Before I forget...

I am going to tell you about Paris, but before I forget, I need to update you on what our Anthropology teacher just told us. We were talking about this Tirolean restaurant that serves strong beer, where our teacher used to take the class for a field trip. She said in her great Croatian accent "I don't take students there anymore. I don't want to be responsible-- they drink too much, they pass out. My son- I couldn't find him for two days. There were police involved. He had passed out at a construction site. We didn't know where he was for two days." Everyday it is hard to not burst out laughing in that class. Also, she told us that research has shown that water is alive.

SO Paris was great and so lively. We went on a night train from Munich to Paris and slept in a couchette, which was comfortable. I woke up with a strange man sleeping in the bunk beside me, with his face 2 feet from mine, but that was the only weird moment I experienced. When we got to Paris, we dropped our bags off at the hostel, hopped on a bus, and saw the Champs de Elysees, the Arc de Triomph, and the Eiffel Tower. We took the elevator up and the view was incredible. Paris is huge, by the way. It seems kind of small because of the shorter buildings, but when we were in the Eiffel tower, we could not see the edge of the city. After that, we hopped on a bus going the wrong way and rode for about 1.5 hours. We saw alot of the city, though.

We got dressed up for dinner because we were in Paris, and had a 3 course meal for only 13 Euro, which is great. Travis had Escargo (I tried some-- it was so good!) and I had duck for appetizers. After that we got on a bus and hung out in front of the Eiffel Tower at night. Every five minutes after the hour, the tower 'sparkles' with about 20,000 lights, so that was romantic and cool to see. Also that day Travis' phone dropped on the ground, busted apart, and his battery went into a sewer. haha!

The next day, we ate at the hostel, then went into the *free* Notre Dame Cathedral. It was maybe the biggest, tallest church I've ever been in. We souvenier shopped for a while, then ended up at the Lourve, where we took pictures and then decided to leave. We only had a few hours in Paris left, so I let Travis make the decision (he's the art guy). Instead we went to an open air market that had been described in our travel book as a market for handmade goods and antiques--perfect! Actually, it was more like Chinatown and so crowded that we left after 30 minutes. From there we rode around on the bus, shopped, and went to the Luxembourg Gardens. Then, like real tourists, we found ourselves back at the Eiffel tower, just people watching. Overall, it was a great weekend. We could have jam packed it with museums and tours, but I think I am starting to really enjoy just experiencing the culture.

I'm sure Travis will want to tell you in depth about our not-so-great train ride home, so I will leave that to him. It involved a near trip to Berlin, and sleeping on the floor.

-Rachel