Paris, France

The Friday after I got back from Oktoberfest, we (Lukasz, Joe, and I) had to drive down to Paris for work and returned just today. Fortunately, they gave us the weekend there off so we got to have some fun while there. I actually spent a week in Paris back in Feb of '98 though and saw most things then. A lot of the time was just spent walking around the city. I saw the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, and various other things again.

The most exciting part of the trip was undoubtedly the Pari-roller-blading on Friday night. It's just as it sounds: roller-blading through Paris after dark. Every Friday night at 10pm, thousands gather to roller-blade through the city for 3 hours. They start at the same place every week, but the routes vary. I didn't actually read the web-site before doing it, so I was rather suprised at the pace we went. I guess to cover 18+ kilometers you need to go pretty fast. I had expected a leisurely stroll but this was the fastest I've ever skated. It's not necessary an easy route either. We went over cobble stones, down-hills, through tunnels, etc. I'm not a great skater by any means so I spent most of the time staring at the ground trying not to kill myself by tripping (many people fall). Fortunately, one of the dudes with us was a regular and pointed out some awesome views of the city by night (including the Eiffel Tower, which was beautiful.) Anyways, we only lasted 1.5 hours of it, but it was a blast. I heard that they have something similar in Amsterdam, so we plan to try that sometime.

Btw, driving in Paris is crazy. And try to avoid the roundabouts in rush hour, particulary the one around Arc de Triomphe. There's like 5 lanes of traffic all going round and round and if you get stuck in the middle, may god help you if you want to get out again. The advice I got was that nose-position is key in Europe. If you want to go somewhere, cut someone off by getting the nose of your car in front of the other car's and then you (usually) get to go where you want from there.

Pictures here.