnny didn't, so I just gave the guy the 10. Johnny noticed that the guy was looking around kind of anxiously and suspiciously.) Then the guy asked "Okay how about 2 for 10? 2 for 10?" I answered no. He kept asking, so I was about to take the 10 back from his hand because he was being so pushy. Then he said okay.

Then this next part is kind of a blur…because it happened so quickly…

Okay so the guy gives Johnny our change (4 euros). But he is still asking if we want to get it 2 for 10euros. So I'm just thinking 'Okay if you're gonna be this pushy, I don't want to buy anything from you. Peace yo.' So he's kind of starting to walk away, while I'm trying to give him back the souvenirs. So I take back the 10. Then he starts to rush us, and moves in the opposite direction and he says "Okay okay! Give me the 10! I gave you the 4 euros! Give me the 10! So you pay 6 euros!" And I'm just like eww, what the heck is this guy's deal? So I try to give back the souvenirs to him, but he's kind of running away. And then a bunch of other guys selling the same stuff rush past us, and the guy follows them. We turn around, and there's a police officer on a bike. So Johnny and I hurry across the street and are all in a flux because we could barely comprehend what just happened.

So we had the souvenirs.

And Johnny had the 4 euros change.

And I still had the 10.

We scammed a scalper, and were damn proud of it.