Paris

My adventures in Paris began today, relatively low key. A group from our hostel met this morning for a fairly cheap walking tour of the city, which took us from the Notre Dame (went inside the cathedral where the stained glass sparkles and is quietly magnificent), along the Shakespeare and Co. bookstore where some of my favorite authors, Kerouac and Hemingway used to spend a good share of time, to the Louvre and the central area of Paris for great views of the city. I didn't get inside anywhere except Notre Dame's cathedral, so tomorrow I'll likely set off by myself to cover some ground. The Louvre and Orangiere museums are closed tomorrow, so I'm thinking about an early morning tour of the Orsay and then a day trip to Versaille, with an evening stroll of Moulin Rouge and Sacre Couer to complete the day. Tonight, some of us from the tour are grabbing a few bottles of wine and heading to the Eiffel Tower to enjoy an evening getting the finest views of the City of Lights. I am not completely in my element at this particular hostel or with all the people yet, but already Paris is something extraordinary, and I have a definite sense for the pull that it has had on so many famous artists and intellectuals in the last few centuries.