First 3 days in Paris

The first three days in Paris have been wonderful.  We arrived at Colin's cousin Joanie's house after getting lost walking from the train station.  Luckily enough a french/american couple found us looking lost and noticed Colin's baseball hat as american and came to offer us directions.  But they actually ended up driving us in their car to Joanie's house, which was extremely surprising yet very welcomed.  

We spent some time with Joanie's 3 kids, Matthew 10, Nathalie 8, and Paul 5, who are a delight.  They all have an abundance of energy, and can't get enough of their American cousin, whom they use as a real life playground:  scaling, hanging on neck and arms, and attaching themselves to his legs to be dragged around on the ground.  Since French kids don't go to school on Wednesdays, and also have an hour and a half lunch on the other days, we've found a lot of time to hang out with these 3 little darlings.  

We've spent the next two days traveling in to Paris (it's about 15 min away by rail) and just walking around.  Haven't really ventured in to any museums or churches yet, tho we will, just wandered around the streets in awe of the beautiful enormity of the Paris cityscape.  We walked up and down the Seine, which is the river running through the middle of Paris, and gazed at a distance some of the monuments we will further inspect such as Notre Dame, and the gold-plated building housing Napoleon's tomb.  Last night, after walking down the main avenue Saint Germaine with a slew of window shopping, we dined at a little hole-in-the-wall Italian joint before heading up to the top of the Eiffel Tower at night.  The elevator ride up to the top is a little shaky, but the view from the top is incredible:  hence Paris' nickname "The City of Lights."  I was a bit scared to walk out to the edge of the top of the tower, it just didn't seem that sturdy.  I mean, you're caged in, but it's only a metal floor, and it hangs over the support beams, so you can look straight down.  All the monuments around the city are brilliantly lit up to see from the top of the tower, making them easier to pick out from a distance than it would be during the day.  For some reason, my camera didn't want to focus very well while taking pictures from this aerie, so many of the photos have blurred lights in the background.  Although frustrating, a few did turn out with some very trippy looking visuals in the background.

We ended up being some of the last people on the tower before closing, and we had to scurry back to the train station to catch the last train out of Paris back to the little suburb of Bourg-la-reine, where Joanie's house is.  Very lucky indeed, lest we would have been stuck without lodging in a city that was at best 32 degrees out by that time.  So it's been great so far, now I'm looking forward to a wonderful birthday filled with sightseeing and a romantic dinner near the Sacred Heart church.  I'll keep you posted. Oh, and btw, my boyfriend is soooo cool and handsome!(Says Colin)hahaha