Paris, France

Made it to my hostel out in the boonies shortly after 16:00 on the 26th, got settled in, then went to the laundromat so I'd have fresh underwear. When I got back I ended up making a beer & baguette run with one of the guys from the hostel, then spent the rest of the night drinking & playing cards in the room.

Got up around 09:00 yesterday so I could shower & get some breakfast before joining the free walking tour they [ed: Sandemans New Europe) run every day. We ended up having about 20 people along; we were supposed to be meeting a bigger group, but there was a bomb threat at one of the metro stations along the way, so they went ahead. We got started at 11:00, at the St. Michel fountain near Notre Dame. Our tour guide, Linda, was informative, entertaining, and pretty cute... good combination. Plus, she was originally from Philadelphia, so I could actually understand her. I don't remember our route, but we ended up seeing Notre Dame, the Assemblee Nationale, the Opera Garnier (where Phantom of the Opera was set), the Louvre, Champs-Elysees & the Arc de Triomphe among others, finishing up near Les Invalides, home to Napoleon's Tomb & the French Military Museum. The guides work on a tip system, and I ended up feeling like a horrible person because I thought all I had was a €50; found out later I had a €5 too, so I actually could have given her some. The group has a website though, so I may see if I can look her up that way.

I also had a couple scam artists come after me, one of them not 10 minutes after Linda warned us about their system. Apparently they'll bend down near you and pretend to find a "gold" ring, and ask you if it's yours. They they try to get money from you for it; or they give it to you, but then shortly after start screaming about how you took their ring & won't go away until you give them money. The first one was sneaky enough to come up behind me, but the next guy actually did a 180° so he could come up beside me.

*Him: Gold ring? Gold ring?

*Me: Alright, it's your lucky day!

*Me: *walks away*

From the end of the tour I joined a few of the folks to go to Les Invalides. We wandered around there for awhile & got some good pictures... they moved along, but I went ahead & paid the €9 to see Napoleon's Tomb. It was fairly impressive, but I spent another hour or so wandering around the museum to get my money's worth.

°