All 6 of us have now safely arrived in the hotel. Locke, Sid, Jimmy and a few members from one of the other JPC teams were able to spend 10 hours in Paris and visited the Notre Dame Cathedral, the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower and grab lunch at a cafe. Unfortunately, the internet at the hotel is not good enough to upload all of the pictures, but hopefully they will be up soon. When we got on the metro by the Eiffel tower to start our return to the airport, a man came on the loudspeaker to tell us(in French) that there was a fire on the tracks and that the train would not be going anywhere. Everyone on the train seemed to slowly wander off without asking many questions. It was a completely opposite reaction to what would be expected in America. Taxi drivers were also very reluctant to take passengers as several drivers sitting on the side of the street without any passengers refused to take us back to the Notre Dame metro. Eventually we made it back to Charles DeGaulle and got on the new A380 plane. If you haven't ever seen the A380 plane, check it out online. A380's are double-deck planes with over 80 rows and they can fit 525 people! Since the plane was fairly empty, many of us were able to get our own row to lay down and sleep on the overnight flight. After arriving at the airport, we were able to find a good deal on two rental cars and then left for the hotel. All of us were pretty exhausted and without showers for the past 2 days, so we stayed around the hotel for the day instead of venturing into the city. Our only journey outside of the hotel was for lunch where the only choices, KFC and McDonald's, were a big change from America. Crossing the road turned out to be quite an adventure. Since cars are on the opposite side of the road you must also look the opposite way when crossing. We didn't realize this at first, and nearly got hit by a car because we thought there were no cars coming when they were actually just coming from the other side. Our night consisted of discussing our approach to building the filter(we think we may make some slight modifications because of time and material constraints), watching re-runs of USA soccer games, discussing possible weekend trips in and around Kruger National Park, eating dinner in the hotel, and playing Texas Hold 'Em. We also found out that the Tottenham Hotspurs(English Team) are playing the Kaizer Chiefs(South African Team) in Polokwane on July 16. Clint Dempsey, an american soccer player, is one of Tottenham's best players and Polokwane is only about 2 hours from where we will be staying. The most expensive tickets only cost ~$11 so we are planning on making the day trip on that Saturday to see the game. Our rental cars will be available for pickup in about an hour so we are about to eat Breakfast and head back to the airport. Our last task in Johannesburg is to go to the local mall to get a USB modem for 3G internet and then we will begin our 6 hour trek from Johannesburg to Acacia Park. Tonight, there is supposed to be a group dinner in Acacia and then the next two days should be dedicated to Orientation. Professor Louis is expected to join us on Sunday, and then we will begin the real work on Monday(fingers crossed).
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