Hello everyone!

Soooo sorry for the delays in posting a blog, but I have been unable to access the website since we arrived in Paris yesterday. We took an overnite train from Madrid to Paris, and it was certainly an experience. There were NO instructions at all, so we had no idea what to do. However, we found the right train, the right car, and the right seats. We had two other women in the small room with us, and they seemed alright (they spoke English at least). We did manage to get some sleep, and we arrived in Paris unscathed.

Yesterday in Paris we walked to the Eiffel Tower and looked down the Seine River. Courtney wasn't yet ready to venture up it (as she has a small fear of heights), but she has promised that we will go up on Friday. We had a wonderful lunch with pizza and French wine, and we saw a man and a woman get into a fist fight on the street. We stared like everyone else, and we were glad when it was over. Bought a bottle of wine, drank it in the room, and stayed up late talking and laughing. What an amazing city to be in! FYI - the weather is fantastic!!! Sunny and cool - just perfect.

Today (Thursday) we went to the Louve, and other than a few wrong turns, we managed to see the entire museum. We took pictures in front of the Venus De Milo and the Mona Lisa among others. What a day to have when you can say that you got to see some of the most amazing works of art ever made. We strolled down the Champs de Elysees from the Louvre, past the Obelisk, and down to the Arc de Triomphe. Courtney began conquering her fear of heights as we climbed to the top of the Arc. The view was amazing and worth the 1,000,000 steps we had to climb to get there! :) We capped off the day by congratulating ourselves for two additional trips on the Metro and by eating sushi (which was quite good). We are now sitting in the room enjoying the free Wi-Fi, drinking a glass of champagne, and listening/watching the sounds and sights on the street below.

The people here have been so incredibly nice, I cannot even explain. I know they say Parisians can be rude, but we have yet to run into anyone who has not been friendly and very helpful. Without some of the Parisians, I am not sure if we would have found our way to the hostel! So in all, everyone is very kind, and we are desperately hoping it stays that way.

The hostel is very nice, although they are painting our hallway and we began to catch a buzz off the paint fumes. However, the hostel has airconditioning which the hostel in Madrid lacked, so we are certainly enjoying that.

Tomorrow we are going on a museum marathon - Musee de Orsay, Rodin Museum, The Army Museum, Pompinou. We are also going to trek back down to the Eiffel Tower to see it lit up at night and hopefully to get some wonderful pictures.

Speaking of pictures....I am very anxious to post some, but the site is currently doing server maintenance, and I cannot upload anything. As soon as I can post, I will. I already have a folder ready to attach at a moment's notice.

Send messages when you feel like it - we love to read them.

Wishing you all the best. Until next time...