Saturday, May 9

I made it to the gospel concert at St Germaine de Pres last night and wow... very cool. Ok, so it was a bit contrived, but the music and musicians were powerful anyway and there was a group of us in the wings (without seats) that were clapping and dancing along. I actually got some video of it, but I'm not sure the sound comes out right (I only have laptop speakers). The result of booming gospel voices in an ancient Catholic church was very cool! My wish-I-could-capture-it moment was watching the "wings" crowd and seeing two gals that were watching the choir do a slower song and doing the knee-bending-heel-tapping version of the gospel sway :)

I really wanted to go to the jazz jam session at Duc des Lombards last night, but I just wasn't feeling well enough. I've promised myself that the Friday before I leave when I'm back in Paris, I'm definitely doing it!

I finally got to the inside of l'Opera Garnier, but it was packed with people (Saturday at a tourist attraction). The pics, again, don't come out right, but it's one of my two favorite places in Paris (the other is Notre Dame). It's just... glorious! I posted a few pics on Flickr that came out ok.

I then headed to Tour Eiffel to see if I could catch some sun in between rainy-looking clouds, but it wasn't meant to be. Fun people-watching-isms: a man getting a full sized (as big as himself) Mexican flag out of his backpack and posing with it in front of Tour Eiffel (what has he done with it the rest of the trip?); the tail end of a wedding party fleeing Trocadero (I only knew it was a wedding party cause of the massive ball of tulle that led the group - the bride I assume); and my favorite: an Italian family walking up to Trocadero with mom and dad covering the kids' eyes as they walked up the steps before the big reveal - too cute!

I had a panini from the tourist trap lunch vendors that was quite delicious and journaled some but it was getting darker instead of lighter, so I took the obligatory self-in-front-of-Tour-Eiffel picture (so you guys know I'm really in Paris) and split.

Walked around to some of the hotels (not hostels) that Rick Steve's recommends for le Marais (I love the neighborhood, but I think I'm over sharing a room and extra-sharing a restroom) and finally scored a room at a Hollywood-themed place not 4 blocks from the Fourconnier hostel. WiFi and cafe in the lobby and the rare airconditioned room, but not as inexpensive as I was hoping. Hey, it's May. What do I want from these people, right?

I finally got to Anne by phone and we made plans for the week of May 18: I'll be meeting her in Mulhouse via Strasbourg in the far East side of France. So I'm officially booked up for the rest of my stay, which is a nice feeling. Now to enjoy it all!

Running out of battery again -- see all pics at Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/37916084@N03/sets/72157617637794620/