All you nay-sayers can officially enjoy your first “I-told-you-so” chuckle. Our first few days in Paris have shown me what a challenge travel can be. Of course when you think of quitting your cube-style life for a year long journey, what could be hard about that? Well, having an airline lose your bags, being without sleep for 36 hours, having a 40 lb bag strapped to your bag, and then getting lost in a myriad of Parisian public transportation lines can quickly make a dreamy Paris vacation turn into an exhausting nightmare. Yesterday, Troy and I endured what I described above, and still had sanity left to enjoy the Eiffel tower, the Louvre & Notre Dame. The experience has given me a new respect for world back-packers, and I pray I can better assimilate to the other countries we will be visiting in the months to come.

Because our travel-angels were determined to turn around the rough start to the trip, last night and today we have spent the best 24 hours. This is due to our extremely hospitable French guides/hosts we met through couchsurfing. A.V. ( or Anne-Victorique) and Victor came to the French metro after we spent hours going back and forth on the wrong trains. They showed us back to their lovely Parisian flat, and gave us the first relxation we have had on this trip.

Today, they took us to " le marche" for our first real parisian bread ( of which I got 3 chocolate croissants, a beignet, and some dark chocolate :-)) and we bought cheese, dried fruit, and pate our brunch with their friends Maud and Xavier. We also managed to pick up Troy some drawers, socks and a new T-shirt as he was going on 48 hours in the same digs >:-(

Brunch was fantastic, and the day got even better. They had their friends bring us their bikes, and together we rode for 5 hours slowly through the city looking at every major site. Madeliene church, the Bastille neighborhood, Opera Garnier, Notre Dame, Champs Elysees, Arc de Triomphe, Touilles Jardin, and lots of other neat neighborhoods and shopping areas I can't name. These hosts are a complete Godsend, and Troy and I feel so lucky to have met them. They have truly made our trip the best it could be!!

We also had a call from US air to let us know that Troy's bag is safely in Frankfurt ( why we have no idea :-)) and on its way back to Paris as I type. THANK GOD!

Tomorrow we are off to Versailles....