Mallorca

I'm happy to be in a Spanish speaking country. I can read menus, street signs, and all of those types of regular things better. I also get to practice my most awesome "Gracias" again. I got into Spain last night pretty late, and then had the morning off. I walked around and found the closest Western Union, and then went back to the hotel so I could take a swim in their pool and use the sauna while I had time (and to relax)

The pool is pretty small. I think the average backyard pool might be bigger, but it was very nice, just not for actually swimming in. I did some floating on my back, diving underwater, and some general splashing around. I also did a handstand and a couple of somersaults which was pretty sweet. I haven't done that since High School on a choir trip. Good thing I was the only one around! I also went and sat in the sauna, which is kind of strange. I'm always paranoid of getting shut in those places, so it took a little while to relax.

After all that splashing around I took a shower and headed to work. The HQ is pretty much what you might imagine after being in a store or looking at their website. Really nice, open and kind of "Dot Commish" Everyone that I met was really nice though, which was good. I'm learning all about their inventory tracking systems tomorrow.

After work, I walked around for a bit and took a few pics before it got dark.

Boredom at the Airport

I have had enough drama in the past couple days, so I'm glad that I made it out of Paris. While I was waiting at the airport for about 6 hours I had some time to take pics of the empty room I was sitting in while I was waiting. I tested out all of the "best shot" settings of my camera, made a few old timey movies of random people walking by and generally tried to find ways to past the time. I couldn't even plug in my computer and play the Sims, because in the airport in Paris they don't let you check in early (only 2 hours ahead, and that's just enough time to get through securtiy and to the gate), and there are no plugs in the wall to steal electricity from.

Where are you going?

Bordom. But in Black and White.

Eiffel Tower

Yesterday I went to the Eiffel tower. It was worth the 45 minute wait in line to get to the top. Even with the little kid behind me kicking me. The view is amazing. It's not the same as going to the top of buildings in New York, because there is nothing tall around the Eiffel Tower to block the view. I went in the late afternoon so the shadows of everything were really long.

I took the elevator up, and the stairs down. The elevator has windows, so it's like being able to see the inside of a bulding on you're way up. And it's a pretty complex structure so even the elevator ride was interesting.

I was reminded of my big bro and all of the planning of subdivisions he does. Paris is very complex and it can be hard to navigate since the streets go pretty much in every direction. What they call organic I guess!

I asked this Irish lady to take my picture, since she had like 5 kids and was lining them all up one by one to take theirs. She was pretty funny. Telling me where to stand and which way to turn to get the best shot. Very motherly. Hehehe.

I liked this one. It's just a pic of the steel girders and stuff from the 2nd floor landing.

This is looking straight down. You can see the line that I had to wait in, except when that when I was in line, it wasn't long enough to make a bend. I'm glad that I went when I did!

Sunday and Stuff

On Sunday I woke up late and walked to the Notre Dame from my hotel. It was extremely crowded both inside and out, which made the whole thing a little strange and not very "churchy." The architechture was very amazing though, and I saw a lot of things that I remember learning about in school. The stained glass windows were very beautiful, and it's kind of sad that it is becoming somewhat of a lost art. I took all of my pictures on the low light setting, so it looks a lot brighter in the pics then it really was inside. There were also a lot of people trying to use the flash on their cameras, which was really annoying (considering there were signs in multiple languages asking you not too). The surrounding area is also pretty much a tourist trap. There are a lot of souvenier shops and overpriced restaurants all called "Le Cite du Notre Dame" or something like that. There was a "Quasimoto" restuaruant too.

There were people everywhere! Especially crowding up front near the alter trying to get a good picture.

On the way back to the hotel, I sat by the Seine for a few minutes, which is a very popular thing to do. This duck got out of the water and came within 4 feet of me. He was cleaning his feathers and it looked like he was posing.

After I got out of the Notre Dame dark clouds were rolling in over Paris, so I decided to walk back to the hotel. I bought a book on the way back so I would have something to do while it rained. It was nice to sit and read inside and listen to the rain and thunder for the rest of the evening.

On the street outside my hotel, I ran into the male, French version of Shelby. I decided that this was her long lost French boyfriend. It was really strange to be on another continent and see a dog who looked so much like her. He was pulling on the leash when they started to walk like she used to do when I first got her. They at least have to be cousins.

I Louvre Paris.

Hehehe. I hope that you appreciate my joke. I didn't spend too much time inside the Louvre. Its so huge it really would take a few days to see everything, and I don't have that many days off, so I would rather spend most of that time seeing the city rather than looking at paintings, although I would like to make a trip back just to go to all of the museums. I didn't take a lot of pictures from the inside, since most places they won't let you take pictures anyway. I saw the Mona Lisa, which was a bit of a surreal experience. There were a lot of people crowding around trying to get a look. It's like trying to get to the front row at a concert. You have to sort of push and squirm your way up to the front, as people get up there and look and then fight the crowd back out to the museum. I'm glad I saw it though, it looks pretty much as you would imagine. I went mostly so I could see one of the most famous things in the world. After I saw that, I decided that I wanted to see the Dutch and Flemish paintings from 18th century, since I like those the most because of the realism and the subject matter. This was one of my favorites. If you want to see more of what I'm talking about, your best bet is to type in Dutch Golden Age into wikipedia and surf around.

There are a lot of giant paintings to look at. Most of them bigger than my apartment.

Leading up to the museum there are large well manicured gardens and park space. The pathways are covered in gravel and white bug dust. By the time you have finished walking through, you're shoes are pants are covered. I took this pic on Sunday, so there were a lot of people out enjoying the warm weather and the park. The pictures came out overexposed, but it was a hot day, and there was a lot of dust being kicked up into the air.

There were a lot of people sitting around with their shoes off reading and just generally getting a little sun.

Catching Up

Today is the French version of Labor Day so I have the day off, and so do most people. Except the restaurant workers. Most of the cafes and bars are still open today, which is good, since I wanted to find a decent cafe to use the wifi connection for free (except the price of my lunch I guess) They're are a lot of blocked off streets, and you can definitely feel that it's a holiday and most people have the day off. I'm sitting in Le Tabac du Chatelet. It looks pretty much like an american bar, but with more tables. There is also a big cigarrette counter like in Amelie with a girl sitting behind it. She doesn't look like the lady in Amelie though. Hehehe.

I'll post all of the pictures that I have been meaning to post, because the connection is much better, and it's free so if it does take a long time it's not like I'll be paying for the time. The next couple are from the day that I saw that big headache statue, as ma said.

This cracked me up when I saw it. Its funny to think that all over the world, whenever someone sees a really dirty car, they'll write the same thing on in.

This was inside St. Eustace, I would really like to hear the pipe organs in all of these old churches. I'm sure that they're pretty amazing. I wonder if this one was still operational. I saw on "Dirty Jobs" on the Discovery channel that it can take up to 20 years to clean and repair a big pipe organ, since there are so many pipes in them and it can be a delicate process. And that would be some very old dust inside there.

The ceilings inside was extremely high, like most old churches. All that open space above your head makes it feel like God is really floating around up there.

Candles.