Pretty much in the top 10 of the best things I have seen in France....avoid parking tickets and unwanted pregnancies!
Madeleine's country house. It was built in the 1800s and when her and her husband bought it, it had dirt floors.
At the beach, you can kind of see the rainbow in there, right?
The cow Harriet would not let me take hope...was sure how I would get it home. It actually mooed at me when I was taking its picture.
Pretty much all my worldly possesions right now.
Whatever I saw today...the people kept yelling out their names, it was funny.
Greetings my American friends and family,
I am currently sitting in Odile's apartment looking at the Eiffel Tower. France is currently head of the EU, so it is all lit up with the 12 stars and flashes blue every hour. I took the train from Amnies yesterday leaving Harriet. I was very sad to leave her. We had an excellent time together, and save one allergic reaction she had during lunch our second to last day, a completely flawless trip. We got a litte lost one day but during our excursion through the country (with a very low tank of gas) saw a wedding party walking out of the courthouse on their way to the church (I guess that is how they do it here) and lots of white cows. Harriet wouldn't let me bring a cow home as a pet, I was very disappointed.
Odile met me at the train station in Paris and gave me basic directions as to how to get around. She lives just outside Paris at the La Defense, which to my great discovery, is also the location of Paris' big mall. She gave me a key to her apartment, a couple of maps and then quizzed me on everything she had told me (what train stop? what train line? what floor do I live on?). We also had a dry run on our way out the door for dinner.
Last night she was kind enough to let me tag along at a work dinner. The team as they call themselves were from all over Europe. We ate dinner at a place in the Trocadero that was spitting distance from the Eiffel Tower. We sucked up the cold and ate outside and the view was priceless. I guess it is true what they say, its not what you know but who you know.
I was on my own this morning and ended up sleeping until noon. It was probably needed after 10 days of early mornings, jet lag and bad sleep from being in a different bed almost every night. I wondered around the mall and the huge plaza near her house and bought my train ticket to Munich. After I bought my train ticket, I recalled that I still have no place to stay and since the hostel website will not work on Odile's computer, will be spending my morning at an internet cafe praying for something that is sort of cheap to stay at for the weekend. But oh well, I will pay what it costs.
Later today, I took the train downtown and walked around purposely getting lost to see what I could find. Once my feet started to hurt, I went in search of an internet cafe (I did have the best intentions to get the hostel thing figured out tonight) but instead found the biggest street in Paris-- the Champs Elysees-- and new sneakers. Once I dragged myself out of the Nike store, slightly poorer but with much happier feet, the internet cafe was closed to I decided to treat myself to a beer.
On my way to find a Braisser with outdoor seating that would have good people watching, I got stuck in a mob of people. Like any good American tourist caught in a mob of screaming French people, I decided to join them and see what the fuss was about. There was some movie opening tonight and I saw...the back of Robert Di Niro and Al Pacino's heads! If I had a slingshot and was about 2 feet taller, I could have pelted them with a rock I was so close.
After that, I found a bar, had a beer, realized my water bottle had leaked a little, freaked out a little bit about not having a place to stay yet in Munich and then continued reading the Fountain Head before getting on the metro and heading home.
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