Paris

Day 1

Landed in Paris at around 10am with very little sleep, lots of Jet lag, and a real hate for people traveling with babys. My friend Jean meet me at the airport and together we took the train into Paris. Got a quick sense of the metro (which makes Torontos look like nothing) and dropped my bag off at Jeans apartment. Jean was in the process of getting ready to leave for an intrernship in Cameroon and had to leave for school. So not wanting to go to bed right away even that my body screamed for it, I went for a nice walk around Paris. As I started down one of the main streets my senses were in overload! Even the apartment buildings here have so much character and culture. I started to dread going home and working on dull North American buildings. I strolled around Luxembourg Gardens for a bit then headed to Notre Dame. When I got there my first thoughts were that it was much small then I thought it would be. That lasted untill I got inside. I was simply blown away! I dont have words really other then Grand! Just being inside of a building with so much history was very moving. After Notre Dame I decide to head back to Jeans for a nap because I was a walking Zombie! Once Jean came hopme from school we went out for some sushi but sadly my stomach was bugging me (Ive figured out this happens every time I go on a long flight) so we called it a night and went back to Jeans for some much needed sleep.

Day 2

After 12 hrs of sleep I woke up to find Jean had left for school. So I started a oad of dirty concert clothing (smells like sweat and beer mmmm). I waited around till the load finished so I could hang it up and of course fell back asleep for a few more hours. Finally I got up and headed out to meet Jean and his lovely girl friend Tiffany. They took me on a nice walk through this older section of Paris and had lunch. Then we were off on a quest to find Jim Morrison. We got to the cemetery with only an hour till it closed. Once we got inside it we knew we were in trouble . The place is a massive maze. We wondered around trying to find Jim till we couldnt hide from the security anymore and after a good telling off from security we were asked to leave. So Jim will have to wait till another day. We then said goodbye to Tiffany and headed home for some dinner. Once again my stomach acted up, but it was Jean to the resuce with some great stomach relaxers. Which he gave me the rest of the box. He had some more work to finish up so we both called it a night.

Day 3

Over the next few days I did alot, but I had to be selective of what I did because Neil (by travel partner aka bother form another mother aka my best friend) and I would be coming back and so I didnt want to do alot twice. On Day 3 I headed to the Louvre something I knew needed more then 1 day. As I approached it I thought...well this isnt that big. Yeah I was wrong! Its massive. What a wonderful building the Louvre is. I had problems looking at the art because the rooms themselfs were wonderful. But after 7 days of hard use of my ankle it started to go and I had to pull out the cane. So I left and checked out the Eiffel Tower which was a Tourist Zoo ... ew. I later meet Jean and head to a party his friends were having. It was great expect for that I was the only one who didnt smoke. 14 people. 13 of them smokers. In a apartment with no windows open (for noise reasons). By the end of the night I thought I was going to puke... but other then that it was great!

Day 4-9

Jean had to leave Paris for 3 days to go and visit a prof in the south before his trip. So I had the house to myself and for the most part took it easy and gave my ankle a bit of a rest. But over these coulpe of days I went for a bunch of walks and checked out different parts of the city and a few churchs along the way. Found Jims grave complete with joint butts and empty bottles of Jack Daniels. And one of the weirdest parts of the trip so far... ran in to Owen Wilson. I was walking through this park listening to O.A.R. Got to a song i didnt really like so I looked down to my ipod to change the song. As I did this someone ran into me. We both said sorry at the same time. And right after I said it he says .. oh an american.. I say no a canadian. As I said this I relise that Im talking to Hazel himself Owen Wilson. He says oh even better I love Canada... well enjoy your trip... and he ran off. I had to fight the urge to shout HANZEL! your so hot right now !!! All in all very weird!

The rest of the time in Paris I just chilled out. Read a book or two. And just tryed to spend as much time with Jean as school would allow. Looking forward to coming back with Neil.

Next stop Marseille

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Part of trip: Europe Trip 09

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