Saturday in Paris

Today is Saturday. I am lame. No, really... lame.

My achilles tendon on my left foot is as bad as it has ever been. I can hardly walk on it. That is a full week now that it has been bothering me. Damn, i must be getting old or something. Also, I am pretty sure these shoes I am wearing were not really meant as great walking shoes. And they are getting plenty of use lately.

This morning I woke up and had to get my morning parmesan panini. I hadnt showered yet and was just quickly dressed and with a strong limp I probably looked like a homeless man in the streets of Paris. Turns out my favorite panini shop is closed on Saturday! The shame. So I bobbled back towards the Hotel Notre Dame and got one from a different shop. Not as good, but tasty nonetheless.

I do have some fun plans tonight but am starting to wonder if I will be able to make it or not. I found an American Expat online group that is getting together tonight at an Irish bar that happens to be right down the road. Problem is, they are doing a bar/scavenger hunt game. Where you go from one bar to another and they recommend good walking shoes for it. Sounds great, except I walk about .25 miles per hour right now. So the people on my team would probably have to carry me and I doubt they would like that. So, if I am still limpin around like a gimp in 2 hours I might have to pass. :(

My goals for today were to get some tickets bought for the rest of my trip. But let me tell you something... that is a surprise to me... planning and purchasing tickets for a trip can be a very long and frustrating experience. I spent a good 3 hours this morning and got really nothing accomplished. Its like this:

I want to go to Destination A, B and C. I do not care what order specifically. And Destination B is not too important so I could always go to Destination D if B doesn't work out.

So, I look online, find a cheap flight to Destination A. I check for flights out of there 3 days later and there aren't ANY that wont cost a fortune. So, check flights to Destination B and there are none affordable. Hmmm, so I try C and thats ok, but the only cheap flights out take me to Destination E, which I hadnt realy considered but possibly.

You get the picture.. Its terribly frustrating cause overall, none of it is as cheap as I would like for it to be and my budget is very tight right now.

Also, to add an additional complexity level to it all. I recently found out a good friend from Portland is in Europe. She has invited me to Ireland where her and her boyfriend will be visiting her aunt this Wednesday to Sunday. I could stay at the aunt's for free just outside Dublin!

I don't really like the idea of back tracking, but its free rent! And it would be fun to be with friends again. But this might mean no Italy or Amsterdam (which I am considering avoiding anyhow cause its very expensive).

So, I have decisions to make and I am not making them fast enough. I need to buy some tickets today.... right now...

Again, this has me thinking that a bit more pre-planning could be a good thing. I mean I like the idea of being able to make new decisions on the fly, but ... oh well...


Yesterday, I walked all over Paris again and took lots of photos of the city.

I also walked outside the Louvre and shot more photos (below) of the exterior. And, I found out that the first Sunday of every month, all museums in Paris are free! Which means I can go to the Louvre tomorrow and take pictures! And I just might.