I curse you, Weather Gods of Paris

This is it folks, most likely the last update of my European trip. Did you like it as much as I did?! Hopefully you got a sliver of the action and have become inspired to buy me some drinks as a form of gratitude for all the entertainment I have provided. Let me just tell you, and I'm not doing this to throw a guilt trip, but my fingertips have become bloody from typing so many blogs. Seriously, I may have to go on disability...

Nonetheless, Paris:
Paris is grand, its unique, and its a fun place. I just wish I would have come here earlier in my trip to have appreciated it a bit more. Not to say I'm not wowed, but I feel I'm not as wowed as I should be since I have heard so many people refer to it as their "favorite city". I think I can sort of pinpoint why I feel this way. The weather. Plain and simple. From my previous blog, you'll know that I unwisely boasted about all the good weather I've had along the way. Seems like the Weather Gods have had the last laugh though. They've sent rain showers, mist, sprinkling, and any other type of rain that is enough to deter you from wandering around the streets.

For instance, today appeared GORGEOUS outside. Actually, it was the first day I've woken up to good weather. I explored the city for a few hours only to be hit with a passing shower. Drove me inside for a good hour. Then, BAM, its perfect again outside. (I think the Weather Gods are enjoying this). Of course I take off for more exploring, only to get SOAKED by another passing storm. I actually ducked under a store awning (I was copying what other people were doing) and attempted to wait it out. Then I started looking at the clouds and realized, "its only going to get worse". Made a mad dash for it, only (you guessed it) to see the clouds break up AS I'm about to get inside. So I say this, "DAMN YOU, DAMN YOU WEATHER GODS".

I've got a Saturday and Sunday left. Lets see if there might be any good weather.

You are probably dying to know what I'm done so far in Paris instead of hearing about bad weather for so many paragraphs. Don't worry, I'll explain!

First of all, let me tell you where I'm staying! I'm staying in the 10th district. I don't really know how the districts are organized except to say that the 10th is pretty centrally located. That must mean paying out the ass for a place right? Well, NOPE, not for a V.I.P. like me. I'm actually staying with a friend all week for a sweet price of FREE NINETY NINE. Thats what I call a good way to conclude a long backpacking adventure! My only complaint is that her shower head has practically no water pressure, and my normaly puffy hair has sat against my head all week, giving me the famous "Legoman" look. If you aren't familiar, just look at a picture of the Lego people toys, and you'll understand!

Okay, so now, what have I done:

• I've ate! This shouldn't be surprising, but what is surprising is that I've gone away (mostly) from kebabs and other street vendor foods. Its so much easier to go to a sit down restaurant when you have someone who can translate the menu for you. PS - don't always trust the restaurant translations either, as I found out "crusty of goat" is also what we call goat cheese. The whole time, I thought it was...well, nevermind. So I've had french food which to be honest I couldn't really pick out if I was blindfolded and doing a taste test. I could pick out crepes though, and I've learned along the way there are two styles. One is a darker color and used for salty stuff like ham, cheese, etc while the other is lighter and ate with sugar, or Nutella, or something else sweet. To me, its sort of tastes like brown bread and the other tastes like white.
• I saw the Louvre. I was actually going to go in, but once I saw the lines, I realized it wasn't for me. I even somehow made it into the pyramid section only to discover a bamillion (yes, that is not a word, I know) people trying to buy tickets. I sat there for a while and admired I.M. Pei's work but decided the Mona Lisa could wait until next time.
• I snuck into the Museum Orsay. Well, technically I snuck in since I didn't have a ticket, but I found out through my guidebook (thanks Rick Steves) that you can go in for FREE NINETY NINE one hour before it closes. It gave me enough time to see the majority of the impressionist art but not enough time to get bored.
• I went to Notre Dame. Weather wasn't good so I didn't go up top to look at the Gargoyles, but the inside of the church was pretty cool. While there, they started playing organ music, and man, that junk was LOUD! At first, I thought God was going to speak to the church after the intro from the organs, but then I realized it was not He, but just some guy up there doing practice or something.
• I almost had a bag of Belgian chocolates stolen from me, by a gypsy girl. This actually happened when I first arrived at the train station. I couldn't figure out how to get through the turnstyle for the metro, and this gypsy girl must have caught sight of my wonderful chocolates. Luckily I also caught sight of her approaching and positioned myself (along with my backpack full of stinking clothes) between her and the metaphorical treasures. I won, mostly in part because my backpack was smelling foul.

Speaking of dirty clothes, I now know when its dangerous to wear dirty socks. Not when they change color, not when they smell funky, but at the point that they become crusty after you take them off and let them dry out, that is when (a) you throw them out or (b) heavy duty wash them ASAP.

Very random last blog, I know, but read up anyways. Now...I'm going to poke my head out and see if the weather has turned nice again...