Paris, France March 29

I hoped that my overnight ride to Paris would be as good as my ride to Madrid was. In essence the bedroom is bunk beds with a sink. The toilet is down the hall. Once you drop the luggage in the cabin, its time to think about what's for dinner.









I had a couple of beers before a delicious meal. I think the wine helped me on this overnighter. I did sleep well but I had a vivid dream. I rarely remember my dreams but this one remains in my head, to this day. It was more of a nightmare than a happy dream.

Maybe it was the hum of the train or my mind organizing my experiences or both combined. My dream involved myself and a group of people, racing on a train from station to station. At each station, we would exit the train and run around trying to find the exit. Within minutes the station would come under attack. There were bombs exploding all around us. Luckily, we were able to escape from the station before the train was hit. This went on for a few stops before I woke up.

I rolled over and slept until the alarm went off. I had a hot breakfast while sipping coffee and watching the sun rise on the french countryside, as we rolled by. I remember thinking how run down I felt. I had been on the move for over 16 days and I needed a down day soon. Maybe that is what the dream was telling me.

My train arrived at the Austerlitz station and the tourist information (hotel reservations) is at the Lyon station, which is on the other side of Siene river. I walked across, pulling the clippity-clop luggage behind me. It was another sunny day. I looked around to see if any of the landmarks were within sight - they weren't.

The women at the touriste office were so nice. I was really afraid that my limited french would bring angry reactions. Their smiles, laughter and chit chat dismissed my fears. What a nice welcome to Paris.

Just like Lisbon and Madrid, my atm card didn't work here. I still had cash from my previous cities, but not enough to last the rest of the trip. Weeks after arriving home, I got a letter from the credit union concerning this. "WEEKS AFTER" Remember to notify your bank and credit cards that you will be traveling or suffer the consequences.

The travel books all said not to try to use the metro with luggage, so I hailed a taxi for the ride to the latin quarter. The main streets are wide and the winding streets are tight. Traffic moves faster than you would expect through this compact city.

The best western hotel was perfect. Nothing special but nothing bad either. I laid down to go over the map and plan my attack of Paris and fell asleep. I woke up twice, when chambermaids stopped in to check the towels and bedding. They backed out once they saw me. I instantly fell asleep after each interruption. I woke up a few hours later, still groggy.

I took a shower and went out to find a store for snacks. Next door to the hotel was a bakery. A few doors down was a brassiere. There was a butcher down the street, the opposite way. I found a couple stores that had fruit, bottled water, soda, snacks and brought some back to the hotel. As the desk clerk gave me key, she saw my bag of munchies and told me that the bakery was fantastic and I could bring my croissants to the brassiere, to enjoy with some coffee.

I dropped off my goodies in the mini fridge and headed back down with my maps and lists. I returned my key to the front desk and headed to the brassiere after a stop at the bakery. Ah, the good life. Sitting on the sidewalk sipping coffee, chewing croissants watching the world walk by.

I felt full, rested and refreshed. Time to go see the sights (aka go find some caches). It was already late in the day and the places I visited, the Pantheon and Cimetiere de Montparnasse were closed. Like Madrid, the first cache I looked for was the only one I found, during my stay. Luckily, there's lots of other things to see.

From the Pantheon, I could see the top of the Eiffel Tower. It was a few miles away. There were lots of people milling about, school kids on a field trip, workers heading home, people walking on the tree lined greens, lovers cuddling.

This brings up something that I just have to discuss. Lovers and their uses of park benches. I saw this in a few of city parks I had visited. A couple spend time kissing and whispering sweet nothings to each other. The man then sits on the park bench and spends a couple minutes trying to get her to sit on his lap. Not like you are imagining. He wants her to put her feet through the bench, wrap her legs around him and face him. The thought of "get a room!" comes to mind. Then again, I am an American and this means I am a prude compared to the rest of the world. But then again, if I was with a woman I loved, I'd want to dry hump her in public too. I wish I had a picture to explain this. Wait, I did find one on the internet:



I stopped off at another restaurant for dinner. I have never been a big fan of wine. The darker ones upset my stomach. After my second dinner in a row with red wine I was starting to enjoy it. It was dark by the time my gps had guided me back to the hotel. I went to bed with all my plans for the next day, running around in my head.





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