In Paris!

I'm in Paris! Despite having no knowledge of the language beyond yes, no and thank you (like some sort of late blooming 2nd grader), I still stumble on through the streets of this great city, crepes in hand and coin in pocket. We spent our first (and unexpected) day exploring the city, and saw both Notre Dame (very gothic) and the Eiffel Tower (very phallic). Notre Dame had some very impressive flying buttresses, but we decided not to enter because it was expensive. The Eiffel Tower was very impressive as a feat of engineering, and very ugly as a monument. It squats upon the earth, like some huge beast ready to walk off. Unlike skyscrapers or other towers that fill themselves with glass and air to seem light, the Eiffel Tower seems to be proud of it's weight, and makes no attempt to hide its tons.
We also went to the Musee D'orsay today, and we were lucky enough to show up on the week of it's twentieth birthday. We got free admission, and in the words of the ticket vendor man, "eet eez reedeeculoos, but yoo geet een free." I saw more Monet's, Pissarro's and Van Gogh's than I ever expected. It was pretty sweet, and definitely worth the visit, but I don't think impressionism is my favorite style (I begain to go a little mad after a half hour of Monet's purple trees and pink snows). Tomorrow we plan to go to the Louvre, which is also free because it is the first sunday of the month. We have successfully been living in Paris on less than $50 a day, which is pretty good considering we pay $30 for hotel every night.

We're off the Versailles on Monday, and then we do mostly nothing Tuesday. On Wednesady we wake up early, and catch a flight back the States.

Hurray home!

Sean OUT