Hotel B&B Bretigny-sur-Orge

... He started giving her a back massage, and telling us that he came to Paris to study massage therapy, so he wants to “offer this as his gift” to us. We weren’t too keen on the idea at first because we were worried he would then try to make us pay for it, but we let him continue and he never did. By the end of the night, he had given Brian (the guy we are staying with) and me massages, too. Weird, but whatever.

We told him we enjoyed ...

... view of paris! you could see so many beautiful buildings! well, john left the next day so i was once again flying solo. it has actually been a good thing. Scary at times, but good. i think im learning alot about who i am and realizing that i can be independent and fine. I mean, i made it through london, paris, and now madrid completely alone. well not completely. ive met some of the greatest people ever who i would never have met had i ...

... One of my favorite exhibits that I've seen was at the Musee des Arts Decoratifs. And it was all about Valentino!! Over 200 of his designs, organized by theme. First of all, they are just stunningly gorgeous clothes, period. They had Jackie Kennedy's wedding dress, Elizabeth Taylor's Spartacus premiere dress, the dress Julia Roberts wore when she won the Oscar (love that dress), along with many, many others. It was also pretty interesting to see the ...

... to be hung very close to the floor. For one, it would protect and preserve the paintings on the ceiling (they used gas lamps back then) and the other (and more important, according to our guide) reason was that he wanted to these sumptuous lighting devices to be seen through the windows from the outside. He was also particularly chummy with Napoleon III, who had commissioned the design for this Opera, and he demanded that there be no trees ...

The road to Musee Rodin We exited the hotel and took a left towards Place St Michel. We crossed the street several times, passing the St Michel Fountain. Somehow I never took a picture of this, I will have to steal one from the internets. As we were crossing the last crosswalk to get to the other side of St Michel Blvd... I saw a few small trucks with Orangina logos plastered all over ...

... Musee du Louvre was huge and you can take days to explore every corner. But we got tight schedule and plenty more to do, so we switched to Notre Dame after nearly 4 hours in it. Walking along the most expensive street in the world - Champs Elysees, while other people might be having their shopping spree, we without extra dime in the pockets ...

... five year old daughter in front of a canvas of Napoleon's coronation that was so big you could have used to tarp my house. Meanwhile tour guides butted in, pushed and shoved to get their groups in and out before the bus had to leave and Versailles employees constantly reminded us to move along so that the hordes behind us wouldn't have to wait. The palace feels cold and even with the crowds ...

... only 3 beds in, I scored the Queen bed as well. I has a huge bathroom with a great breakfast, awesome. You know when you arrive into a city and you get an instant sense of the vibe of the place, you know if you will like it or not. Well, I know already I'm going to enjoy Paris... Mal

... add up when you make mistakes on the Metro. If this was the wrong line, I might still make it through checkin, security, and to my gate in time, but everything would have to go perfect. And everything going perfect was not the theme to this trip so far. The relief of seeing the Sevran Beaudottes sign at the next stop is indescribable. I suddenly get the urge to dance. But wait, I'm not in yet. Ten minutes or so later, the line ends at Aeroport Ch. de Gaulle 2 (oh ...

... of activity as Andy prepared to leave and i prepared to stay. We climbed the Eiffel Tower, which stands aloof over everything; a glorious relic to another time, i think perhaps the golden age of Paris, a hundred years ago when the steel of the Eiffel tower was wonderous and beautiful, and not merely a convenient TV boradcaster. the sun tried to ppour through a fissure in the constant cloud before plunging into the Seine. it was my favourite moment in Paris ...