Let’s get together and feel alright.

Our last day in Istanbul was spend leisurely writing our papers in the carpet shop 

To be honest, my first impressions of Paris were not the best. After arriving into Paris, my sister and I lugged luggage onto the train and headed on the hour-long journey aboard trains and multiple metro lines to our hotel. Our hotel may have just been located in a shady part of town, but we were surprised to find Paris so dirty. Trash was strewn all over and it seemed like more people spoke English in Istanbul than Paris. Luckily the next two days worked to change my mind. Though we are running on a tight budget, we’ve been able to get a great sampling of French food. We’ve been eating éclairs, crepes, fo goie, baguettes, delicious cheeses and of course we’ve had a taste of French wine. Granted our meals haven’t been totally well balanced—éclairs for brunch and crepes for dinner—but we are definitely enjoying our time here. Paris is lovely and full of places to wander. Yesterday we stumbled on this installation of beach type areas along the Sienne, Groups of people were playing bocce ball on sanded courts that were set up along the river. We watched for a little before the rain chased us away.  We also had the good luck of being in Paris on the first Sunday of the month, during which a good number of museums are free. Unfortunately the line for the Lourve scared us away, and so we went to d'Orsay Museum instead, which was much less of a wait. 

The Lourve!

A market that Lisa and I stumbled upon near Bastille.

How are the French not morbidly obese?

Pilgrims going to Mecca, by Leon Belly. One of my favorite paints we saw in d'Orsay.

 Now we are headed to Lyon, a city in central France. Apparently it's the birthplace of cinema. There is a huge festival of lights in December that it is known for and one of my good friends from the Turkey trip studied there for a year. Luckily we figured out the rail system and everything without too many troubles. Late planning makes for late fees, which make for quickly diminished budgets. More éclairs for breakfast! The new schedule is Lyon, then Barcelona, then Madrid, and Lisbon. It’s going to be a lot of travelling in little time, but we’re busy researching places to go and things to eat so all should be good.