The Paris Roundup

My three weeks in Paris are coming to a close. I have enjoyed the beautiful city very much. The massive collection of the Louvre deserves all the reputation that it has, its wonderful. I visited the best military museum I have ever been to, the Museé d' Armeé. I saw the magnificent Hall of Mirrors where so much history has been made, at Versailles. I saw, luckily for free, the museum of modern art, which only reaffirmed the fact that I mostly dislike modern art. In the city of Paris, I got to explore the old sections and the new sections, the big sections and the small sections, Paris by night (once in a car, once in a boat, and many times walking) and Paris by day, I had so much time that I even got to explore the no tourist sections. My stay in Paris was essentially made up of having plenty of time. Unfortunately, I think I could have had all the time in the world and I still would not have been lucky with the weather. Rain clouds nearly every day and even some snow. I waited patiently for my chance to see the Eiffel Tower. At first I figured in 3 weeks I shall wait for the perfect clear day. As time went on I just thought hell I will go any day its not completely cloudy, and by this week I said I will go the first day it doesn't rain! Well because the only day that ended up having clear weather was also the only day I left Paris (to see Versailles), I was forced to ascend into the clouds... reminds me of Switzerland. Yet even amongst the clouds the tower and the limited view was excellent. I have no regrets about it, just the way it worked out and it was meant to be.

In other news... I read a news article today that said that the Dollar had its biggest ever one day drop in value compared to the Euro. Last week a Euro was worth about $1.26 and last I checked today its now worth about $1.43 for a total difference of .17 cents. Or Since I tend to take out 200 Euro at a time... it will now cost me an additional $34 each time!!!! What was that? how can you help? glad you asked! If you could just go ahead and fix the U.S. economy... that would be great. I hope I am not asking to much!

In brighter news, (figuratively not literally as the weather is supposed to continue to be cloudy) I am heading to Barcelona, Spain tomorrow. Even though up until this point I have technically had a backpack, I have not been really "backpacking" at all. I have gone from one wonderful host to the next. I have had my own room and many delicious meals prepared for me. Now I go on to share a room with perhaps 10-15 other people, and I have to take care of myself. No more of the feeling of being at home. I didn't bother attempting to couchsurf, at least initially, in Spain for two reasons. One being that its the holiday season and I don't think couchsurfing would be an option. But even if that were not the case I still would have avoided it for a little bit. I need to get out of the "home" environment. I need to meet some new people and be a bit more uncomfortable. I need to do some actual "backpacking".