Lounging in the city of love

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Flag of France Paris, Île-de-France, France
Friday, July 25, 2008

Friday, July 25, 2008. I don't know why I didn't start dating these entries earlier but I guess better late than never. Munich is now a nearly 10 hour train ride behind me as I sit here in a caf� in Paris waiting until eight this evening for when my next train gets into the station. I know that I had said I would be taking a plane to Nice, France but there was a slight change of plans and now here I am waiting in Paris. Don't get too excited as I am in some suburb outside of any main area. My luggage is hindering any possibility of me going very far because the particular train station that I am at decided to close their luggage claim area. This means that I will have to carry everything around if I decide to go anywhere...not something I am very excited about doing. I'm just glad to be off of the train from last night. With a full car things got quite cramped and three of the folks who hopped on the train at a later station, for some reason decided to sprawl out over everything leaving no leg room and very little space to position oneself for even a poor nights sleep

The Notre Dame Cathedral

! The guy who sat directly across from me put his feet up on the chair of my neighbor to my right and I, as well as make himself comfortable later on in the night and lay on the floor beneath us. I wasn't a happy traveler but surprisingly it went by fairly quick.

Now, here I sit like I said waiting for my train in Paris to take me away to Barcelona, Spain for a three night stay at an all-inclusive five star hotel complete with a spa, twenty four hour room service and a ocean view so amazing it puts most other European sites to shame...Not really though. My hostel will only give me linen for my bed and by no means a continental breakfast. All the shortcomings are shadowed by the fact that a warm ocean breeze will be sweeping the streets. Barcelona, here I come!

So forget everything that I had just said about me not doing much of anything in Paris because my boots-well shoes- are made for walking and that is just what they did. After finishing my cafe I decided to wander about the local neighborhood just to see what trouble I could get into. As I was walking around I stumbled upon a bus station/tram map that showed my relative position according to some rather well known historical monuments in Paris-namingly the Notre Dame Cathedral. The more that I looked at the map, I thought to myself, "Hey, it doesn't look so far away. Maybe I could at least go see the Cathedral while I'm here in Paris and then make my way back to the station." So I gathered my things and began a hike to the Notre Dame Cathedral. Upon my arrival I made my way across a bridge to snap a decent photo and what would be in the background but what other than the Eiffel Tower. I snapped a couple more photos of the cathedral and decided that since I was only in Paris for less than twelve hours I was going to make the most of it

Musee D'Orsay

! I tightened up my pack straps, started walking and eventually was able to see the L'ouvre, Musee D'orsay, L'arc De Triomphe (from a distance), various other buildings and last but not least the Eiffel Tower. Let me tell you that it looks much larger when you are standing underneath it rather than when you look at it in a picture. Luckily I was able to see many wonderful things while I was in Paris even though I was only there for a short while. My legs, shoulders and waist were hurting for a while afterwards but it was well worth it. I was glad that I had decided to take the ten cent tour.

The train was soon leaving so I quick hopped on a bus and traveled back to the station. Barcelona was my next stop and even though I said before that it would be for three days I made it only two.

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