Paris I

Karen and I are in Paris! We are still overcoming the jet lag, which basically kept us from doing anything fun yesterday (Thursday) because we were so dead tired. I'm also sick (just now getting over it), so that didn't help things. Last night, I slept fifteen hours straight!

Today, Lee, Karen, and I spent the entire day walking around the city. We figured out that we walked a total of about nine hours, from our hostel in the 11th arrondissement to the Louvre to the Arc de Triomphe to the Eiffel Tower... and then we took the metro (subway) back because our feet weren't too happy with us. :(

I had heard plenty of times that the Louvre is unbelievably enormous, but it's hard to comprehend until you actually see it. We saw the Mona Lisa (not all that amazing) and the Venus de Milo, as well as Napoleon III's apartments, which, of course, were opulent beyond belief and made me wonder--as I did in the U.K. a few years ago--how people like Napoleon could justify living that way.

Then, we walked to the Arc de Triomphe, which was astoundingly huge as well, but we didn't spend much time looking at it. Then, to the Eiffel Tower, which totally lives up to all the hype. We're going to go back tomorrow to climb the stairs to the 2nd story, so we can see the view of the city from there.

I had so many opportunities to speak French today! It was awesome. Although, two French guys walked by us and asked us for the time, but I just sputtered and said "uh, uh." Then they figured out that we're not fluent French speakers and walked on. I felt so stupid, because all I should have said was a simple "Je ne parle pas francais, desole." Ugh. BUT... I've ordered food in French a few times and asked where the bathrooms were--"Ou sont les toilettes"--so I guess that counts for something. I feel so dumb whipping out my handy dandy Rick Steves phrase book every time I need to ask someone something. It positively screams "tourist." But, I am a tourist, so I guess I should be fine with it. :)

Tomorrow, we head to Versailles for the day. It's about a half-hour outside the city of Paris. I've looked forward to this particular sight for a long time. More about that after we've seen it.

Oh, the food. Let me just say that it's divine. Karen, Lee, and I just had crepes from a roadside stand... mouthwatering and surprisingly filling. I had a banana and nutella crepe as well as a chicken, tomato, and egg crepe. Mmm mmm good! But, we're realizing that we can't eat out for every meal if we want to have money for the latter half of the trip, so we stopped by a market to buy fresh fruit and other stuff.

In two days, Karen and I will say goodbye to Lee and embark on the rest of the journey all by our wittle selves. :) We have a lot of train schedules to coordinate, but I think we'll be okay if we stay on top of it.

It costs a lot of money for internet time, so I can't promise another update very soon, especially since we'll no longer be in a big city in a few days.

Au revoir for now!