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  Paris, Île-de-France, France
Sunday, July 20, 2008

First of all, please forgive any errors in this entry. I'm in Paris right now and French keyboards are rather different, so I've been messing up all over the place.

Haven't updated in the last few days because I've just been too busy. On Friday, I met Jon and Nick at the train station and have been spending all my time, aside from sleep, with them. I have to say, it's been the best part of my trip so far. The two of them are this incredible couple and we clicked so well. They showed me around London and we even just spent a lot of time in their hotel room, chatting and drinking and getting to know one another. I have to say, I had such a great time with them that they invited me to visit them in Nottingham and, if we can figure out a way to make it work, I'll be taking some time after Brussels to do it. For my part, I'm really hoping we can make it happen.

Friday night we went out to see Billy Elliot for my very first West End show. While there were parts of the show I quite enjoyed, overall I wasn't blown away. I much prefer the original film version, to be honest, though I did tear up during 'The Letter.'

Most of Saturday, Nick and Jon showed me around some random London sights

Jon, Justen, and Nick

. Well, mostly it was Jon who did the talking about the different things we saw because some of it, like Harrod's (which was way too busy to enjoy), he was seeing for the first time, too. Another first that day (for both Nick and I, actually) was heading out to G-A-Y at the Astoria. They didn't have a live act, only a top-100 countdown, and it was very, very poptacular. I have to say that that the crowd was the pushiest I've ever seen and I was hoping it would have been younger. Overall, I'm glad I got to see it before it closed down, but it definitely did not live up to its reputation.

This morning I ended up sleeping in and was technically late for check-out. Thankfully, the reception desk didn't really care. I picked up Nick and Jon from their hotel (they stayed on the same street as I did, which was really sweet because they could have easily stayed somewhere much cheaper) and we went for a final breakfast/lunch before each catching our respective trains. As I said, I had an absolutely fantastic time with them and I know I'll be keeping in contact, regardless of when we next get to meet up.

My first real train ride wasn't all that exciting, though I did notice just how smooth it is to travel by train. Arriving into France today; however, has been a complete shock to my system. I've never been to a place where English wasn't the primary language, so at the moment I'm feeling a little lost. I'm only in a 4-bed dorm at the hostel, so I won't be counting on meeting anyone here. I think I'm going to be attending a free walking tour of Paris tomorrow and hope I'll meet some people there, otherwise this may be a rather lonely destination. For supper tonight, I even wimped out and got McDonald's. I need to ease my way into things right now. I did manage to order in French, though! Except I couldn't figure out how to say 'no pickles,' but I'm still proud! Woo!

I figure the rest of ,y evening will just be relaxing at the hostel and I'll start plunging headfirst into Paris tomorrow. Besides, I don't think a Sunday night is the best time to see what's going on.

-Justen

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