Editor’s Note: The Mississippi State women’s basketball team is wrapping up a trip to Belgium and France. Today’s blog is by senior Martha Alwal. The senior center talks about the team’s final day in Paris.
Bonjour everyone. This is Martha Alwal again. It has definitely been a busy day. It was nice to have the opportunity to explore the city, but it was even better after winning against a very tough team on Friday.
I really enjoyed our time in Belgium, but Paris was the part of the trip I was looking forward to the most.
Today we woke up and ate some breakfast before going on a bus tour of the city. Our tour guide was this little lady who was so funny and knew so much about Paris. We drove all over the city and she told us about the history of Paris and all of the former kings. I never realized the city had so many palaces. It was a unique experience seeing places like the Louvre, Notre Dame, and Moulin Rouge.
My favorite part of the trip was stopping and taking pictures at the Eiffel Tower. I have always seen pictures and wanted to see it in person, and it was amazing. We took a team picture in front of it, and the team also did one of us jumping in front of it. I think it is something that could be on a postcard.
The picture I really loved, though, was one of me on Chinwe’s back in front of the Eiffel Tower.
In the afternoon, we did another tour of Paris, this time without a bus. Our tour hosts, Julie and Annie, set up The Amazing Race for us to do around Paris. That was so much fun. It might be my favorite part of the trip. We broke into five teams, and I had coach Schaefer, Chinwe and Sherise (Williams) on my team. We also had Julie come with us.
We rode bikes around Paris for part of the race, and that was exciting. At one point, Chinwe was kind of wobbly on the bike and she ran into a parked bus. The bus driver started honking at her, and it was pretty funny. I’m still cracking up thinking about that.
Our first stop on the race was the Louvre, where we had to take a picture in front of the famous glass pyramid. After that, there was a bonus stop. It was a bridge where you take a lock, write a message on it, and lock it to the bridge. There are so many locks on that bridge. It’s really neat.
After that, we had to go to Notre Dame, which is a really beautiful and famous cathedral. Then we had to go to the Eiffel Tower and take a picture looking up from the bottom. You don’t really realize just how tall it is until you’re there.
We left the Eiffel Tower and went up this area (Trocadero steps) where you can really get a good picture of the tower.
Our last stop was the Arc de Triomphe, which we stopped at Friday, and then it was back to the hotel. I was so glad to get back to the hotel because we did a lot of running.
We didn’t win, but everybody thought we cheated because we had Julie, who spoke French, with us. Coach (Elena) Lovato’s team, which had Morgan (William), Blair (Schaefer), and YaYa (Smith) on it, won.
Our last night in Paris was amazing. We took a boat tour on the river and got to see all of the great places in Paris. We rode the 9 p.m. boat, so going we had a full moon in the sky above the city, and coming back was amazing because we got to see the Eiffel Tower lit up.
The Eiffel Tower at night is absolutely beautiful. Right as we were in front of it, all these white lights starting going up and down the tower. That was really cool.
It’s so cool to think we toured Paris in a bus, on foot, and in a boat in the same day. Julie and Annie are so nice and a lot of fun. They brought sausage, cheeses, and bread for us to eat on the boat.
It has been a really great trip. I’m sad to leave Paris, but I am excited to see the other places. We have grown so much as a team, and I have learned my teammates are really funny. Tonight on the boat, they were dancing and getting all of the coaches and other people in our group dancing.
I have had some new experiences on this trip. I even found a new food I really like. Okay, it’s really a dessert. The first night in Belgium I tried tiramisu, and I can’t believe I have been missing out on that because it was so good.
Anyway, it’s off to bed. We leave Paris (today) and head to Lyon, but we aren’t leaving until the afternoon, so we have time to explore the city a little more.
Hope everyone back home is doing great. I look forward to talking to you again soon.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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