Arch of Triumph and Eiffel Tower experience

Well we got off to an earlier start than we usually did today with an 8am wake up call. I was very tired because we saw Fast Five last night in english (with french subtitles) at 10pm, which was amazing! I haven't seen the first four, but I have to now. The movie took place in Rio which is known for its corrupt politics and police force. This pertains to the Olympics because the IOC should be concerned about bribery and fraud with Rio hosting the next summer Olympic games in 2016.

Then we went to the Arch of Triumph where there was a memorial for tomb of the unknown french soldier. The United States' is better in my opinion...

Then we went to the Eiffel Tower. I was fascinated by the 110 year old structure that was only meant to be a temporary building for the 1900 exposition. However the French people didn't want to tear it down.

Immediately when we arrived off a bunch of street vendors bombarded us with offers to buy mini Eiffel tower toys. A few of them asked me multiple times if I wanted to buy the small toys from them. I respectfully declined the first few times. But then they began to irritate me because I was just trying to enjoy the view of the real Eiffel Tower not the fake ones in their hands. After declining to buy something from this same guy for a third time, this one particular vendor had quite a rude comment to me all because I told him I wasn't going to buy anything from him.

After setting record time (approx. 18 min) seeing the Arch of Triumph and the Eiffel Tower we took the metro to the French Open where a few members of the gang watched some tennis for about 6 hours. One person even turned into a lobster with his sunburn. We walked all the way around the stadium and saw through some of the trees a few practice matches that were going on. A few of the taller members in the group were able to take some pictures over the 7 or 8 foot fence. (needless to say, I didn't take any pics...)

Off to Switzerland tomorrow. Not too excited about the 3.5 hour train at 7am. Hope to get some sleep tonight and tomorrow on the train.