Back to Day One.

Paris! We arrived and quickly experienced the first of MANY stairs. After being scammed in the subway station (note-if someone is eager to befriend you or just butts in to help you, they are not helping, they are scamming), we got to the subway stop right by our hotel....and to a sign that said 'there are 92 steps'....great. We were welcomed by another 40 steps after that to go up the street to our hotel. Even better! Besides the presence of steps at every turn, Montmarte was a gorgeous area to start out in Paris (and a great way to get in shape).

Our first few hours in Paris. Unable to check-in to our hotel until late afternoon (hence the bad picture and tired eyes), we hiked to the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower...

Our first baguette! With stuffed tomatoes, haricot vert salad, and some sort of cured meat wrapped around delicious cheese. Bon appetit!

...so happy to see Grandma Kuntze's raspberry pie in a pastry shop right beside our hotel (and it tasted nearly just as good!)

The entrance into the cattacombs. The translation is something like 'Stop. This here is the empire of the dead'....and it didn't get much brighter after that!

Taking in some culture at The Louvre....and having no clue what we were looking at, obviously a little more impressed with things like the size of this painting!

Paris was good, a nice way to start France, but we were eager to leave for something different. Next thing you know, we had booked a flight to Barcelona.


...as for what's going on right now, Marc's back in Marseille at the restaurant for the week. He'll join me again on Sunday, at John and Jill's house, for the night. Today I watched their twin 2 yr old girls in the morning with Hannah, another helpx-er from Philly. Then we cleaned some old wine bottles so they can be filled with fresh olive oil from a local co-op, where they also pickup large jugs of delicous local wine.... rough life!