Hotel Riviera Paris

... brought a chilly breeze, and it started to get cold. To make matters worse, the queue was moving annoyingly slowly, and the waiting time, as a giant electronic device displayed, was going to be around 2 hours. None of us had thought this all through and when we finally bought our tickets, the sun had already set and we were freaking freezing. We went up in one of the scary lifts and spent a few minutes walking around the tour and ...

... and he's really intense about it all. It's kinda cool, but then sometimes it's really easy to space out on him. I was able to see some of the Ancient Egyptian Collection, it's the 2nd largest in the world. Basically it confirms that I love everything Egyptian. Interesting fact- The French have a great interest in Ancient Egypt. Ever wonder why there is a huge pyramid in front of the Louvre? Probably because the French love things relating to that country. That's my theory. I will ...

... the english bach to Calias. The french kingdom became strengthened in the years to come it also welcomed renaissance artist such as Leonardo Da Vinci. But France is mainly known for its regin of the Louis, such as LouisXVI also known as the sun king,who stregnthened the french kingdom. Again there was a revolt against the kingdom and then there was Napoleon. Napoleon was a conqueror that ruled most of europe at one point. Eventually France would becomethe country we know as today.

After two hours or so on the Eurostar, we arrived in mainland Europe! Just stayed overnight, got the coach straight to Switzerland the next morning. Also had our first taste of the greatness that is a Belushi's cheese burger. YUM.

... go off to get our Paris Pass. After picking the pass up, we sit at the park directly in front of the Louvre and looked at what the Pass had to offer and munched on the baguette we got from the pattiserie near the hotel. We decided to got to the Center Pompidou (Modern/Contemporary Art) by foot. After a 25 minute walk we get to the destination, and find that is currently closed. we look inside and there are 20-30 people banging drums and dancing around, and having a right royally ...

... through Nairobi, and shouldn't have to leave the airport on my first transit through. From Wednesday through Saturday I should be in Burundi, making a first visit to several rural Sabbath-keeping congregations in the north, near the border with Rwanda. I learned not long ago that in spite of the end of the war and the recent calm, some aid workers were recently murdered. Leaving Mujumbura may not be as safe as I anticipated, so I'll check with the US embassy ...

... exhibit, which intrigued my imagination. I could actually visualize the brass and steel armament magically endowed with life, as the ghosts of the past mobilized the immovable. From here, we visited a relief map exhibit, as well as the tomb of Napoleon. When we left the Invalides, we toured the sculpture garden of Rodin, situated directly behind his estate. I pondered over the ...

... wine later we head out for some real nightlife. Again we end up at Cab, though this time it is the weekend and it is much busier, we get a table in VIP and a bottle and then start mingling on the dance floor. I have to pretend I am from Spain, there is some weird concept that American girls are easy, and instantaneously the men are trying to drag me into a dark corner to “talk” to me. Latifa yells at them, and I feel as if I am now grounded. At 4 am decide ...

So we left Paris and headed for Lyon, the gastronomic capital of the world apparently. Here was the place to sample French cuisine - and as I had already tried escargot the first time I was in Paris, I thought I'd go for frog legs this time around. We didn't have much time in Lyon. It would have been nice to have it up the hill to the castle, but the view of it at night was spectacular. I didn't manage that one great shot of it though. Rachel and I had ...

... locals go there at night to sit on the steps, drink wine, and mingle. Well, I was sitting there on the steps talking with people, and I sat my sunglasses right next to me while I leaned over to blow my nose. And seriously, at some point during those fifteen seconds, somebody freaking stole my favorite (and expensive) sunglasses! Needless to say, I didn't really enjoy the rest of the evening. On the very first day my cameras breaks, and now, on the ...