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Europe, March-April 1998

Paris

We met at the end of March at Charles de Gaulle Airport.  I had scabies (flea bites) and bells which I got on the overnight train to Amsterdam from Budapest (the flea bites, not the bells, the bells were from Krakow).  We stayed at the Hotel Nesle for about 3 days.  Poobie brings an assortment of Kama Sutra massage oils but much to everyone's chagrin, after some experimentation, they succeed in giving me a slightly bizarre rash on the back of my neck.  Every morning when we left the hotel, the Large Egyptian Lady would hold out her hand and yell at me, "Pay me! Pay me!"  This is the beginning of our excellent picnicking technique.  Most mornings I would go and exchange some money, then pay the LEL and then walk around the neighborhood and get all of our groceries for the day.  Our single bulk purchase was a small tub of butter that I learned would last us for at least a week.  So we tour around Paris to all of the normal tourist sites, but I knew Notre Dame would especially interest the civil engineering side of Poobie.  Little did I suspect that The Climbing begins at Notre Dame.  So Casey looks at the front of the cathedral and says, "Wow!  That must be the biggest church in the world!"  And of course, being the adventurous type as well as the I-want-to-see-everything-from-a-different-perspective and climb-to-the-top-of-everything type, we joined about 500 other tourists and followed Quasimodo's footsteps.  It was kind of cold in Paris, so we decided to go to warmer climes and headed for Barcelona.

Wall at Hotel Nesle.

Left: This is a great picture as it allows you to see how large the Arc de Triumph is.  For reference, I am standing in the bottom/middle of the picture wearing a red shirt.  Right: I was surprised to see that the tower was brown.

Heading to the Louvre on a drizzly day.  The glass pyramid is visible through the center arch.

And here we have descended through the pyramid.  Onto the stinky feet?

Ah yes, feet that are thousands of years old don't smell to good.

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