Je T'aime Paris! Tu as ma fille!

What an incredible day it's been!!! It's so surreal actually seeing the awesome buildings, statues and monuments you've always known to exist, but to actually see them is beyond description. Sure the pictures are great... but it's just different... hard to explain... but so wonderful.

I know this sounds corny and cut/pasted out of a travel brochure... But the truth is - I loved Paris the moment I set foot on the streets. The train station was even pretty impressive! Our first experience was pretty much in the red light district... kinda rough... But I had to be told that later - I was so enthralled with the architecture that I didn't event notice the harsh surroundings. I did notice the policemen with machine guns strapped across their chests in the metro station though... almost asked for a picture... but I'm kinda shy:) The bus driver laughed at us confused Americans as we stumbled getting all twelve pieces of luggage on board - one of them has four pivoting wheels like those sweet shopping carts at IKEA... and it started rolling around the bus - so I volunteered to go spread eagle across 7 or 8 bags against the side of the bus. Was quite a sight:) And good grief! We were going like 40mph down these cramped little allies! We almost creamed this car that pulled out in front of us - the bus driver slammed on the brakes and laid on the horn while a mob of drunk women cheered at the excitement. I looked at Kyle and we were both like "yeeeah! This is tight - sweet!" So we got off a stop too early - knew the hotel was by the Tour Eiffel, so when we saw it we got off and ran around in circles with our 12 bags of luggage for about an hour... but I got this sweet Tour de France shirt while dad was chewing on a map - to complete my tourist look:) The garcon was nice so I went back tonight around 11:30 by myself to get Morgan and Chelsea some french wraps - that's what happens when you leave comments;) The rooms are pretty petite - if you want to turn around in the bathroom (la salle de bains - for my french readers out there... any? No? Oh well) you need to do a three point turn ha! Getting to know Kyle a lot better though... maybe a little more than I would like hehe! But aside from making fun of my beard he's not that bad:)

This morning I wore my new TdF t-shirt, the race started today so I thought it would be fitting... but with the camera strapped around my shoulder - I looked like such a tourist it probably made some Parisians gag. We got these sweet tour bus tickets today - good for two days and they took you to pretty much every major landmark - and walking distance to a few lesser known ones. The open air second story of the bus gave me a ton of incredible pictures and a few close calls with some tree branches:) It's just astounding the things you see here! All the intricut stone work, gold leaf staues, huge pillars and domes... can't get enough of it! Nothing you could see in a country as new as the US. Nous habitons five minutes from the Tower - so we really got to know it today - incredible shots day and dusk - nighttime was killing my shutter speed though. Me and Kyle hiked up the first two stories and took the elevator to the top. 14 Euros in total - worth a lot more than that I think. One thing though... That many french people, in that tight of a space, that late in the day... there was a tinge of BO. Which is understandable, the soap here doesn't suds up like at all! How are these poor french people supposed to smell nice when all your soap does is get you slippery?! My method is rub about half the bar into you wash cloth, then add about half a bottle of Gel Corps&Cheveux - works a little better. The weather was 10 times more than what we could ask for, just incredible for touring and taking pictures... I've decided I love photography. The architecture around the entire city is so so beautiful. Everything here looks like it was built 500 years ago and has such exquisite details that is looks like it would've taken 500 years to make too. Took close to 200 pictures the first day - that's edited to save all the good ones! Paris is such an incredible place... I love it...

My family's sub-60-IQ when it comes to french - I took three years way back in high school, long time ago - so I'm rusty hehe! First thing I said was "Merci beacoup pour la patience!" to the amused bus driver... then little stuff here and there to get by - not as difficile as I was expecting... being around my family gave me a confidence boost haha:)

Ooh! Pushing my liver to the max baby! hahahaha! kidding kidding kidding... sorta:) Had a pint first oppetunity in Germany - beer's gonna take some getting used to - bitter! I had a glass of white and half a glass of red since we arrived in Paris - so far I'm leaning towards the white wine... but Italy is yet to come and it's been too long since my last encounter with lemoncello;) White wine and lemoncello... no I don't shave my legs!

One thing I will say - Paris is... dusty... okay it's pretty dirty:) Need a shower and its one in the morning here! Saw this guy let his pug relieve itself in the crosswalk today........ yeah... it wasn't the kind that would evaporate in the hot Parisian sun... the dog had the runs though - so I bet after a few hours it was pretty much dried up. I relate this par example, but it's not like a common occurrence I don't think... hope. Most everything is beautiful:) Kyle's being a bum and will only let me upload 6 pictures to the blog cause "it'll take too long boo hoo:(" So, sorry if Josh Chang's blog is kicking our butts - it's Kyle's fault. When I get back though - I'll definitely have to make a DVD or something... don't tell Kyle - he gets upset easily haha!

THE BEARD COMPETITION UPDATE: this sucks... Not only is it annoying... I look terrible... like bad creepy teenager terrible... and Kyle's even worse - the sight made a few small kids cry today. So he snoring next to me clean shaven right now... But anyways... the standings: Dad - gave up before it started - my quick start really killed his morale. Grandpa - doesn't have any other hair, he would just look like an old pirate... no good - 0 points. Hats off to Kyle for attempting to challenge me - to bad he forgot the rule that we were focusing on mustache and chin this week - I think he put a little too much effort into the full beard look... 3 points. Me - 17 points... don't ask me how the point system works... it does.

P.S. to Sister Leopold: when I slept for 2 hours out of 40 on the way here - it was NOT because I didn't want to mess up my hair! Just bad sleeping surroundings... Don't worry though - still got a plethora of hair nets and shower caps - should be alright;)

And for you Blazer fans out there: The Turk's a jerk - boo Turkoglu!!

Enjoy the pics... all SIX of em... >:-(