Est ist Michael.

Ahhh...Parieee, the City of Light, the City of Love...

Well, I guess. The Eiffel Tower is pretty amazing. It is fun to climb the stairs to the Arc de Triomphe and look down on the zany people driving from twelve different directions. The facade of Notre Dame is just about as intricate a building as you will ever see. The food is amazing, especially if you have the opportunity to pack a picnic after buying one thing from seven different stores, each with their own specialty. (And amazingly cheap, good wine to go with said picnic.)

But after that, Paris is kind of a dud. If you have been to Washington, D.C., it largely resembles the good architechture and city layout (including public parks) of Paris, for obvious reasons. The streets are narrower, giving a more intimate and neighborly feeling than D.C. But I am not sure if a quality structure has been built in Paris in the past two centuries. They are ugly, unfunctional eyesores in my opinion.

It is interesting to use their Metro, which was apparently the first underground subway system in the world. And to fully appreciate the term "French drain" as they are ingeniously employed everywhere.

What is odd, is I would think it would be more enjoyable to be a Parisian than a Londoner or Dubliner. Paris is certainly more relaxed, except for the throngs of tourists. Plus there seems to be more ways to enjoy the open spaces and many more restaurants with better food. However, I could never get along in that city...I am just not wired to take things as slow as the Parisians prefer.

For example, it is not uncommon to seat yourself at a cafe and then wait 20 or 25 minutes before you are acknowledged and asked if you want something to drink. Expect another 20 to 25 minutes before you are asked if you would like something to eat. This is not rude, this is because Parisians want to enjoy their time people watching when they go out to eat, so they want to show their customers that same respect. Trouble is, when I (like most Americans, probably), jump into a restaurant, it is because I am hungry now, and want to eat now. So, to live there, one would have to plan their meals...or readjust their bellies to not get hungry until 9 or 10 pm for dinner.

Also, Parisians do not care for things to be cold. Like water, or any drink really. I do not get that one, because it is pretty hot and muggy.

Oh...one cool thing about Paris is they love St. Michael...a major boulevard and statute thingy mark their love of him. In front of the statute thingy is where student protests against the machine usually start. So, I am pretty proud of all that.

Due to timing, and a desire not to lug our backpacks all over God,s Green Earth, we had to lopp off French items on the front end (WWII Normandy Invasion beaches) and back end (Burgundy region wine tour). I was pretty sad at missing the Normandy beaches, but perhaps another time when I have kinda forgotten about not really enjoying Paris/France as I thought I would.

We have arrived in the Swiss Alps, though, and it is truly inspiring. I am loving it here and we are only about three hours in. Huge ice capped mountains that our little chalet looks out on from the teeny town of Murren. Going to do some hiking tomorrow, and no need to be worried about being hit by a car because they are outlawed up this way. Probably best for everyone,s safety.

Plus, this gives me a chance to put that Cleveland Public educated German to use....

Like Gena said, we are using a German keyboard, so apologies if some things are typed incorrectly or there is weird punctuation (tried to find the best substitute possible).

Auf Wiedersehen...