Blogging a block away from the Eiffel Tower

Not to brag or anything... :)

I can't believe I'm writing from France. After we figured out the power cord adapter thing, we were up and blogging. This place is unbelieveable, just when you thought you'd seen it all you come around a corner and yet another amazing site. I can't imagine a more beautiful city. Our hotel is located in a quiet neighborhood with street upon street of 5 story apartments (shutters and flower boxes on all the windows). Down below our hotel window locals bustle around buying their daily baguettes and fresh flowers. The cobblestone streets have been covered in rain the last few days, but that only seems to add to the charm. Walking past grocery vendors and perfume shops and high end retail, there's a barrage of smells. Eating outside while walking just seems to add to this experience. On the wild side, we've taken a few taxi rides and today I was pretty sure our little hatchback was going to get smooshed by a bus. Our female "chauffer" was a crazy lady! She had to slam on her brakes for an old lady crossing the street, after narrowly missing her. Then she swerved around an old man in a mercedes. "Oooh la, la!!" she yelled, followed by some swearing about how stupid the old man was. Wow...then to top it off she rolls her window down (during a rain storm) so she can fold her side mirror down, this way she can shimmy past a row of traffic on the right side of the road. Needless to say we gave her a nice tip, for the authentic Parisian experience. Anyhow, we've been joking that Travis' catch phrase is "That's a photo op" and mine is "Beware of the pickpockets" both said with bad French accents. More to come later. Hope all is well in the U.S. And thanks to Norm and LaRee for taking care of our rowdy bunch while we're globe hopping! You guys are awesome!