by Stacey Mantzioris,

Paris

Stacey here, with another update from abroad...

This morning I left Paris - was there for the past week...and of
course it was awesome.  There was the standard tourist stuff (Eiffel
tower, Arc de Triomphe, the Pantheon, Louvre, Tuilieries, Notre Dame,
the Seine, and about 64 gardens...) which was amazing to see but I had
the most fun just walking around and being a dumbass tourist.

It was strange, after everything I'd heard about the legendary French
rudeness, everyone was so nice to me the first few days it was kind of
disappointing actually.  But then I went to a restaurant, and that all
changed... Things started off well - my elderly french waiter brought
me a little tablecloth and some cutlery and waited for my order.  I
guess I was supposed to order something a little more sophisticated
than a sandwich and a coke because he immediately got this look on his
face like he'd just bitten into a piece of ass,  then whipped away my
tablecloth and removed my cutlery before stalking off into the kitchen
to place my order.  So at this point I think he's hilarious and I
decide that my wine glass is not quite clean enough so I asked him to
replace it when he FINALLY returned.  Well that was it for him, he
sent in a pinch hitter to serve me for the rest of my stay...which was
too bad cause I was really looking forward to asking him to pack up
half of my sandwich to take home with me...

Other than that it was pretty much status quo - I saw Oscar Wilde and
Jim Morrison's grave at the Pere Lachaise cemetery...it's so messed up
because they actually keep a security guard posted at Jim Morrison's
grave and there's a barricade around it like they have at concerts to
keep back the crowds...I guess even dead the dude's still causing a
ruckus.  It was too weird.

So now I'm in a little town in the Loire Valley - it's on the river
and it's really quiet and peaceful.  Too bad our hostel looks like
something out of a bad slasher movie.  It used to be a reform school
for girls - no I'm not joking - so it would be kind of funny if it
didn't feel like being in an abandoned hospital...it's seriously
freaking me out.  I almost had a panic attack trying to take a shower.
So needless to say we'll be leaving tomorrow... (if I make it through
tonight) Mwahhaaahaaha......

K, by everyone - hope you're all good and things are going
well....keep sending me the updates!!  I'm starting to get homesick so
for God's sake write as often as you can! :)

Stacey

PS - Gonna try to ride a bike along the river tomorrow so you may not
hear from me for a while - the next stop is Cannes so hopefully I'll
have some juicy gossip...ciao!