Today was a brutal morning. I could have slept for ever. Yes, I know I am in France -get the hell out of bed and wander this beautiful city. So I finally did and was priviledged to partake in yet another delicious French breakfast. What was to be a modest group traveling by Metro to the Louvre grew into a larger group and one in which waiting was involved. This irritated me a tad but I made my blanket statement of once I'm at the Louvre I am saying "Au revoir,...

I am on the Seine and while I still love Paris, I have not had the best afternoon. A fellow student and I had lunch at a cafe near the Eiffel Tower and were not only served last, slowly, and rudely, we were purposely withheld our bill. While our waiter freely handed out the surrounding tables checks, we had to ask at least four times for ours. Of course our waiter snapped at us when we again asked for our bill. "Your bill, Monsieur. I do not forget." Oh, ok so yo...

I am in love with this city. It has enabled me to enjoy group dinners, getting lost in the cold, dark streets, and has given me my words back. I actually spoke French-audibly-at dinner-and survived. My first Parisian dinner was Boeuf bourguignon at Cafe George and it was delicious. Honestly, it could have been terrible and wouldn't have mattered. I love this city so much. More tomorrow, after the ballet and dinner at Reed's.

The above building is not NATO. NATO is a drab 1960's era compound outside the main city of Brussels. The building above is the Royal Palace situated in the Royal Quarter of Brussels, also home to many of Brussels' museums and all things fine art. It's fancy. We happened to drive past the palace on our scenic drive to NATO. We were not allowed to snap any photos of NATO anywhere, so I will pretend NATO is a palace full of tapestries and walk-in fireplaces, not a ...