Monday, May 31, 2004

C'est la vie! (it's the life:)

Well, Liz and I completed our London trip with seeing Troy at Europe's biggest cinema on Saturday and then we went to see The Complete Works of Shakespeare (abridged) at the Ridiculous Shakespeare Company (thought of you, Kimmie and Timmy). We got to the airport at about 11pm last night and slept on and off until 3:45 when we could check-in...then we went through security and had breakfast and headed to Paris at 5:45...we both slept the entire way in and got there at 7:45 (actually only an hour flight...I'm 9 hours ahead of you again...bwah ha ha!). We caught a train and rode into town, switched trains, and then walked about 10 minutes to our hostel (it had an American flag and a Norwegian outside, so I knew it couldn't be too bad:).

We can see the top of the Eiffel Tower from the hostel, but it takes about 20 minutes to walk there. We got to our hostel around 10am, but couldn't get our rooms until 5pm, so we left our luggage in their storage room and headed out. Paris is so beautiful! The weather is cloudy, but not hot or cold or rainy...perfect for me. We just wandered for a while and looked at the outside of the Louvre, Notre Dame, Sienne River, Arc de Triomphe, and many more things that I'm not quite sure what they were. We both felt tired and disgusting from lack of good showers for the past few days, so we got back to the hostel at 5 on the nose, and I'm happy to say that....i'm no longer "skipping the loo"! This hostel is so much nicer than the last one and we are on the second floor instead of 4th. There's an individual room with a shower and two individual rooms with toilets and a sink in our six person room! The shower has one downfall...but I overlooked it easily...you how in public restrooms you push the faucet down and water runs for about 5 seconds and then shuts off? Precisely how this shower works! Crazy!

So far Liz and I only have one other roommate (although 3 more could come...who knows?)...he's (yes, he) a college student from New York and is very nice. I don't think Liz is too happy with it, but I'm just glad he speaks English and isn't obnoxious (our roommates for the last two nights in London were women in their 30's or 40's who only spoke Spanish...but they were nice).

Liz is actually napping right now, and I'm just chilling downstairs awaiting dark when I can go to the Eiffel Tower at night...and maybe find some food...it's some kind of holiday in England and here (a bank holiday..whatever that means...no one seems to know) so almost everyplace is closed except for the expensive restaurants. I have crackers and Nutella though, so I'll survive:)

I'm very excited to be coming home in just a few days...I'm looking forward to not being hungry at inconvienient times, normal showers, maybe a shoulder massage from someone;), and Kimmie and Andy's wedding, of course. Bethy, I don't know what you are thinking as far as Friday goes...I think we decided that we are driving down together in my car? If so, I just want to let you know that I need to do some things in Newberg (get stuff for the wedding, pick up pay checks, pay rent, get stuff that I sent back last week with someone from my trip, etc.). I love you all and will make sure to say hello to Paris from the Eiffel Tower tonight for you. Je t'aime.

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