If you want to see a beautiful city with centuries of culture and history, Paris is your place. Last night, Kathy and I went to see the Eiffel Tower at night and were surprised with a colorful lights display of the tower as well. I even gave in and splurged on a French meal. It was actually good, but not as good as ours. We went to sleep, present to the undeniable romance of the city.

However, the next morning was filled with anxiety as we body-checked a local, jump turnstiles, and snook on the train because the line to get our free tickets to the airport was too long and only one person working the entire booth.

I finally saw Kathy to her flight out and even wept to myself after she was gone. (Go ahead…Say it. Awwwwwwwwwww.)

I then headed off to find a train to Stuttgart to meet up with my Cousin again. Even though my Eurorail book told me that there’s a train from Paris to Stuttart at 6PM, the French wouldn’t give me the tickets for it as they said the route wasn’t there. This was after getting passed around to 3 different booths. I then tried to tell my Cousin to tell him that I wouldn’t be getting there till midnight, but none of their Wireless Access Points would let me create a new account. So I tried the phone booth, but had so many problems dialing his number that my credit card got a “Denied” error.

I finally got on the train to Stuttgart, but I found out that the section of the train I was in wasn’t going where I wanted. I had to go about 10 cars up. Sometimes paranoia pays off, who knows where I’d be otherwise.

But please, don’t get me wrong. France is a great place, and the Paris Metro is one of the worlds most efficient. But the rest of it is like trying to get your Driver’s License at the DMV. “You’ve filled out the wrong paper. Go over there, fill out the Red form with the Blue top and then get in line D.” But in a foreign language I haven’t used in 5+ years.

May 5th, on a train from Paris to Stuttgart. I hope.