Red Light House

Though I’m sure that nothing more ever need be written or said about Paris, I’ve never let that get in my way before so I shall not stop now. There’s a lot of good reasons why it’s the most visited place in the world for tourists. I found the most delight in just walking around, especially if I was just slightly hungry which made each shop and store front all the more exciting to look into.

I was constantly surprised at the scale of everything. As soon as I got used to a narrow street with tall, beautiful buildings shooting up on both sides, we’d get to an enormously wide street with huge, beautiful buildings shooting up on both sides. And as soon as I got used to that we’d get to a plaza with a monument that I’ve seen in pictures, but is 10 times bigger than I imagined.

I was also highly impressed with their Metro system as well. We never had to wait more than 5 minutes for a train; the trains don’t stop in the middle of the tunnels for no reason; and the tightly packed, straight backed seats that face each other promote both good posture and allow you to play footsie with strangers.

We fell into an easy rhythm during our 6 day stay: waking up late, eating bread and/or pastries with coffee for breakfast and then finding a museum or two to walk through until lunch. After a late lunch with a carafe of wine we’d slowly make our way back to the hotel to read or watch TV (we brought Battle Star Galactica Season 1 to watch). Then we’d get up and find someplace to eat dinner and have a drink or two. It was most excellent.

Sammi and I often congratulate ourselves on how well we travel together. We don’t get tired of each others company and we both like a relaxed pace. We don’t always have the most stimulating conversations after two weeks of vacation together…many of our meals in Paris were filled with Sammi trying to remember all of her French nouns. She would point to parts of her body or to things on the table and tell me their French names. Strangely this did not make me very fluent but it did allow me to ask any waiter for “One head and grapefruit, please.”