PARIS!

all my belongings (a huge phew!) and i arrived in Paris this morning (well morning in Paris anyway) and my first day in France has been a productive one.
- succeeded in taking the Metro from the airport to the stop closest to my hostel...i love public transport that makes sense. lines with differing colors, line names that actually use the destination in the line name...even the maps and kiosiks where one buys the tickets makes sense!
- checked in and stored my luggage. this hostel does not allow you in the rooms from 11-5 for cleaning which i usually have mixed feelings about but for today it was totally fine because i just wanted to leave my bags and go
- found my way (by Metro it was so easy!) to the train station to purchase my tickets to San Jean Pied de Port. my first foray in the usage of French while actually in France. the first person i spoke with seemed kind of annoyed with me from the start, maybe i shouldn't have started with "ok...je parle un peu de francais..." i continued on but by that point she looked at me as if i was speaking anything but French and pointed me to another agent. i tried again with this agent-who according to the flags next to her name also spoke german and english- i felt the need to try and possibly redeem myself and hurray! it worked, the entire transaction in French!
- meanwhile it has been raining and cloudy all day...and it is about 50 degrees which is really cold since i was in 99 degree weather yesterday! i figured i should still get out and walk around despite the weather and found myself wandering through the streets of Paris when i looked up to see the top1/4 section of the Eiffel Tower peaking out behind the trees. soon enough i was standing in the rain looking up at the soaring tower.
- of course i couldn't truly enjoy the day until i had some sort of French-ish food item. i bought a warm and crusty baguette to munch on as i walked through the wet city, marvelling at the fact that i am really in Paris!

til later