We’re about to enter the channel tunnel on a Eurostar train — on our way from Paris to London. The tunnel stretches across the English channel and should take about 20 minutes to cross. Pretty amazing.

Paris was great. (It’s Jamie’s favorite city thus far.) I had been there once before but was excited about being there with Jamie. The city has a great feeling with all the cafes, narrow streets, French people, etc. We were a bit shell shocked by the prices ($7 US for a cup of coffee) but it was a memorable experience nonetheless. We didn’t exactly embrace the French menu, but instead took advantage of some ethnic stuff we haven’t seen at home.

On Thursday, we got Labanese take out and a bottle of wine and went down to the Sienne for a picnic with Josh and Evy (a friend Josh met in Rome). Evy’s a Norwegian studying and living in Paris, so it was fun to hang with a local. We sat on the side of the river and watched the river cruise boats pass by before heading off to a cafe for $14 drinks.

We ended up eating on the banks of the Sienne again last night, but with Turkish takeout and some Kronenborg. Jamie and I stumbled upon a harvest festival on the river, where we were able to sample some wines and desserts.

In all, it was a pretty relaxing four days. We avoided a lot of the touristy stuff (we only saw the Eiffel Tower from a distance) and basically just hung out a lot. We’re pretty sick of eating out, so it was nice to just get some takeout and eat it outside somewhere.

We had hoped to meet up with Doug (my brother in law) this weekend in Paris, but we ended up arriving there a lot earlier in the week. Oh well. Maybe we’ll meet him at Au Bon Pain in the mall when we get home.

Well, we just emerged from the tunnel on the English side. It’ll be nice to speak our own language (sort of) for a little while. Looking forward to dark beers, football and bad exchange rates.

More later …

OK, that last post was from an internet cafe. I was hoping to upload some photos to Flickr but couldn’t get it working. So I figured I’d return to the Palm handheld with the good old American keyboard.

So we’re staying in a hostel just up the street from Notre Dame in the Latin Quarter. It’s actually pretty laid back here — I suppose most people are back in school/work and only the slackers are out vacationing. The last time I was in Paris (in 2000) it was pretty crowded and hot. So it’s nice to be here later in the season.

Anyway, Jamie and I have a double room with a shared toilet down the hall. I take her to the nicest places. The shower in the room is just that: a shower in the room, tucked away in the corner. No shower curtain either, so water collects on the floor all over the room. Basically, this is a shower room with a bed, rather than a bedroom with a shower. But hey, at least it keeps the floor clean.

The cool thing about European hotel rooms is that nearly every room has an impressive balcony. Our room is pretty plain, but there are French doors (just ‘doors’ here) that open onto a pretty large balcony that overlooks the flying buttresses of Notre Dame. (Yeah, I know.)

We’ve also noticed the major price difference between Southern and Northern Europe. Drinks in cafes costs about $5 here. They were only $1 or $2 in Spain/Portugal. I think they charge extra here for ambiance/people watching. You could easily sit there and nurse that coffee for 2 hours and watch people pass by, so I guess it’s worth it.

Food is definitely an experience here — not simply nourishment. You can’t get coffee to go. You’re expected to go in and sit down. And you literally have to hunt down a waiter for a check. They expect you to sit and talk and enjoy. It’s kind of refreshing.

Jamie’s been a little sick the past couple of days (so maybe send up a prayer for her) but other than that it’s been a pleasant and relaxing experience here. The French people we’ve met have been extremely friendly and helpful. We’re hoping to relax a bit this AM and then go explore a bit more this afternoon and tonight.

Miss you all and we’re looking forward to seeing you all. It’s been real fun reading your comments!

Check them out here.

So we ended up in Paris after Barcelona. We had thought about swit(where the heck is this letter … ah; here it is)Zerland, but couldn;t find a good train. So Paris it is. We arrived yesterday AM after sleeping on tiny couchettes in the sleeping car on the overnight train from Spain. Pretty interesting, but very tight. Paris seems to be beautiful this time of year … not too crowded with those qnnoying tourists. Man, I hates me the tourists.

Had a greqt dinner … OK; hold up: This keyboqrd is wack: I think they messed up the keys just to spite us Americqns: OK, focus … Had a great dinner in the Latin quarter last night … steak frites. grilled pepper. good bread, nice bottle of wine. The waiter also brought us sangria before the meal and cognac after. They like drinking here, i think.

You hqve to hit the shift button to type a period on this keyboqrd! Whqt the heck? Its not like it*s a rarely used key. But good thing this key is easy to type: ù

After dinner we watched a pretty cool documentary in the Notre Dame cathedral, with chants and music. Very cool. OK, this keyboard is driving ,e mad, so I;n gonna go. Tqlk to you qll lqterùùùù

ùùùùù vivq lq frqnce!!!