I have actually spent more time in France than I did in Germany, and my petite peut de francais beats my nonexistent German, so right off the bat I felt more at home than I did in Germany. I can't actually say anything new about Paris; it's a city of clichés for most travellers. So I'll stick to a kind of blow by blow for this post.

I got in quite late two nights ago; the trains between Munich and Paris aren't that convenient - I had to leave Munich HBF at four, got to Paris Est at eleven, and it was one in the morning before I got 'unlost' and to my hostel. Oh well; now I've had dinner in a dining car, and got to pack in a trip to the Munich Botanisher Gartens before I had to leave. That was nice.

The hostel is a pretty neat place; it's got an attached bar and restaurant that are, I understand, not badly priced for Paris, but I'm seeing the comparison to the German hostels pretty badly - German hostel bars would offer drinks at low profit margins, especially if they're connected to HI Hostels; here, they charge five euros for a beer. Needless to say, even though I've budgeted well for Paris, I won't be celebrating out much. I'm also in a bit of a dispute with the cleaning staff at the moment - I bought some Tupperware and they 'cleaned it' over the course of the day, along with my DISH SOAP. I mean, it's only about ten euros at the end of the day, but come freakin' on, I should be able to leave something like that out! Still, the place is clean and comfortable, so it's not all bad.

As for Paris - I've really only explored two areas, Montmatre and the Latin Quarter; mostly I've been going around on foot, so I get to see the city unfold around me. They are both neat, liked Montmatre in particular; there's a museum near the church (Sacre Coeur) there that explains the history of the district very well, and the area is actually fun to explore. Saw me the Moulin Rouge, during the daylight hours; looked sleazy from the outside. Rest of the area is very mixed - there's a big conservation effort but it only started in the fifties, so half of Montmatre is a preserved medieval village - the other half, is just more Parisian houses.

The Latin Quarter was cool in different ways; it's very much the university district, and as such I clued in to the bande dessine culture pretty quickly. I've elected not to pick up too much, though - I got myself a manga for a souvenir, but I'm not here to geek out. It was a bit fun finding comic book stores outnumber Starbucks, though. I went through the Pantheon and the Arenes de Lutece; Arenes is actually a bit of a disappointment - it's a big, stone amphitheatre, and that's about it. I wanted to get to the Paris Mosque as well, but for whatever reason it was closed; I planned on hitting up Notre Dame to end my day but didn't count on the two hour wait. The district has a distinctly different feel; it's a mixture of monumental and intimate, depending on the street. It also has the best value and most overpriced food I've seen in Paris, often in neighbouring restaurants. I think that I preferred Montmatre to be honest - it's more of a district, than the Latin Quarter.

Living as a vegetarian is tough here, as expected; I can find veggie restaurants, but they start at 15 euros a plate and frequently forgo the menu midi that I was counting on. I'll pack lunch tomorrow, and maybe indulge in the English breakfast (five euros at the hostel, decent) which does include eggs and vegetables.

Au revoir!