Long week...

So needless to say it has been a long week. I have been having troubles finding time to do everything and as you can see the blog got relegated a back seat, but I have been keeping a very extensive journal.

Anyway the last time I posted here I was in Amsterdam. Now I am two stops away from there. After a couple nights in Amsterdam, I caught the train and headed southwest to Paris. I stayed in the Montmartre section, about two miles northeast of city centre. It is also home to the famous Sacre Coeur church. Sacre Coeur is on the top of a large hill and provides one of the most breathtaking views of Paris. Every night hundreds of tourists and locals head to Sacre Coeur to sit on the hill, watch the sunset and drink wine. It was an amazing area to stay in.

While in Paris I was able to go out and see alot of the sights, but also meet a number of very interesting people. The art in Paris is great. In the four days I was there I was able to go to both the Louvre and the Centre Pompidou (modern art). The Louvre, as you can guess, was mindboggling. I am not a huge fan of the Mona Lisa and I had never gotten what all the fuss was about, but to see, from 6 feet, the most famous painting in the world is an experience I will not forget. Le Centre Pompidou on the other hand had a lot of art I was very excited to see, including Picasso, Braque, Dali, etc. But they also had another huge section of video art and other new media kind of art. It was very, very cool. Although I must say Warhol ruined video art for me. I also did all the other tourist kind of things. I went to the the Arch de Triomphe and the Tour Eiffel. It was all very nice. But most of all I liked sitting around the cafe's reading my book, Kerouac's Lonely Traveler, and people watching.

The people I met were amaying. Most of them ended up being Americans living in Paris, but either way they gave me a view of Paris I wouldn't have gotten otherwise. For example, it was pointed out to me that the French are not really rude as much as just proper. The have systems. You should start every conversation with Bonjour Madame...then start talking. Too many people break that system and just start talking. This throws people off and they tend to be rude after that. I don't know. I still think they were a little rude. I also got the oppurtunity to be driven through the 12 point circle that goes around th Arch de Triomphe. That was incredible.

Anyway, this is dragging on to long. Paris was good to me. I then left Paris and headed down to Frankfurt, Germany to hang out with my friend Tomas and watch some World Cup football. I will try to post about my experiences in Germany tomorrow or Sunday.

Also I am leaving tomorrow to head to Milan, Italy. While in Milan I plan on seeing The Last Supper and watching Italy in the World Cup final. I am hoping they win. I think the party in the streets of Milan would make some great pictures.