Europe: Arrival In Paris

Hello! Officially my first journal entry since arriving in Europe. I arrived yesterday around 11am and after a two hour adventure trying to make way from the airport to the train station (Chatelet Les Halles) I met up with Emily for the first time in two months and gave her the largest hug the city of Paris has ever known. Seriously, French people surrounded us in awe at the sheer magnitude of this hug. Japanese tourists took many photos. I even heard a rumor that President Sarcozy was on his way to witness the scene but luckily we made it out of the station before he arrived. I can't confirm this rumor, but I'm pretty sure someone told me it's true.

Since then, I've spent most of my time sleeping I think. Jet lag is KILLING me. When I'm not passed out we've done quite a bit of walking around checking out sights and things. I've gotten a brief look at some amazing French sights such as Notre Dame, the Seine river, and the Louvre. I'll be spending a lot more time at both of these places eventually and getting many pictures. For now, it was more of a flyby just to check it out. Emily really knows her way around which is hugely helpful. She also speaks French, which is...yeah. I don't speak any French at all so this has been a bit intimidating so far.

Having grown up on Cape Cod and then moving to laid back Southern California...I'm really not use to their being so many people all walking so fast. Everyone is in a really big hurry and generally not looking where their going. To that, I say "wtf". Normally when I walk I try to be efficient about my path and make sure I'm walking swiftly, which makes up for me generally being a slow ass. However here, I'm constantly dodging people and being bumped into which makes planning a path difficult. Bleh! That'll take some getting use to.

Overall everything is incredible almost to the point of being overwhelming. I don't spend very much outside of my comfort zone, even though I often preach to people that they should try to do that very thing. It's going to take some serious adapting on my part. Life was too easy in SoCal anyway, time to grow up a bit!

Tonight we're off to dinner at Le Timbre and tomorrow we leave for a week in Venice, Italy. More to come as well as some pictures eventually when jet lag frees my brain from zombification.