Steph is Here!

Having lots of fun with Steph, although she is complaining about the amount of cheese that I am feeding her. She is also warming up to the grocery store white wine, after trying the Desperados beer - "You must be desperate to drink that stuff." The coffee situation is not great here - visitors be warned. The french press is broken and I don't know how to use the coffee maker. Also, do not bring a hairdryer from home, it will heat to 4000 degrees and blow up. Paris is low-maintenance travel.

Friday we saw St Chapelle, my favorite church in Paris, the Conciergie (Paris Prison where they held Marie Antoinette before her date with the guillotine) and then headed over to Notre Dame to see the Crown of Thorns, that is only brought out the first Friday of the month at 3 pm. It was a production - heightened security, white gloves, and teary Catholics.

Yesterday, we stayed close to home and walked through Montmartre, and watched the live music (check out Nikerson)on the steps of Sacre Couer. Hawkers bring coolers of water, soda and beer to sell to the tourists. We had a few Heinekens for a bargain of 2 euros apiece and then realized that the local guy next to us was only paying 1 euro for his beer. I think of it as the tourist tax, if you go to the cafe once you pay the posted price of 4 euros for a cafe creme (coffee with cream), while locals and regulars, will only pay 2 euros.

After Sacre Couer, we headed to see the Eiffel Tower hourly sparkling. I wanted to get a shot of Steph with the Tower behind her, so I stretched out on the ground and she took a photo of me. Anonymous bloggers need not comment that I look wasted.

Two sad events: Steph sat in gum and I lost my red sweatshirt.