Today started out by saying good-bye to our comfy room and gracious host in Cherbourg. Jean-Claude was more than kind. He eased our transition into French language and habits, let us do our laundry at his place (and guided us through the process), and gave us a ride to the Gare (train station) on this morning, yet he didn’t want to let us round our FF360 ($50-55) bill for two nights up to FF400 ($55-60).

The train for Paris left at 11:10, so we were able to slack a little. We’re about to use our first travel day on our EuroPass, which entitles us to ride in the first class cars (People our age are only allowed to buy first class Eurail passes, the second class passes are for the 26 and under crowd).

We found a first class non-smoking coach car (all-l-l-l the way to the other end of the platform) and got on. We quickly cruised into countryside populated by the usual mixture of cows and sheep (Jean-Claude had told us that Normandie is a major dairy region), with a rare stop along the way. We got into the Paris St. Lazare station on schedule at around two-ish.

We learned how to work the coin-operated toilet turnstyles: you give the attendant some coins, and she will operate the turnstyle.

It took us a while, but we found out that to find a room we had to go to the TI on Champs d’Elysees. We were given a small slip of paper with the address to the place, and directions of how to get there on the Metro. So we headed for the Metro to learn about mass transit in Paris.

We easily found the TI, which was literally in the shadow of the Arc de Triomphe. We found an office well-staffed with agents fluent in a multitude of languages. Each agent wore flag pins to indicate the language(s) they can work with. Some English speakers wore a pin with the Union jack, some with stars-and-stripes, and others wore pins with a hybrid British/American flag.

We were set up with a cheap hotel room for FF236 (just under $40) on Rue de les Petite Hotels (Street of the Little Hotels). We left the TI with a map of our neighborhood and directions to our hotel via Metro and walking.

For our next order of business, we were directed to a department store at the corner. Rather than have our bags checked, Obbie waited with them at the door while Rozie went inside.

He had an interesting chat with the very polite multi-lingual Afro-Frenchman minding the door. He was allowed to find out that we are Americans, so the subject matter drifted to the recent 9/11 attacks, the new war and other news.

He asked why we had come to Europe. Obbie said that we came to learn more about the rest of the world. “And what have you learned?” said the good door-man.

That everywhere you go – and it seems to be true of any time in history – ordinary people don’t trust the government. Whether they have kings, presidents, or prime ministers, the rulers are never trusted by the ruled. This observation drew a smile from the door-man, and it killed just enough time before Rozie’s return.

After some more time in crowded people-cans speeding through tunnels under the city, we found our way to Place Franz Liszt and Rue des Petits Hotels. Our room is on the top floor of a one-star hotel facing the street.

It’s not bad at all once we overlook a light we can’t get to work, the lack of usable electrical outlets, and some peeling wallpaper.

The best thing was that it’s a 10-minute walk to the Gare L’Est, which is where we catch tomorrow’s train out of town.

We’d been told the Metro could be shut down due to a strike on Thursday (tomorrow), so tonight could be our only chance to see the Eiffel Tower. Time for another adventure on the Paris Metro.

Along the way we learned that you can’t directly transfer from a numbered train to a “lettered” train. We also learned that some of the tunnels connecting one line with another can be a block long – much longer than they appear on the system map. This little Metro trip was turning into more of a walk than we’d counted on.

It’s also a Bad Idea to go into the Metro system without a butt-load of French coins in your pocket. Because lurking in the tunnels under the city are some of the finest buskers we have encountered so far on this oddyzee. All of the music we saw in the metro (and it was all in the transfer tunnels, not on the noisy platforms) was very good.

We saw solo classical violinists and we saw a string quintet. Some buskers carry various forms of portable sound systems for playing pre-recorded accompaniment. There was a three-piece brass band playing to pre-recorded piano and percussion. A clarinet player carried the rest of his “klezmer band in a box” on and off the train with him as he continued to play.

We saw official-looking tags hanging from the members of one group, so we suspect there may be a review/permit process involved with playing in the Metro. At any rate, these hard-working professional musicians deserve to get some change thrown into their instrument cases, because the quality of their music is on a par with what we pay dearly for.

The Eiffel Tower

You can’t appreciate the size of the Eiffel Tower until you’ve stood under it.

Seeing it at night is a different experience from seeing it in the day.

It costs less than $10/person to ride the elevators to the very top. Most Paris landmarks, including the Eiffel Tower, are bathed in flood lights at night. That makes the landmarks easy to spot from the viewing platforms, and with the right instrument it’s not hard to get a passable photograph.

We probably had more fun being there at night. Most of the other people there were either from a large Belgian school group (how’d you like to have gone to the Eiffel Tower on a high school field trip?), and lot of young couples and tourists trying to avoid crowds. We had great chats with some British tourists, and a 16-year-old girl from the school group.

We took tons of photographs, but the digital shots are kinda dark and grainy – but passable. You have to change elevators on the second level, where there is a gift shop, toilettes, and a pay phone.

We have a phone card that won’t work outside of France, in spite of being promised that it would. So we burned up our minutes with a whole bunch of phone calls home from the Eiffel Tower.