Greetings from Paris!!!!!

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Greetings from Paris!
Its only my first day on the road, but the traveller feeling has already taken over me: and I already love every minute of it! This worrieless, freedom existence is what I have been dreaming of for my past working/playing :-P year and now that its here I am determined to make the most of it! :-)))))
I must admit though, I am not the most experienced backpacker that you have even seen - yet... as soon as I got off the plane, I got stuck in the ticket checking turnstyle on the metro. Those who have already been to Paris know that when you want to use the metro, you must first buy your ticket,then put it into a machine that opens two wings that let you through to the platforms. However, not calculating with my extra size because of my backpack, I was tqking my time to walk through and the wings closed down between me and my backpack. Must have been a pretty funny sight wih me inside, my backpack outside because the guy who saved me by putting his own ticket into the machine and pushing me through burst into laughter as soon as he rescued me from Couchsurfing in the Subway of the metro with me on one side and my bagpack on the other... ;-)
Also, who can be so freaking stupid to write down 5 lines of directions of how to get to my Couchsurfer's place, but leave out the number of the house? No comment! First the number 118 came to my mind, later found out that it's the house number of my Couchsurfer in Christchurch, but luckily the street was not long enough for 118 numbers and my 2nd guess proved to be right. Luckily, the slight fonfusion on my hosts' face was only due to the fact that they expected a blond person and not to the fact that I knocked on so,ebody else's door...
While Couchsurfing, I often thought that I had just stayed with the best Couchsurfer in the world but then I am always pleaswntly surprised over and over again. My present Couchsurfers with whom I am staying for the next 2 days and 3 nights are a perfect example of this. Rita and Jonathan met on a volunteering vacation in Mauritania and have been unseparable since. He is some kind of Earth surface engineer (even Rita does not fully understand what he does) and she works in PR and they are the cutest couple ever whose biggest passion is Africa and their new love is Couchsurfing which they decided to join because they were jealous of a friend who was always full of stories about his cool visitors from all over the world. If they stay like this, it is not only them who is going to love CS but CS is going to love them too: they welcomed me with the most genuine kind of hospitalty and the widest and also, the wildest selection of Chinese and Japanese food I have ever seen. Wow! With the one condition that I would eat with chopsticks. Well, I only just missed the Elsas (no idea how it is spelt) wine with a bundle of flying maki (flying from my chopstick just in case you were wondering...)
Another thing about backpacking is backpacks... especially finding things in then... well, thats definitely gonna be part of the adventure! But my Brasil flip flops turned out to be really comfy (thanks Sam!) and this is gonna be my first night in my brand new and blue sleeping bag :-)))) Sorry, I cannot wait longer... I am off to try it... good night! ;-))))

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