Wow, so much has happened that there is no hope whatsoever that I can capture any appreciable amount. In particular not in the twenty minutes I have to pack before heading out to Toulouse.

Hopefully my little brother, Brett, will be working with his girlfriend, Jen, and getting some pictures and narrative up of our France tour. I was doing pretty good about writing in my little paper journal while coming up through Morocco. Given though that I had no one to talk to and nothing to do it wasn’t that hard. Seeing my family and our subsequent whirlwind tour saw an end to that.

I’ve been hanging out at Robert’s for the last four days. I’ve been getting to see a bit of the city. Paris is a really beautiful place. Everywhere I turn there’s a monument or a church or some other bit of history dating back to before my country existed. The layout of the city is really nice too. The streets are nice and wide and people getting out to picnic or sunbathe in the parks or anlong the Seine is pretty common. My desire to live here for a bit has decidedly been strengthened by my visit.

Interesting things in the last couple days:

Louvre. Monday afternoons are free for people under 26, so I took advantage of that and got lost (literally) in the Louvre for a few hours. Saw the obligatory Venu de Milo and Mona Lisa. The museum is huge. More than twelve miles of galleries supposedly. Different parts are open at different times, so I only saw about a third, but it was more than enough to occupy me for the three hours I had.

Robert has taken me to a couple of expat parties. One of them was “Jim’s Party” which has been held weekly for the last 25 years with over 100,000 visitors to date. Things were pretty light the night we were there with maybe 60 people in attendance. I did though meet Kittie from Oak Ridge, Tennessee of all places.

Kittie and I went to see Sacre Coeur Bastilica and Montmartre. I’d seen alot of impressive churches in the last couple days, but this one was spectacular. Most gothic cathedrals have a uniform style. Even Notre Dame is the high arches arranged in a cross pattern. Stunning, but not especially originial. Sacre Coeur is a huge dome.

There is also a really nice view of Paris from on Montmartre. We sat around chatting for a bit before heading to a cemetary to wander through the ancient mosoleums. There is just so much stone used in construction here. That they have enough left for the ground is surprising. I’m betting this city is surrounded by giant holes.

It was nice just sitting around talking to a cute girl in English. She’s got a long term boyfriend back home, so no romance, but a nice day in any case. We tried to go find some night life, but it being Tuesday precluded that.

This city really would be a great one to have a romance in though. There’s just something in the air.

Anyhow, my train leaves in an hour and I’ve got to pack. Hopefully I’ll get to use a computer before getting home in a week. I was planning on staying with Marc and taking the boat back between Sete and Tangier, but Marc is leaving tomorrow, so I’m headed down to Madrid for a couple days.

I’m feeling pretty good about it though. I’m getting the hang of this travel thing.

Love,
Will