"Then there was the bad weather...."Ernest Hemingway

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I've run off with the bike tour guide, am going to make a living doing French Revolution tours for American tourists and am never, ever coming back to the States.

Juuuust kidding. :-)

However, I must admit that after four days of hearing nothing but French, just hearing a "y'all" from our (Texas born and raised) night bike tour guide yesterday was enough to make me want to give him a big bear hug. The tour itself has been the highlight of the trip so far. Everything is even more beautiful at night and you can cover so much more ground on a bike. Plus, there was a boat ride along the Seine with all you can drink wine. PLUS....you can drink beer while bicycling. Do I need any more reasons to want to permanently pack up and move here?

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Yesterday we checked out the "boho" area of Paris--Montmartre. It was very crowded and touristy, lined with souvenir shops all carrying the exact same things, cabaret and burlesque shows, and weird guys that kept coming up and trying to tie pieces of string around your fingers. (???) I had my first crepe and am completely hooked. They kill the elephant ear.

Today we checked out the inside of Notre Dame. Creepy, but being able to see all of the architecture is worth dealing with the creepiness. It began to rain and the weather got that crisp chill in the air, the kind which gives you that sad realization that summer really is over. So we headed to Paris's underground mall, where I (of course!) had to buy the boots that everyone here has been wearing, something for Bry, something for my bros, something for the girls, and a couple other (litte) things for myself. :-)

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We were soaked by the time we finally got back to the apartment. But it was a good soaked. Like Audrey Hepburn during the final scene of "Breakfast at Tiffany's" when she is finds Cat. Unexpected downpours in Paris leave you with a completely different feeling than being caught in the rain back home.