à Paris

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After the quick trip to London we headed through the Chunnel over to Paris. The trip was quite quick and easy but I was a little disappointed. I don't know what I was expecting but the Chunnel isn't very entertaining. You're essentially just going through a tunnel for 20 minutes and they didn't even announce any sort of warning. I think it be much better if it was one of those glass tunnels like they have in aquariums so you can see what's going on outside. but I digress...

Once we arrived in Paris we took the metro to out hotel which was conveniently right in the heart of the city about 6-7 minutes away from the Eiffel tower. The metro is interesting in and of itself. It's really just another subway system but it has buskers actually in the cars and not just in the stations. I believe we had an accordion player with accompanying boom box on our ride to the hotel.

After a short rest in the hotel, and I do mean short, we marched over to the Musée d'Orsay to take in some culture and then we just wandered around the city for a few hours taking in the sites. Also I have absolutely no time for French impressionism. None at all. I think I don't do well generally in museums, which some of you already know. I can't stand around looking at a picture or statue for a long time. I mean I appreciate the work put into it and the beauty but after I've seen it I'm usually good; no need to stand around and contemplate it for a long time.

After that we headed over to the Eiffel tower and went up. The top of three tiers was closed due to wind and I only made it as far as the first tier do to my very rational fear of falling to my death. I did send my camera up with my Dad and sister though so you can all pretend like I took those pictures.

Day 2 saw us going to the Louvre and seeing the Venus de Milo, Mona Lisa, etc. and then doing a guided tour, by my Mom, of the bakeries of Paris. We saw Segway tours of the city but no one else wanted to do them...

Anyways I think I'll leave it there because the pictures probably do a better job than I do and I have essays and dissertations to think about writing and new creative ways of avoiding that writing to invent.

Cheers,
Nate

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Photos

Paris
My Dad, sister and I standing in a park

Alexander Dumas...
author of The Man in the Iron Mask and owner of an awesome mustache

A sculpture...
of a sculptor sculpting, how very post-modern

Mona Lisa
This was about as close as I could actually get with the crowd and I kept being bumped so it's a tad blurry