World Wanderings

I've been in Paris two days now, and have been thouroughly impressed by it all. Paris is what I expected from a large european city. Absolutely packed to the brim with history, beatiful architecture, and culture (that is significantly different from my own. Part of this is due to the different language, which hasn't been a problem at all so far, despite my very very meager supply of French phrases. If I'm not trying to comminicate, then I just tune it out. If I am, then either I can use a bit of English which most understand pieces of, or it becomes a game of charades.

Fun story. I forgot my contact case (again), so I needed to buy a new one yet again. I walks into a pharmacy, which you would expect to have one and I ran into this problem before, but they didn't have one. The clerk spoke a little English, so could ask outright. So, luckily, there was a lenscrafters type shop right across the street. I walk in, no one speaks english. So it turns into a game of charades. Needless to say, she got it the first try and within seconds I had a new contact case.

Victory.

But yes, I'll to back to Dublin. After being dropped off at the airport at 1:30 I'm the morning, somehow I managed to stay awake the entire time, checking in at 4:30 and boarding at 6. It was quite the night. I also managed to get almost no sleep on the plane. Part of that was the fact that I love to look out the window at scenery. It was pretty neat to fly over England, because from where the plane was, you could pretty much see from one side to the other. We flew over all of it in 20 minutes, turning at London for Paris. The best part was when we landed, in one of the 'paris' airports, there was nothing around. No city, just lots of grass and fields. I find out I needed to take a hour and a half bus rise into paris from where I landed. It's funny that the unexpected bus ride took more time than the flight.

While frazzled upon arrival, I soon settled into this new city, and with a place secured I could explore. Explore I did, as there seems to be something new around every corner here. It's exciting and all so new. Paris is packed with more history than I could ever take in, in the short time I'm here. There are picturesq small cobblestone streets, lined on both sides witharkets and small shops. The riverside is filled with monuments, people relaxing, and wondering musicians. It all is a bit surreal.

My first stop was Notre-Dame. I'm a big fan of cathedrals, and this did not disapoint. The cool, dim interior was pierced by brillant rays of color, emminating from the many stained glass windows. The most impressive and breathtaking of them all was the two rose windows. On top of that there was chiral music emminating from carefully concealed speakers. I think I could have sat there all day.

I've done a lot of climbing over the past few days. I've conquered the stairs of Notre-Dame, the Arc de Triomphe, and the Eiffle Tower (I had to take an elevator up to the top from the second floor. Each offered an amazing view over all of Paris. I spent my evening on the Eiffle tower, watching the sun set and the city lights slowly come on. It was a fitting end to a long day of tours, museum and site seeing.

I will take a day to head to Versaille, before spending one last day in Paris (I still have to see the Louvre). Then I'm off to Mardrid.

Things I've noticed:
I had a difficult tieme getting used to the cars being on the oft side of the road. All of a sudden in Paris, it all seemed to be working just fine, until I noticed that was because they have it right and drive on the right side of the road. Oh well, I still have lots of time to get used to traffic coming from the wrong direction elsewhere.

I think I've come to a realizarion why everyone in England was at the bars after 6pm. It didn't take long to notice that nothing else is open after that time. I was really surprised by this, thinking that a city that was this big would have stores open all the time. The closing time of stores seemed to get later the further I get away from England. Now in Paris it's very similar to NYC, there are tons of places open late into the night. I was tempted to stop into a restaurant at midnight even.

I think there are always tons of Asians traveling (and they all have digital slrs and tripods). But I've come to the realization that this is only because they are easy to pick out of a crowd of caucasions. It can be really hard to tell if someone is from France or not untill I can hear them speak.

I think the French youth can be just as loud and roudy as us loud Americans. There are definately quite nations from what I've experinced (as well as those loud ones).

Europe is getting larger (belly size). I noticed this in England and it was even pointed out by a buddy from Ireland. There seems to be a downward spiralling trend with the move from quality produced food to fast and cheap food (filled with all sorts of bad things for you).

They sell champaign on the top of the Eiffle tower. It's €10, about $14, for a small flute of it. I guess there is a ton of demand, and limited supply then justifies the cost. And yes, amazingly there is a bathroom on the top of the tower (I at least was wondering about that).

And that's all for my current musings.