The Tour of Paris by Gianny, of Miami

After the meal, it was about time to hope on the 4pm tour.

I don't think I ever mentioned my free tour in Edinburgh (I apparently mentioned everything else, tho). There's this company, New Europe Tours, that provides free tours in various cities across Europe. The tours are offered in English, and are quite good. They work on a tip-only basis, and I think that really gets the guides more involved in the tour. They're walking tours, and have lasted about 3 hours each time. If you're worried about not getting exercise while you're in Europe, go on a walking tour. They take you all over, and don't really waste any time getting around. You gotta keep up. But, they're totally worth it. I've actually got a friend back in Edinburgh that got a job doing the Spanish tours. I don't remember if I mentioned it or not, so I'll give her another shout out. Congrats, Eva! (She's the one that had the internet problem back in Edinburgh)

My tour guide in Paris was Gianny. Gianny was in Paris from Miami. He had a lot of energy, and not only told great stories about the history of Paris, but had great insight on where to get the good (local) food as well as some cute stories.

Since the last couple episodes of Sex and the City took place in Paris, he of course pointed out several of the landmarks from the show.

"Carrie, you're the one."

Unfortunately, I felt like complete crap by this point, so I wasn't able to pay as much attention as I could have. I did really take a liking to Parisian architecture, tho. There are a lot of straight lines, as if in defiance to nature (a point I credit to Gianny). The parks were absolutely beautiful.


One of my favorite stories was of this enormous obelisk in the center of the city, right down the road from the Arc de Triumph. One interesting thing about Paris is that because of all of the straight lines, you get some amazing views of the city. That's why I called it the land of 1000 camera angles. Everywhere you turned was a picture waiting to be taken. But this obelisk had a neat story. Apparently, Napoleon saw it in Egypt, and liked it so much, he brought it back with him. My first impression was that it looked really out of place, and that would be why. But what's even more interesting is that it sits on the exact spot where the infamous guillotine stood.

It was a bit eerie to stand over the town center where so much (bloody) history happened. The roads go around in a circle around the obelisk. The reason, according to Gianny, was that the ground under the guillotine became so tainted with blood that horses would no longer walk straight through, but instead would walk around, forming a large circle. That circle still exists today.

There were some interesting stories about the Eifel Tower, like that it once was painted bright yellow. It was also painted, at one point, bright red. I'll spare you the history lesson, but there were several things about the tower I had never read on before. (No, unfortunately I didn't ever get up to the top of it.)

The tour took us winding through the city for over 3 hours, but it was well worth it. I was ill before, but after getting back to my room, I was in pretty bad shape. I went up to my room and read a book before falling asleep.