Ohhh Paris

Paris was overwhelming from the start. I got there in the afternoon on Sunday for a brief, too brief, three nights stay at another insane hostel. This one had over 200 people staying in all sorts of rooms, but get this, they only had one key for each room. So who ever got there first, got the key and the last one to leave brought it down to the desk. Interesting concept of security . . .

Basically I was still a little sick when I got to Paris, so I took a little nap to rally for the night. Ended up meeting these two Irish girls and a German in my room who had me out sucking down bottles of wine in no time. What a surprise. Great fun. The next day I decided to get up early and go on a bike tour with a company I found a flyer for in Amsterdam. The Fat Tire Bikes Paris city tour started at 11am (sharp) and somehow, after leaving my hostel at 9:50 am, I was thoroughly stumped by the RER trains integrated in the Paris metro system and didn't get there until around 11:15 am. Luckily they were still there and I got to go on a 4 hour tour of Paris' most visited places. Unfortunatley, it being 20 degrees hotter in Paris than Rotterdam didn't agree with me, so instead of spending the rest of Monday at the Louvre, I slept off my heat-induced migrain in the Champs de Mars in front of the Eiffel Tower. Went back to the hostel around 8:00 pm and again, ended up rallying for the Irish girls for a couple of hours of wine and cheese before heading to bed.

My second day was just as productive. I got up. Walked around the area near my hostel for two hours looking for Sacre Couer, which I never found, and ended up at another cafe for some journal writing, then back to the hostel for a shower before my second bike tour of Paris at night. This was a great tour. Not a lot of stopping to take photos, but we hit major sites and had some fun on their beach bikes. The highlight was a nite cruise on the Seine with a couple of glasses of wine. It was amazing to see the city at night. It was interesting to see the group get back on the bikes to take them back to the shop too.

Afterwords I was befriended by my tour guide, a fellow California, named River, who took me an awesome crepe place and then allowed me to hang out with his fellow tour guide friends while we had beers in front of the Effiel Tower . . . until 5:00 am. That was a good night. My train ride to Cologne was interesting to say the least, but that will have to go in the Germany post.

BTW - I found an internet cafe in Berlin that has the ability to upload my photos, so expect some pictures in your email boxes soon.