6:42 PM RST

I am sure the next five months will have more sporadic and short entries, but I have had quite an exciting and filled time thus far.

Yesterday, after Eric and I had a much-needed shower and woke up the girls, we left our hotel to find somewhere to eat. The concierge at our hotel recommended a cheap restaurant to go eat at, but it was around 3PM and they were closed until 6PM. I had forgotten that they eat at different times here and many restaurants open and close throughout the day. We then ate at a different restaurant across the street: authentic French onion soup (ours is better, ha!), chicken, and chocolate mousse. A bit pricey (€22), but it was filling enough to count as lunch and supper.

We then ventured to see the Eiffel Tower. An unbelievable structure, but a bit gaudy with neon lights and other stuff clearly marketed towards the tourists. We did see it light up at 6PM with flashing lights, as it does on the hour, which was beautiful. We went back to the hotel and I spent some time talking to Sarah and Heather on MSN and replying to some e-mail. As my battery ran out and the outlet was in use, I returned to my room at 8PM to watch a bit of TV. I subsequently watched for about 10 minutes before passing out for another 10. When Eric returned at 8:20PM, we were both ready for bed. Hence, I went to sleep at 8:30PM and set an alarm for 8:15AM as we both wanted to get up early. As far as I can tell, we both slept soundly until the alarm went off and was then turned off as we both slept for another hour.

I did not have any jet lag, but now I am quite well rested as I got up this morning at about 9:15AM to a mild day which has been cloudy and about 8 degrees Celsius. I then got ready, and spent some time checking my e-mail and hockey pool in which I had a 10-point night to put me in 6-point lead and first place. Went we for a breakfast at a café where I ordered dejeuner d’Anglais: sunny side up eggs, bacon, croissants, coffee, and one of the best glasses of orange juice I have ever had.

We decided against our original plan to take a bus tour and figured we would spend much of our day at the Louvre. Admission was only 8€50 and I took many pictures of some amazing sculptures and artifacts. As expected, photography is forbidden at the Mona Lisa and Venus De Milo. The crowds around some of these more popular exhibits were large and filled with people trying to sneak a quick picture. Joanna has a great guide to Paris which told us where many of the pieces we wanted to see were. Funny enough, there was a guided tour for the Da Vinci Code. I could not believe that the Louvre embraced such a cheesy idea, though a quick way to make some extra money from foolish American tourists. We then went outside and took many photos of the surrounding area, which included glass pyramids, ponds, a large Ferris wheel, and unimaginably large buildings we had just traversed.

As we trekked the few kilometers back to the metro, we saw many beautiful sites and passed by the Eiffel Tower, which looks even more spectacular and impressive in the day. Not sure if we will eventually, but we have twice decided against waiting in the very long line to go to the top of the tower. We stopped in some shops before coming back to the hotel as we wanted to purchase some water and snacks at about half the prices that they were at the over-priced tourist traps.

The other three purchased some wine and beer, but I decided against it for tonight. It is still a bit early in the trip for that, though I did enjoy a nice wine on the flight from Toronto to Paris. We plan on going to the Moosehead bar in Paris that Alma (who has spent her last two co-op terms working for the Moosehead marketing department in Saint John) was told about. It is supposed to be very nice and serves food we may be a bit more accustomed to. As well, we should be able to see the fireworks at the Eiffel Tower, which would be a zoo, from there. The year has come by very fast and it certainly does not feel like it is almost 2007 already.

I have many, many pictures, which I will be uploading tonight or tomorrow onto a Flickr account a created tonight.