07/03/01: Well here it is the first full day in Paris! Got a chocolate eclair this morning, you remember how I love those! And I'll get cookies and other goodies later at the store.

We went to Notre Dame this morning, not as early as planned but still pretty early. Apparently many things don't open before 10 am. Sadly, the towers are closed for two weeks starting yesterday! They're building a protective corridor or something, so no tower tour for us. Boohoo. But in any case, Notre Dame is magnificent. And ever cleaner. We are now at an internet cafe which has, wonder of wonders, american keyboards! Hallelujah! Gotta love that.

So let's see, it's still just the morning. We are planning a stop at the Louvre, and at Les Halles for some shopping. As some of you may remember, the entire city of Paris is ON SALE from the end of June to the middle of July. I'm all ready to spend some money! Tomorrow morning we will go to Versailles and get that 'out of the way,' so to speak. Other than that, we don't have too much planned just yet. I definitely want to go back to the Frog and Princess, but we may wait til Mum gets here on Friday so she can see it too. And then I can finally get a real salad. Yesterday we went out to dinner but all I had was a plate of frites, which, frankly, are getting rather boring. Time for some new food. Well, not really, but you know. I think I for one will be going to the Place des Vosges tomorrow, which I can't wait for. Also, we will attempt to secure free ice cream at the Champs-Elysees Ben and Jerry's store. We heard a rumor of this phenomenon last summer, so we're hoping it's still true. Plus maybe we'll see an American movie again too. There's a lot over here, Valentine is just coming out, and Tomb Raider, and even Crouching Tiger (which, obviously, is not american but whatever). I love seeing movies in English and reading the French subtitles. It's so educational! and fun!

Man, somehow this has gotten boring, hasn't it? And I promised everyone a better one than last year and now it's starting to be crap. I'm terribly sorry! I'll do what I can, but I have such a limited imagination, it's difficult to think outside the box.

Here's something interesting. On Sunday, in Venice, I just sat around various places reading, and of course there are pigeons absolutely everywhere. I was absently watching them bob around and all that, when I noticed that one of them was missing a foot! It was a one-footed pigeon! I never saw one of those before, nor did I imagine there were any. I found myself wondering about the life story of this little bird, and how it felt about not being a normal pigeon. Do you think the others disowned him, and he has to fend for himself, with his one foot and really short legs?