Bon Jour!

Where to start! We've experienced so much in the last few days, it's hard to know how to summarize, not to mention the fact that french keyboards are apparently not the same as american keyboards.

It was only 2 days ago that arrived in Paris via Brussels, tired from the obvious jet lag but awake from the adrenaline of being dropped into Europe. After some struggle with getting train tickets and the initial shock of a language barrier, we found ourselves standing bewildered outside of Paris train station, shouldering 30 lb packs, in the cold rain, operating on a few hours sleep. WOO!

All the guidebooks talk about how Parisian drivers are some of the most cautious and safe drivers in all the land (please note the implied sarcasm) and as a special welcome gift a friendly motorcycle driver decided to run over MaryBeth's heel as she finished crossing a street (while not apparent from that description, it was without doubt his fault). No fear though, MaryBeth, the trooper that she is, walked it off without any lasting injury.

After finding our hotel and dropping our packs we gathered our bearings and headed off to spend the afternoon in the Palace of Versailles. By seeing this palace we've rendered viewing any other European palaces unnecessary as they're either modeled after Versailles or not worth seeing. Really. Its freakin huge, its freakin the definition of extravagance, and the Sun King was just a little egotistical. A stop on the way home at a sidewalk cafe for some dinner and we settled in for a much needed rest.

Today was Paris In A Day day. We got up early to be 3rd in line at the Louvre (and in doing so ended up in the front row as the initial crowd rushed to the Mona Lisa), and after a few hours there headed out into the city to see the Standard Tourist destinations, Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triumph, Notre Dame, a stroll down Champs-Élysées, and about an hour or so of random wandering through the extremely charming (and narrow) streets. We had off and on rain today, but overall it was a great (but busy) day. We are both very much pleasantly surprised with Paris, despite the French.

Tomorrow we're going to make our way into the French countryside, and try to end up on the beaches of Normandy. We're specifically aiming for Omaha Beach, but without any transportation arranged as of yet, it'll be an adventure.

Until the next post!