Paris

As promised, the pictures from Paris have been posted. Let me just say this: I love Paris. And let me tell you what I love most. The language. French is such a beautiful language, I am envious of those who can speak it fluently. Everything sounds so regal and refined. Even the word for "turd" is probably something really elegant and classy. And the people, despite what you read and hear, were quite nice. It probably helps that they only wanted my money, but even people on the metro and along the streets were polite.

I won't go into the boring details of how awesome it was. We did the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame (you have to climb the steps if you go, well worth the hour wait in line), the Louvre, and the Catacombs. We decided after climbing two tall structures, there was no need to do the Arc. We also did a cruise down the Seine, though I would not put it at the top my "things you must do in Paris" list.

The catacombs, however, would be on that list. It's this approximately mile-long stretch of tunnels underground where up until the last century the city buried a lot of the dead. We're talking nearly a mile of femurs, skulls, tibias, and the whole lot. Kind of freaky at first, but some dude back in early 1800s went through and organized them all instead of just haphazardly throwing them in. For example, in one section the skulls are arranged in a heart shape, and in another spot you find them shaped as a cross. Not for the faint of heart or anybody who is uber-afraid of small spaces. But for everyone else, well worth 7 euro for a couple hours of entertainment.

So yeah, Paris rocked. I would go there again and again, no problem. I really do love that city. The final tally for this trip is below:

Number of outfits packed by Lori for 3 night trip: 7
Number of crepes eaten: 4
Number of times offered tiny eiffel tower key chain: 127
Number of tiny eiffel tower key chains purchased: 1
Number of times I said "Sacre bleu!": 11
Number of times Lori laughed: 0
Size, in square feet, of hotel room: 120
Height, in feet, of Eiffel Tower: 986
Number of steps up to second platform of Eiffel Tower: 692
Number of steps up to top of Notre Dame: 380
Number of steps down into catacombs: 180
Length, in days, Mike's thighs were on fire: 2