Chapter 33:
Paris
"Ness, just relax" Jake told me as he began driving again. "We're ahead of them by a lot and . . . maybe they'll get lost" he said in a pitiful attempt to comfort me.
"My parents . . ." I said as I broke out into laughs. "Get lost . . . when pigs fly" I said, vibrating in my seat.
"Well, it could happen" he said but that just made me laugh harder.
"Just drive Jake" I said in my laughs.
The next few days passed by in a blur. We always took airplanes when possible, took keep ahead of them. Our first stop was Adelaide.
In the morning we stopped at the Adelaide Zoo, the Botanic Gardens and the South Australian Museum. We had lunch at the Mounty lofty lookout. It had an amazing view as we ate. We spent the rest of the day at the Adelaide Central Market (It was Jake's dream, tons of food) The Gorde Wildlife Park where they actually let me hold a koala and we finally topped it off with a visit to Kangaroo island.
We took a plane to Melbourne, arriving at about 11pm. We slept at the hotel located a couple miles west of the airport. That day, we spent scurrying around like crazy. We visited the
1. Central Deborah Bendigo Mine
2. Eureka Sky deck
3. Fly Tree Top Walk
4. Open range Zoo
5. Werribe Mansion
6. Philip Island Nature Park
That night, we took a plane to Tasmania, sleeping long and hard when we were finally there. That day was more of a walking one. IN the morning, we visited the Port Arthur Historic Site and the Tahune Air walk. After lunch, we walked in cradle Mountain National Park and visited Cataract Gorge.
The next day was Canberra, the capitol of Australia. The city was alive all the time, celebrating the International Music Festival. In the morning, we visited the government area and the Canberra Deep Space Communications complex. We had a picnic in Casurina sand along the river Murrumbidge. Finally, on the afternoon, we visited the Canberra Natural Park and Gibraltar falls.
Our final day was in Sydney. We visited a lot the day too. We went to:
1. Darling Harbor
2. The Rocks - It's Sydney's oldest part of the city featuring early colonial architecture, historic pubs, and archaeological dig sites
3. Chinatown
4. Sydney Harbor
5. Sydney Opera House
6. Bondi Beach
7. St James Church
8. St. Mary's Cathedral
9. Sydney tower.
Overall, it was amazing. The only weird part was that Jake seemed to get . . . anxious I guess, as the day progressed.
"Hey, you okay?" I asked as we walked toward the terminal.
"Yeah, I'm fine" he said as he walked.
"Can I know where we're going?" I asked but he shook his head, a smile on his lips. "Come on! Please" I begged as I slowly slipped my hand in his pocket.
"Nice try" he said as he grabbed the tickets from his other pocket.
I frowned at him stomping off. The down side was that I stomped in a puddle, spray myself with water. He chuckled, walking up to me and snaking his arms around my waist.
"Just relax, I'm sure you'll love it" he whispered in my ear as we headed into terminal 4.
I sat down, my eyes darting to the screens, the wall, everything, and anything to give me a clue.
"Just relax" Jake said again, making me jump.
"Easy for you to say, you know where we're going" I mumbled.
He knew I hated surprises. Just like my mom.
"We are now boarding all people in wheelchairs, expecting moms, passengers with children under 2 years and all first class passengers for flight 921 to Paris, France" the attendant called.
"What!" I squeaked as Jake got up, offering me his hand. "Oh. My. GOSH!" I squealed as I threw myself on him.
"See, I told you, you would like it" he said as he kissed me.
"Thank you" I said full of love as we boarded the plane.
We got into our seats but Jake kept my on his lap, my head resting on his chest. The flight was long 20 hours with no connection. Near the end, I brought up a subject that I knew we had both been thinking about.
"Jake . . . what are we going to do . . . after—"
"Paris?" he asked and I nodded. "Well, we'll only be there a day so . . ." he trailed off.
"Well . . . I've been thinking . . ." I said uncertainly
"That we should go home?" he ended and I nodded, burying my face in his broad shoulder.
He stroked my hair soothingly.
"Its okay, Ness, I understand" he whispered in my ear.
"I just think" I began, my voice muffled by his shirt "That we've been gone for a while now and he's probably cooled off, thought things through, actually listened to everyone else and . . . I think we should give it a shot?" It sounded a question.
"Ness" he said with a laugh. "I love you and I will always do whatever I must for you" he said as he laid his cheek on my head. "After Paris, I'll arrange a flight for London, okay?" He said and I nodded, relaxing into his embrace.
A few hours later, the attendant came on the speaker.
"Good morning passengers! We shall be arriving in Paris shortly. The local time is 7:45 am and it's about 25 degrees outside" she announced as the plane began descending and finally, touched the ground.
"Welcome to Paris! We hope you have a great day and we would like to thank you for flying with us today. We at Koala Airlines hope to see you again on another one of our flights soon" she said as the doors slid open, letting us out.
We took a cab to our hotel; Hotel Royal Saint Honoré Paris. We dropped off our bags in our rooms and headed out. Today we really had a lot to see. We toured:
1. Hôtel des Invalides
Garnier
3. Palais de Challiot
4. Palias de Justice
5. Pantheon
6. Sainte Louis Des invalides
7. La Madeleine
8. Notre Dame
9. Latin Quarter
10. Arc de Triomphe
11. Champs Elysées
12. The Louvre
The Louvre was absolutely jaw dropping. It was huge! It has about 380,000 pieces of art in its collection, though only 35,000 are shown to the public. 35,000! It takes 5 weeks to tour the whole museum and actually appreciated the art. We only saw a miniscule part of it and the Mona Lisa.
We had to walk 3 miles inside the museum to get to the Mona Lisa! 3 MILES! By the time we got back to the hotel, our legs were cramped and we were sweating like crazy. We each took a shower, marveling at the cool water on our overheated skin.
I slipped on a midnight purple cocktail dress, complimenting it with silver heels. Jake was taking me out to dinner . . . in Paris . . . so I assume you have to go elegant. I added the necklace and earrings Rosalie gave me and finished it off with a touch of makeup.
I made my hair, holding it together with a diamond wolf clip (a gift from Jake) and then walked out. We both gasped when we saw each other. Jake looked so incredibly hot in his formfitting tux, a bouquet in his hand.
"You look amazing" he said as he handed me the flowers.
"Thank you" I smiled as I reached up and kissed him lovingly.
When I pulled away, the moment was ruined by my sudden laughter.
"What?" Jake asked, confused.
"When you kissed me . . . you got lipstick all over your lips" I laughed.
His face turned crimson red as he ran towards the bathroom. He came out, seconds later, his face clean. He linked his arm in mine and we walked outside. We walked towards the direction of the Eiffel tower, enjoying the evening breeze.
When we turned the corner and the tower came into view, I gasped, staring up in awe.
A/N
Hey Guys! I know, It's late and it's a tad bit short. I'm sorry. I wrote everything on my dads laptop because my computer was malfunctioning and then my dad went ona buisness trip OUT OF THE COUNTRY! I didn't have any of my files, at all or internet. Anyway, what did you think? This story is pretty much wrapping up now. I have a nice plan for Paris though . . . I know I shortened up all the rest of the Australian cities but I didn't want it to get too long and start going off topic so . . . I shortened it up a bit. So . . . who's seen eclipse? I saw it and thought it was amazing! They stuck to the book a lot ans that made me happy. They even got the good parts, like talking in the campsite while Bella sleeps and graduation and . . . everything! I loved it. Well, I hope to have more steady update now, you know, with summer and all.
Happy 4th of July! (for those who celebrate it)
Luv Ya!
JMFanficQueen