The next day I flew to London and on to Paris where I spent the first night in another lousy hostel in an out of the way neighborhood…..but the next day I found a great room on the top floor of a hostel in an old 18th century building with a courtyard and large FRENCH windows looking out on the alley below... two blocks from the Louvre …. that also had a great continental all-you-can-eat breakfast. The only thing bad about this place was the garbage men who came every morning at 6 AM and seemed to feel that because they had to be up at that hour, everyone else had to as well.

After moving to this new hostel and storing my bags in a locker I toured the old city in the surrounding area - Notre Dame, the Seine, Champs Elysees, and in the evening, to the Eiffel tower. The next morning I went to Notre Dame again to climb the tower as the bells were ringing and to hear a Gregorian mass in the cathedral.

After Notre Dame I planned to stop at an internet café for about a half hour but, as I sat down to a machine, another patron motioned me to the computer next to it that seemed to have more time available on it - 5 hours of time left on it - which is why I can type all this (and the previous logs for the UK and Scotland). Connection time has been expensive - sometimes $2 for 12 minutes. Most of my internet use until now has been strictly for travel business - flights, hostels etc.. But this windfall enabled me to type out this first log.

One afternoon in Paris while crossing a pedestrian bridge and I came upon a guitar player and an accordian player playing some sweet 40s and 50s jazz. I lingered listening a long while. This wasn't the first time my travels have been halted by music. I listened to some great music in London subways as well. I knew I could listen to music back home anytime I wanted and that I should be using my time to SEE the world.... but still. It wouldn't be the first time, nor the last that I would pause my trip to listen to music. Nor would it be the last time I heard those two musicians. The summer after I returned from my trip, headlining a day at the Stern Grove Festival where Angelo Debarre and Ludovic Beier the same to musicians I listened to on a bridge in Paris.

After Paris I traveled south on a bullet train and then I took a narrow gauge train up into the mountains to a small village in the French Alps - Chamonix. The first night I spent in a clean, modern and somewhat institutional hostel about 3 miles from the town center. The next day I found a closer hostel in a funkier but more comfortable hostel.

The first day I took the gondola up the Aiguille du Midi to the very top where I had lunch with these views. Then I took the tram halfway down and hiked along the side of the mountain for about 5 miles to a glacier with these views .

The following day I took a smaller gonola up mountainside on the opposite side of the valley. It was foggy at the top so instead of hiking around the top as I had planned, I took the gondola halfway down again and did some hiking along the mountainside.

Tomorrow I take the day train to the Swiss Alps......... then Barcelona, Italy, Greek islands, Italy, Germany, Austria and then flight to Nepal in late November.

Or revwa! Pardon moi franciais.
Mark