Returning Home and Reasons to go to Paris (Day 14) (Travel)

I slept like a log after our last day of adventuring. We had been running around France for two weeks, experiencing everything that the country had to offer, and my energy levels were at an all-time low. This trip was probably the best two weeks of my life though. I will never forget the time we spent here. Our plane was departing at 11:00 a.m. and it was 8:30 a.m. right now. Our normal routine took place, and we were all showered and dressed within 25 minutes. We packed everything up into our suitcases and loaded the elevator to go and get breakfast in the lobby. "Our last hotel meal in France.." Evan said solemnly. It was pretty sad; we were having so much fun here. I did miss my own bed though. I missed my parents and my dog too. I was ready to go home.
During breakfast, I called Alain and asked him to come pick us up for our last ride in his van. He was at the hotel in no time. We finished breakfast and loaded all of our bags into his van. It was a tight squeeze, but we managed. The airport was close, only a five minute drive, so our time with Alain was cut short. We were at the airport before we knew it. "There it is boys, the Paris Airport-Le Bourget." Connor said.
Before we exited the van, I turned to Alain. "I'll never forget you, Alain." I said. "I will not ever forget any of you either." he said solemnly. "You were more than just our Uber driver, you were a friend." Evan said. "Thank you so much." he said. A small tear ran down his face. "I will miss you all." It was a sad moment for all of us. We unloaded our bags from the van and began to walk toward the front gate of the airport. Before walking in, I turned and waved, one last time. Alain waved back and drove off. "He was a good guy." Will said sadly. We all nodded. It was now about 10:00 and we needed to hurry. Our flight was leaving from gate 8 again, and we were only at gate 4. We stopped at a smoothie joint on the way. Trying to save money, we got the cheapest smoothies we could get. It wasn't very good. Eventually, we made it to the gate. Boarding the plane was smooth, and soon enough, we were off of the ground.
I slept the whole flight. The lack of sleep from the other nights caught up to me and I found the plane ride to be the perfect time to take a nice nap. Before I knew it, we were back at the RDU Airport. My mom was waiting for me at the front gate after I had gotten my bags. I said goodbye to everyone, and I loaded my bags into the car. Finally, I was on my way home. I missed my home, but I knew that I would always miss the adventures I had in the beautiful country of  France.
As a person that has visited France I can tell you that it is an amazing place. It is full of beautiful and interesting places to visit. The hotels are nice, the people are nice, and the food is great. There are a ton of places to visit, just in the city of Paris (Ethos). Over 3-million people visit France per yer from America alone, and there's a good reason for it. (Logos). The city of Paris is one of the most popular sites of tourism in the whole world. So many historical monuments are located just in that one city. I think that anyone reading this should consider visiting the country of France at least once in their life, and I will never forget the adventures that I took part in when visiting.

Château d'If (Day 13) (Historical)

I woke up to the standard protocol. I awoke first, and everyone was a sleep. "RISE AND SHINE BOYS" I exclaimed. Surprisingly, everyone woke up relativity quickly. It was 4:30 in the morning. Our final destination was a very long drive. I think they all realized it was our last day, which is what motivated everyone to get up so quickly. "Ok everyone, its our last day, so lets make the most of it". We quickly packed our stuff and got ready for our final destination, the Chateau d'lf.

Naturally, Alain was waiting for us outside the hotel. He always greeted us with a large French smile, inducing smiles in the rest of us as we looked at him. H opened the door for us and asked "Where now?". I spoke up and said "The Chateau d'lf, my good sir". His jaw immediately dropped. "Chateau d'lf is a 7 hour drive from here" Alain exclaimed. "Then we better get started" I fired back with a smile. I slept for most of the car ride, as did everyone else. "Why are we even going to this place?" Gene asked with a reasonable amount of anger in his voice "My back hurts". "It will be worth it" I said back.

Ethan had somehow reserved special tickets for a tour of Chateau d'lf. We took a small blue boat across about a 2 mile stretch of water to reach the island. We passed two islands that were closer to shore before reaching Chateau d'lf. The Chateau d'lf is a small island off the coast of Marseille. Our tour guide told us that it was first used for protection from invasion. He explained that it then became a prison, housing anyone that was against political authority. It is also famous for the novel written about it, "The Count of Monte Cristo"."This island is incased in the Mediterranean Sea" our tour guide claimed in his thick French accent.

 Looking out upon the ocean from the island was nothing short of fantastic. There were a few fishing boats visible in the distance. There was also a small patch of green visible on the island. The tour guide brought us to the shore. "The island is only 1.5 kilometers long" our tour guide said. As he took us back on the shore I got a more in depth view of the island. The island was very heavily fortified. There were high ramparts with gun platforms. The island remained uninhabited except for the fortress. After our tour, we took the same vessel back to the shore. By this time it was 1:00 in the afternoon and we still had a seven hour drive ahead of us. We quickly ate at a French fast food restaurant and then hopped back in our Uber. Alain took us back to our hotel.
Knowing that this was our last place we would visit on our journey in France, we all somberly walked out of the care and into the hotel. Our heads were all held low but there was still a sense of accomplishment in the air. The trip had been fantastic, yet we it was sad to recollect on it. We walked through the main lobby and up the elevator. No one said a word. We plugged our phones in and laid down in our beds. I reached over my left shoulder and flipped the light switch, showcasing the end of journey in France.

Arc de Triomphe (Day 12) (Historical)

It was our second to last day in France. As per usual, I was the first one awake. We did not have any tour scheduled so I decided to let everybody sleep in. "What's today?" asked Evan as he shifted in his bed. "The Arc de Triomphe" I proudly exclaimed. "Isn't that just the big arch in the middle of the city?" Ethan asked with an attitude. "Honestly, I'm not even sure what it is" I announced. We all began getting out of bed at about 11:00 and finally made our way out the door at 11:30. Since the monument was so close to our hotel, we decided to walk. We arrived at the Arc de Triomphe at about 12:00.
The Arc de Triomphe was an incredibly large, wide arch. I had read somewhere that it was constructed in the early 1800s. It appeared to be made of stone. We overheard a Frenchman describing the arch to a group of bystanders. "It is over 160 feet tall, and has the names of the soldiers who died in both the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars". I leaned in to hear better. "The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is buried under the arch" he explained "The eternal flame burns in memory of the soldier in World War One and World War Two who were never identified".

I crept up closer to arch to get a better view. The pillars on either side had sculptures of horseman, angels, and warriors in battle. The handiwork required to create these intricate sculptures is nothing short of incredible. The small eternal flame under the center of arch reminded me of a similar one on JFK's tomb, which I later learned was inspired by the flame under the Arc de Triomphe. There were several golden plaques surrounding the arch which I could not read.
As I circled back around the arch, the Frenchman came into earshot once again. "This was a major rallying point in WW1 for the French" he continued "After victory in WW1, a man by the name of Charles Godefroy successfully flew his biplane under the arch". I stared in awe imaging a plane going through this arch.

The rest of the group was not as intriguied as me. They saw it as big stone slab and did not care for its historical significance whatsoever. Everyone had wandered off, so I decided it was time to leave. I gathered everyone and we walked back thorough the streets of Paris together. It took us longer to get back as we stopped to eat at Burger King. We continued on our journey back to the hotel and arrived back at it around 5:30. Everyone was exhausted, so I proceeded to turn off the lights and announce "Tomorrows the last day, let's make it a good one. Rest up boys."

Metiers Art Museum (Day 11) (Historical)

Mornings in France were getting very repetitive. We awoke to Connor's daily saying of, "RISE AND SHINE BOY'S!" We all woke up and began to do our daily routine for the morning. We all took showers and got cleaned up, brushed our teeth and got dressed. By the time we were all ready to go down to the lobby and get breakfast, it was 10 AM, and breakfast was going to be over soon. We all raced down to the lobby, but as we entered the elevator, Ethan exclaimed, "crap, I forgot my phone in the room. Imma go and get that." When Ethan left the elevator, we decided to go start breakfast without him, so we went down to the lobby. We all ate our breakfast, which was eggs and sausage, and we discussed the plan for the day. "So what's on the agenda for today?" asked Gene. Connor stood up very quickly and said in a loud voice, "well boy's, we are going to the Metiers Art Museum, to learn about some arts and technology." Immediately after Connor said that, Will let out a very loud groan, and exclaimed, "bruh, we'e gone to so many museums already. I could write an entire travel itinerary all about France." Ethan was walking around the corner, with his phone in his hand, and said, "Will do you even know what an itinerary is?" After Ethan said that it went quiet, so Connor broke the silence and said, "well, Alain gets here at 1:00, and it's 12:00, so we better get ready, because we are going to the museum, and Alain is coming with us. When Connor mentioned that Alain was coming, everyone perked up, and we went to our room to get ready.
Alain pulled up to the hotel at 1:00, and we all got in. "Wassup Alain," I exclaimed, and we all got situated in his car, and we were off. The drive was about 25 minutes, so Alain gave the aux cord to Ethan for a change, and we actually listened to some good music for a change, versus Will and Connor's. While we were on the way, Connor gave us some facts on the museum. "The museum was founded in 1794 by Henri Gregoire, and it's a museum of technological innovation and invention. The museum was refurbished in 2000, and now has over 2400 inventions from different periods of time. We didn't get the tour, because we're cheap like that, so we're just gonna explore the museum." While Connor was giving us facts, Alain interrupted him and said, "the inventions are also split into seven different categories that are scientific instruments, materials, energy, mechanics, construction, communication and transport. It's a pretty cool concept, but I've never been, and I thought it would be cool to go with some friends." Alain was becoming a really good friend, but it was a shame that we were going home soon.
We arrived at the museum, found a parking spot and walked to the main entrance. The main entrance was a open plaza that looked like a medieval style, with blue shackled roof's, and castle type architecture. There was also a little green field that people were having picnics and hanging out on. We walked inside, and saw an old, famous flying machine. It was very large, and had a big wingspan, and propellers. We walked down the hall a little more, and Alain pointed out a old car that looked more like a chariot. "This is a very old car, and it looks like a chariot, but it's actually a working car," exclaimed Alain. Connor and Alain were basically tour guides and they both knew a lot about the museum. Down the hall, in a large room, there were planes that were hung to the ceiling, and some trains on the wall. They were pretty cool, and we spent some time looking at them, and taking pictures. Gene took a picture of it, and said, "these planes look pretty cool, but not as cool as my collection of supreme stickers." We all shook our heads, and didn't talk to Gene for 15 minutes. We also saw a mini Statue of Liberty, and some old bicycles. There were also lots of gizmos, gears and gadgets that we didn't know about. There were also lots of old inventions from the Industrial Revolution and other periods of history.

When we were finished looking through the museums various amazing exhibits, it was 5:30, and we were all hungry. We decided we wanted some actual French food, so Alain hooked us up. We explained that it was one of our last days in Paris, so he wanted to celebrate our friendship, so he called his mom and she said she was gonna cook up a real French meal. We drove to Alain's house, and arrived at 6:15. Alain's house was about 20 minutes away from the hotel. We walked inside, and got a whiff of the various smells of French foods. We all sat down at the dining table and Alain's mom brought what looked like the first Thanksgiving feast. There was so much food, and it all looked very good. The best part was that it was all native to France, and it smelled delicious.
She brought out baguettes, baguette sandwiches, soupe a l'mignon gratinee (onion soup), croque-monsieur (ham and cheese sandwich), quiche au salmon et crevettes (salmon and shrimp quiche) and mousse au chocolat (chocolate mousse). Each food was popular in France as traditional food. We tried all the different foods, and they were all delicious. We had the mousse for dessert, and it tasted like chocolate ice cream. We took about 45 minutes to eat, and talk about our lives, and what it's like to live in France versus living in America. At 7:15, we left the house, and said goodbye to Alain's mom, because we probably weren't going to see her again. Alain drove us back to the hotel, and we got there at 8. We said goodbye to Alain, and went up to our hotel room. Will crashed, and went to bed immediately, and Ethan and Gene went and laid down in bed. Connor went to the bathroom, and I went to go and lay down, but I slowly fell asleep pretty easily, thinking about how the rest of the trip was going to go.

Place Charles de Gaulle (Day 10) (Historical)

I slept really badly after the day at the science museum. I'm not so sure why, but I couldn't stay asleep. I even went out to the balcony to look at the city and get some fresh air. It didn't help much. I finally fell asleep after a while but before I knew it, Connor was yelling at us. "RISE AND SHINE BOYS!" he screeched. Everyone was up and moving fast. I got up, but my head felt like death. Our normal routine was now taking place. We were all showered and dressed within 25 minutes. Our final day in France was near, and we wanted to make the last couple days more enjoyable than ever. Breakfast was the same as usual. Hotel biscuits, eggs, sausages and pancakes. By now it was about 10:15 a.m., meaning that it was almost time to leave. Alain was supposed to be here at 10:30, so we had to hurry and eat. We finished as soon as Alain showed up. "Perfect timing!" Evan exclaimed. We piled into the van and we were on our way.
 "Wait... Where are we even going today?" Will asked. "The Place Charles de Gaulle." Connor said, matter-of-factly. He continued, "The original name for the Place was Butte Chaillot, and it was a point of converge for a series of hunting trails. The roads and structures surrounding the Place were completed in 1777, and the hunting trail conversion was now becoming a monument. It was finally finished in the second empire of Napoleon III during Haussmann's Renovation of Paris." "That's cool." Evan said.
The Arc de Triomphe was the main part of the Place Charles de Gaulle, and it was also the place where Alain was dropping us off. We were there within minutes. "See you all later!" yelled Alain as he pulled away. We waved and began to walk toward the Arc. It was even bigger than I had pictured. "It is exactly 162 feet tall." Connor said. A tour guide approached us. "Hello!" he said. "Hi." I said back. We asked him a couple questions about the Arc. He told us that the art inside the base of the monument was created in 2007. It depicts the symbolic meaning of the place. We checked out the inside. It was an interesting place. Many other tourists from around the world were here, speaking in languages that I had never even heard of.
After visiting the monument, we walked down the various streets surrounding the Place. The street that we were on was called the Avenue de Fredland. It was lined with different stores and restaurants. We looked around the stores that lined the streets. We first visited a jewelry store. Will proceeded to pick out the most expensive watch and put it on his wrist. He waved his wrist around, pretending to be a wealthy person. The watch then flew off of his arm and onto the floor. Without checking the condition of the watch, we briskly exited the store while someone yelled at us in French.
The next store we visited was a gift shop for tourists. It was much more of our style. There were French flags on t-shirts and sweatshirts all around the store. We stayed there for a while, but Will began to complain about how hungry he was, so we got some McDonalds. After eating a cheap meal, we decided to go back to the hotel for the night. Everyone was tired, and we were just going to watch a movie and hang out. We called Alain and he was at McDonalds within 10 minutes. He told us about his day while we drove back to the hotel
We arrived quickly. Will was asleep in the car, so we woke him up and dragged him out of the van. Everyone was in bed and watching T.V. before I knew it. I fell asleep fast.

Paris Science Museum (Day 9) (Technology)

Like every other day, I woke up to Connor's trademark screech: "RISE AND SHINE BOYS!" We were all showered and dressed within 25 minutes. We had kind of developed a system to save time in the morning. A four-minute shower, 30 second teeth brushing and 30 seconds to get dressed. We were almost part human, part machine.
"What's the details on the next location?" I asked. Connor was already on it. "The Paris Science Museum. It's the biggest science museum in Europe, located in the Parc de la Villette. It was opened on March 13, 1986 and is home to five different floors of scientific exhibits." He said. This sounded like fun. We took the elevator down to breakfast and ate some good hotel food, then we called Alain to come pick us up in the van.
He got to our hotel pretty fast. "What's up guys!" he said enthusiastically as we approached the van. We all said hello and talked on the way to the museum. I was pretty tired so I slept most of the way there. We eventually arrived at the museum and we all got out of the van. "Do you want to come with us?" Evan asked. "I can not today. I have people to drive." said Alain. He pulled off and we approached the entrance of the museum. We had paid online, so we flashed our passes to the receptionist and walked inside.
I was already amazed as soon as we passed through the doors. There was an open space full of floating stars and places to sit. It seemed to be something like a really fancy common area. There were places telling us where to go and what was in those areas. It was a really cool place, with many exhibits and many people exploring the museum.

The first place we went to was the restroom, because Evan insisted that he really needed to go. After our bathroom break, we visited the areas full of technology and manufacturing. The first technology area we visited was very bright and had many touchscreens that we could interact with, to learn about the technological advancements in the display. The area was called the "Tara Data" and it taught us a lot about new technological advancements. The whole Tara Data exhibit was based around the way that technology has impacted our lives and how data is processed. It was fascinating to learn about the technological advancements that this museum had information about.
Next, we were going to visit the random architectural projects. We weren't sure what they were supposed to be, but they looked interesting. On the way there, we saw a model of a helicopter that was high above our heads. It probably represented the technology aspect of the museum. Will then proceeded to try to climb up the stairs to the second floor and get in the helicopter. We dragged him away before anything could escalate further.
Eventually, we reached the architectural exhibit and saw the weird looking pieces of art/technology that we didn't really understand, but we appreciated them anyways. It was a large orange-lined building with what looked like a toll booth in the front. It looked like a scale model for what looked to be a mansion of some sort. It was a really cool exhibit, but we quickly lost interest. Our next stop was the big chrome ball outside. As we were walking toward the outside area, a woman stopped us. She only spoke French, but it sounded like she was saying someone's name. As she was talking, a small boy yelled from the helicopter. The woman screamed and ran up the stairs toward the child.
Soon, we reached the big chrome ball. We didn't really know what it was, but it looked really cool.We soon learned that this big chrome ball was named "La Geode", and it features an area inside that shows movies in IMAX format. The screen covers 1,000 square meters and the inside of the ball features a surround sound. The shows usually consist of nature and science documentaries. We took pictures inside and outside. It was the best exhibit we had seen this whole day.

After seeing the chrome ball, we visited some other, smaller exhibits, but eventually it was time to go home. We walked from the outside exhibit, through the main common area, and out the front entrance. The receptionist said something to us in French and waved. I waved back. Alain was outside waiting for us. "Hello guys!" he said. We piled into the van and were on our way. Shortly, we reached the hotel and unloaded from the van. We ate some hotel dinner and went up to our room. I fell asleep pretty fast, dreaming about the adventures ahead.

Bois de Boulogne (Day 8) (Environmental)

It was already day eight in France, and I could tell that things were starting to get a little tense between Connor and Will. I was awoken at 8:30 by Connor's famous call, "RISE AND SHINE BOYS," and everyone, frustratingly, got up. We could all tell that everyone was a bit angry, but Will was infuriated. "Connor do you ever shut-up, geez we are going to get kicked out because of your idiocy," yelled out Will. Connor fired back by exclaiming, "Will I know you miss your pet snake at home, but Stewie is taking care of it, and we are in France, so be quiet." Ethan then stepped up to stop the argument and then we all left it at that, and went to get ready for the day. We all took shower's, grabbed our phones and shoes, and by 9:30, we all walked down to the lobby to eat our breakfast.
We all got in line for breakfast, and everyone pretty much got the same thing. We all got pancakes, topped with syrup and whipped cream with fruit on top, fruit and some greasy, sizzling bacon. We all sat down and ate our delicious breakfast and decided on what we were going to do for the day. Connor, with a mouthful of pancake and fruit exclaimed excitingly, "we need to go to the Bois de Boulogne," but it sounded like a-lot of gibberish because of his food in his mouth. No one understood him, so we all asked him to repeat himself, but all he said was, "hehe clampies, no one understood me so it's a surprise." Gene let out a load groan, because Connor's surprises are usually terrible and involve his 19th century Irish music about the hardship and struggle of the Potato Famine. We all finished our breakfast at 10:45, and our uber arrived at 11, so we went outside and waited. The uber pulled up, and we all got in.
Our uber driver was Alain again because not many people were uber drivers, but he had an aux cord, so Will tried to plug in, but Connor, with a quick swipe, took the aux and plugged it in his phone. He started playing his weird music that he called a "banger," but we all considered "hot garbage." The ride was only about 15 minutes, so we only had to listen to his music for a little bit. Some of Connor's songs were good, and we actually knew them because they were from the same century as all of us, but other songs we did not know, and were from the 18th to 19th centuries. We drove through the crowded streets in Paris, taking in the everyday life of people. The air smelled of fresh baked bread and spices, and the streets were filled with friendly people.

We arrived at a very vast, luscious green park, filled with wildlife and people. Alain dropped us off and quickly sped off. Connor exclaimed excitedly, "we're here boy's, and the best part about it is that it's free!" Normally no one paid attention to Connor when he went on a rant, but when he mentioned that it was free, he got everyones attention. "Wow I would've never guessed that a park was free," remarked Ethan, and Connor went up to Ethan and slapped him. We walked up to a little booth/desk and rung a bell, and the operator turned around and said, "how can I help you?" Connor wanted to know more about the place so he asked, "whats up with the park, and whats its history and significance." The operator shot him a concerned look and said with a higher pitched voice, "oh well this park used to be the royal hunting grounds for the kings of France. It is now the largest spot for relaxing in West Paris." "Oh! and it also has 28 kilometers of walking routes, and 15 kilometers of biking routes." Connor and Gene looked super excited about the park, and Will and Ethan looked confused. I was very excited to explore the park, and finally do something relaxing. We were given a pamphlet with a map and directions to navigate the park. The park was huge, and had lots of playgrounds, picnic areas, bike and boat rentals, racecourses, restaurants, and a theater. We told the uber driver to come and get us at 7 PM, so we had lots of time to hang out in the park before going back to the hotel.

It was 12:30 by the time we finished up our talk with the operator, and got our pamphlets, and we were ready to go. Our first stop was the restroom, because Will and Ethan had to use it very bad. It took 45 minutes of walking around the park, getting lost and looking around to find the bathroom. We eventually found it, and at 1:20 by the time we finished up at the bathroom, and after that, we could finally go do what we wanted to. Connor found a bike rental, and rented everyone bikes for the day from 1:30 to 4, so we got our bikes and rode around for a while. We rode around the park, taking in the vast green forest and observing others and what the local French people did for their day in the park. We also found a boat rental booth for later when we returned our bikes. After riding around the park, and seeing where all the playgrounds and picnic areas were, we decided we were going to do a bike race. It was 3:45 and we were back at the bathrooms, so we were racing to the boat rental booth and back to the bike rental booth. Gene counted down from three, and screamed, "GO," and we all started to pedal our bikes. We were all vigorously pedaling, and switching gears, and it was a very close race. However, Ethan's bike chain came off, causing him to stop, and start walking back to the bike return. Me and Gene's pedals got jammed, so we just stopped and started to walk back to the bike return, but Connor and Will were still racing. They were both very determined to win the race, so Connor got next to Will, and kicked his front tire, causing Will to crash. Connor ended up winning the race, but Will ended up with scraped arms and knees. Will yelled out, "what the heck are you doing Connor why the heck did you do that!" and Connor exclaimed, "haha I won and you lost mate." Will was angry at first, but then thought about it, and thought it was funny, and we all returned our bikes, and went to the boat rental.

We rented three boats, and me and Ethan got into one, and Gene and Will also got into one. Connor wanted to go solo, so we let him, because if we had a race, he would lose. We rented boats until 5:45, and we rowed around in the lake for a while, and ended up getting bored because all we had to look at were the same attractions we'd been looking at all day. Will and Gene decided it was a good idea to splash Connor with water, so Connor got out of his boat, and flipped Gene and Will. Luckily our phones were all in the booth, in case something like this were to happen. The booth operator saw what we were doing, and threatened to call the cops, so we had to dock our boats, grab our belongings, and leave. We didn't get a refund either. Everyone was staring at us, and giving us bad looks, so we started to walk faster, and Ethan called the uber, and had him come a little earlier.
The uber arrived at 6, so we rode back to the hotel, and on the way home we bought McDonalds, and we also bought some for our driver. He dropped us off around 6:30, and we walked up to our room with our food. Will, Gene and Connor were wet, so they each took showers, and me and Ethan ate our McDonalds. When they finished taking their showers, it was 7, so me and Etha
n took showers, and when we both finished our showers, everyone was finished with their food. We all got into our beds at 7:30, and decided to call it a day early. We all managed to fall asleep pretty early so we had plenty of rest for the next day.

The Parc des Princes (Day 7) (Sports)

After the eventful day at the aquarium, I slept like a rock. I could tell everyone else did too, because even Connor slept in later than he normally does. It wasn't late enough though, because I was jerked awake by his famous call. "RISE AND SHINE BOYS!" shouted Connor. "Connor, we've already gotten a noise complaint from yesterday, and if we get another one then we might get kicked out." Evan said, clearly annoyed. The look on Connor's face told everyone that he didn't care if we got kicked out or not. Everyone slowly began to get up and prepare for the day. "Where are we even going today?" asked Will. "The Parc des Princes, where the French National Soccer Team plays." Connor said matter-of-factly. Everyone eventually showered and got dressed, finally ready to go down to breakfast.
During breakfast, we called our usual Uber driver and finished our food. He arrived, and we were piled into the van. Next stop: The Parc des Princes. It was only about 5 miles from our hotel, so it wasn't a long drive. We took pictures of the scenery on the way there. In a couple minutes, we arrived at the magnificent stadium. Our Uber driver couldn't speak amazing english, but he could tell us all about the stadium and it's history. "Dis place was hunting lodge for rich family before it was big stadium. It only had room for three-thousand people! Now it can sit fifty-thousand! De first match played here was wit French and Switzerland. French win! Many years later and dis stadium hosts world cup in 1938!" He said. "Wow. How do you know so much about this place?" Evan asked. "I love football and de history of dis place, but sadly, I have never got to go inside." He said. We all looked at each other, thinking the same thing. "Come with us!" Evan exclaimed. Our driver's was elated. We stepped out of the van and walked to the front entrance.
We weren't exactly supposed to be in the stadium at this time, so we had to sneak in. The place was completely empty, so it wasn't hard to sneak around.  We found a gap in the gate where someone had definitely had the same idea as we did. All of us could fit through the gap pretty easily, except for our driver who had a hard time with his protruding belly. With our help, he eventually got inside. We had gotten through the main gate, but we still weren't inside the stadium. After a little bit of walking, we found the entrance to the stadium seating. Shortly, all of us were inside. "It is amazing! Thank you all very much!" our Uber driver explained. I turned to him, "You're welcome... uhh..." "Alain." He said. "Well, you're welcome Alain." I repeated.

We spent the rest of the day walking around the huge grassy field and around the enormous stadium. We sat down in the black seats and viewed the green and blue field, pretending to be spectators of a World Cup game. I could tell that Alain was having a great time. He pretended to dribble the ball up and down the field like a professional would. I wished we could have found some soccer balls to use, but sadly there were none in sight.
After a while, it was finally time to leave. We crept out of the stadium from the same way that we came in. When we reached the car, Alain proposed that we go out to get some lunch (or dinner, because it was pretty late already). He took us out to his favorite restaurant, which also happened to be owned by his mother. It was called the "Bateau le Calife". She gave all of us free meals for our troubles. She only spoke fluent french, so Alain had to translate a bit. "She say thank you for showing me de stadium. It was always a dream of mine to see dat place." "We were happy to take him along!" Evan exclaimed.
We ate for a while, finished our food (which was amazing) and packed into the van to go back to the hotel. Alan said goodbye and thanked us again for taking him to the stadium. He said he'll see us tomorrow for another daily Uber ride. Finally, we reached our room and within minutes, we were all out like a light.