Oh boy!

We are in Cologne, Germany, just arriving from Paris. We have an overnight train this evening to Sweden, where we will meet Diana's family.

Paris:

We stayed in a nice little hotel owned by a family who lived there. They had a couple of little girls, who ran around shouting "MOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!" I guess that is universal in any language.

I figured out why French women are so skinny: they have to fit into tiny places. The food is delicious, and they seem to live for food and drink, but if you can't fit into one of the tiny table areas in the crammed restaurant, you can't eat.

Our first day in Paris included:
- a looong walk through the gardens at the Champs de Elysees, and the Louvre
- A church service at Notre Dame. The acoustics in that building are unbelievable.
- Wandering around the Arc du Triomph. Its big.
- Blisters the size of my face
- Arriving at the Trocadero at nearly sunset, and climbing the 680 steps to the 2nd floor of the Eiffel Tower, where we took the elevator the rest of the way up.
- Forgetting to eat dinner until 1 in the morning because we were so distracted

Despite what I have heard about Parisians being rude, we found that most of them are actually quite nice. They laughed at our pathetic attempts at speaking French, although Diana picked it up pretty quickly

I also introduced Diana to my love of public transportation systems, maps of any sort, and metro maps as an art form. Those things are the abstract art of cartography. I love riding the metro, but for some reason Diana didn't want to spend the day riding in circles....

Our second day in Paris was both the most stressful and the most relaxing. We spent 3 hours in the train station figuring out how to get to Sweden, but then we went and toured the Chateau at Versailles. Chateau is an understatement, it really is a palace. The gardens were extensive and beautiful.

Well, I need to go look for more plan things, and somewhere to stay in Germany.

Next stop: Vajxo, Sweden!