4/27/05

We unintentionally slept in this morning. Once awake we called our friend Davi from Brazil who is also in Paris for a couple of weeks visiting his sister and her husband with his mom, dad, and older brother. We met Davi on the champs Elysee Virgin Megastore. I have to say that although much larger and more intricate, the public transportation in Paris, compared to Berlin, is much easier to navigate. From the Champs Elysee we went to see the Arc De Triomphe. From there we walked to see the Trocadiro and across the bridge is the most famous hunk of metal...the Eiffel tower. The line to go to the top, though usually an hour long, was short when we arrived. So we only waited like 10 minutes in line for entrance tickets. Unheardof good luck! The view from the top is unbelievable. You can see everything in Paris. The Louvre is by far the largest structure around. We had to walk up a lot of staris to get to the summit but each one was worth it. We tried to go to Pere Lechaise cemetery however, we arrived after 6PM, the closing time. We went with Davi to meet his family for dinner. They invited us to go with them to Bistro Romain. Fantastic food and so kind of his family to invite us. Davis family are genuinely nice people and we had a great time with them. They are so kind to try and speak english with us as much as possible, but Davi's dad speaks no english, so it is more difficult to communicate which is sad because he seems like a cool guy. Davi's mom is a force and is pretty great. She designs clothes in Brazil for boutiques and is doing research here in Paris. We took the train back to Carines and crashed after a long but super day!