And So It Begins

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Enfin, after more than 24 hours of travel, we arrived in Paris on July 18th. I am sure that you are familiar with the city, either through your own travels or pictures, so we will spare you of a lengthy description. Needless to say, Paris is a beautiful city and wonderful place to start a honeymoon. After checking into to our hotel (compliments of Shaun and Claire), we headed out to check out the sights. We started with the neighbourhood, a chic area filled with sidewalk cafes and pubs, then took a subway to the Champs Elysee for the evening.


We spent our first two days attempting to coordinate our African visas and our travels to Spain with frequent stops at local cafes. With our travel funds quickly dwindling, we attempted to head for Spain on day three. We quickly discovered that coordinating trains to leave the city is not an easy task and after several trips to the train station, it became evident that we would be spending a third night in Paris. We were now homeless with our heavy packs on our backs (for those of you who warned us to pack light, we did not head your advice). We started our search for cheap accommodations in the same neighbourhood as our hotel. After asking locals, searching the internet and then finally getting numbers from a travel guide in the train station, we found a room for under $100 (Can) in the 10th arrondissement (aka, the hood). Although the neighbourhood was sketchy, the room was clean with a nice big lock. For 25 euros a night, it was a steal.

After checking in, we took the subway to the Musee dÓrsay, strolled around the area and ended our night with a trip up the Eiffel Tower. We were glad we stayed the extra night. We came back to our room around midnight to learn that we were staying in a brothel. Luckily we brought a CD player with speakers to drown out the "noise". We gave up trying to cordinate a train from Paris to Spain and instead, we randomly selected a French city along the mediterranean coast as our next destination. The morning of day 4, we were off to Marseille.

PS - we added some pics to the wedding entry

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Photos

Musee d'Orsay
Jason makes a friend.

DFO FRANCE
They're watching me!

Do I look French?
Jason tasting the local wines.

Comments

[anonymous]

Jeez
A brothel!! Nice job Mahoney. Take your new wife to a whorehouse. lol Greg

[anonymous]

Raging Jealousy
You've only commented on one city and already I'm jealous. Hope you are really enjoying everything...this is 2 months after your first entry so I am sure everything is fine. We miss you but understand your not wanting to return JUST yet. Don't know if anyone else has said anything, but Kris and Lindsay are both pregnant. Have a wonderful time and make the most of every day. Love Jac

[anonymous]

ooh la la
you guys look fabuleux - France suits you! Need any info re: the south of France? Wouldn't want you in a brothel down there...C'est degeulasse, mes amis! Have a big large chocolate croissant for me. Grosses bises, Christian p.s. is this message 'anonymous', or is everybody and his chien reading this?

[anonymous]

cor blimey...
...a night in a French brothel! Maybe you should do that in each country you go to and see how they compare. You could write a travel guide to the world's bordellos... Don't forget that if you get stuck again, London is only a few hours away, and you'll find the room rates chez Morash compare nicely to that of the brothel, though we can't provide any hookers (not without a bit of notice anyhow). Enjoy the rest of France/Spain! Karenxoxo (not quite sure how I stop being 'anonymous')

[anonymous]

Haven Fun Huh?
Hey guys, just love the pics, leave it to u guys to find the most INTERSTING places to stay while on ur honeymoon! U guys r the best! Hope it gets better as the countries go on! It realy sounds like u guys r haveing fun, bring back lotsa of pics for us, luv yas, Amanda