day 2 paris

22 may 2009
late start to the day, but hey... we're on vacation so it's all good. started off with a nice brekky filled with buttery goodness in the croissants, and then headed to gare de l'est to sort out train tickets to amsterdam. 2 things...
1. the customer service at the SNCF place kinda blew. dude who was helping us had a colleague come by and they exchange pleasantries ... wtf. for 20 secs or so while we waited
2. eurorail pass that we paid $1000 for does not include the lines to amsterdam. so we had to pay 54e extra each! i got angry and momentarily entertained the idea of punching someone. i did not.

then off to versailles! holy line ups. for tickets and to enter the chateau. only realised later that admission was only necessary for chateau... garden is free. had an awesome picnic by the ponds with pate, rillettes, cheese, bread, oranges, saucisse and individual bottles of merlot. after a short stop back at andree's the guys headed out to hit the eiffel tower and andree and i met up with them "at the base"... bad idea. forgot how stupid big it is, and how much busier it would be at this time of year.

we took the route along some bridge that leads to the tower and hit it at first twinkle :).

leaving, we took the metro, but were impatient ticket buyers so we jumped the turnstile or entered thru the exit. we committed our first crime in europe. some dude did the same before us, but into an exit only area so he had to run down an up escalator... idiot.

dinner was prix fixe, and we had to relocate ~5m to get all the menu choices due to some singer at the restaurant.

then we went to an irish pub and drank, made fun of some girl dancing, and proceeded to grill each other with personal questions.

other:
- me, "sian... girls name. wales"
pak and andree, "what, why after a whale?"
- house league vs triple AAA (editor note 2010: this has something to do with girls - ask pak)