Well two things....first i saw a castle yesterday....not nearly as impressive as --------> but it will have to do.....next so i edited added in and made the last entry much more comprehensive but then either i hit back or i timed out on the site and it wanted me to sign back in.....but all editing and add ons lost.....quite frustraiting......what sucks more is that happened to me the first entry i did so now i perodically go back and copy what i have done so if said occurance does happen i am have sved a bit of the progress......this time though i had not done so.....cause i ws only editing i guess;.......grrrr.....but it is so hard to start such a thing over.....you know those peopel that loose whole papers and have to do it again......well i shouldnt say those people cause we all do it.....but i cannot think when i have....but i am sure i have.....well i cannot imagine retyping it....just resaying some of my thoughts i totally hate cause it comes out different and is generally of poorer quality.....And it is so boring saying what you just said......but enoguh of the rambling time to tell the tales of yesterday and today......wait i should save....ok good to go.....

So we woke up a bit late.....915 or so....maybe 930....hopped into the shower and just made it to breakfast......we were the last ones.....good stuf so another 'free' meal that is of course included in the 19 euro dorm price......then i had to pack my bags cause i had a new place to stay.....so packed them and stored them in the lockers downstairs.....amber was hitting up the internet so i met her there and we agreed we both needed to spend a little time there and did so.....the we would go to the chateau de vincennes.....we were gonna make it a lesser day after a long first day......got to the castle and needed real food by that time....so we found the cheapest store was a pizza restuarant and got lunch there.....i they had a pizza of the day....so i went with that.....it reminded me of emmetts favorite the thin ones....the ones by the time you eat em they are cool.....but it was loaded with good things on top.....so did that and then hit the castle......now as we walk in we cannt really see but it is all under construction.....we go to the info office and get our tickets for the tour in french.....there was an english version of the tour in a read along thing.....well it was kinda downhill from there.......it is really hard to do the read along thing and be intrested in it....a lot of dry facts....and the tour guide seemed really intresting but yeh in french.....it is easier to hear someone tell you it and he was animated and prolly put some life into the stories and such.......The dojon which was kinda the reason this castle is famous was completly covered and nonassesible due to restoring process......that is depressing but we still got to pay full price tickets....student rates anyway.....and then it got worse cause what we did get to go in was pretty destoryed and dirty......the guide we were reading did not follow what the guide was doing....possibly due to the construction possibly cause it was really old......but this whole place was a little village so they had a church too that we get to go in.....well that too is completly covered for restoration......yeh not really worht the cash and kinda depressing......then on the way out amber wanted a pic under french flags so i put down the things including some large peices of paper we had found at an art store for the grave copying.....well it was right on the bridge and fell right off the edge into the mout.....well no water in it but no way to go get it....at least not for 56 cents worth of paper.....so the guard shrugged his shoulders, amber laughed, i felt a bit dumb but not much i could do....besides we had other paper we could use......then we found a cemetary....it was the biggest one in paris i believe......i was trying to ask the guard about where some of the older graves were but the only english he knew was jim morrison and the directions to his grave.....then i remembered reading this not even realising where i was......well i needed to go see it.....it was pretty simple......though for a cemetary there was a ton of security just wandering around and a special guard near morrison's grave......a few pics and then we wandered amoungst the place a bit.....the re were no grave stones and they were all above ground memorial peices of some sort......some were prolly crypts as well......but the place was full.....it was actaully really neat to see just how full it was...but i dont know how they get some of the new ones in with the old cause the paths are so small and it is al kinda on a hill so it is uneven.....anyway then we had one more thought for the day as it was free....;to se this 32 houses that are the same.....i wasnt sure what to expect but it ended up being a really cool square....and there was a really nice park in the center of these 32 identical houses.....a clean park no dogs allowed.....and really busy as this was the first nice day in forever.....underneth the houses were shops all pretty artsy and ritsy but some really cool peices......one was a man made out of springs about 5 feet high and bounced around when u tapped him.....just had to see it.....so it becoming late i needed to pick up my pack and head to my hotelish hostel deal.....i booked it online so i didnt know what to expect.....well we hit up internet for a minute to find where my hostel was and did goodbyes......amber was a really cool person.....she seemed fairly outdoorsy and was not put of by a lot of the normal girl things......if that makes sense.....she was anal about a lot of things which was funny but i can totally relate....come on i weighed even thing i brought.....so i took off and headed to find the place.......

it had been a few eshausting days and i was feeling it....and it had been a few weeks since i spoke to home so that was sorta the goal for the evening.....i got to the hotel and it seems there was a mistake with my room.....i was thinking it was theirs but apparently it was mine......in remembering back when i placed the reservation i typed in my CC number wrong so it sent me back to the last page and reset some but not all of the choices.....one it reset was that i wanted a double bed and not a single.....that was a 25 dollar extra error on my part as i was not allowed to change and the hotel was full......the lady was nice about it but it was clear i had to suck it up caus ei was not gonna leave at like 9 at night......well then she hqd to ask me if i needed sheets for a dollar....i was ike they are not included for how much i am paying.......i quickly answered with no thanks i have a sleeping bag......not mean just not happy.......she showed me to my room......at least it was alone so i would get a good night sleep......well i unpacked my things did the handwashing of my clothing and hung it everywhere.......well then i quickly went to make the phonecalls cause the lady was nice and maybe she could explain it......she was just leaving to go out with a friend but tried to help.....then she had a few more things to do and so her frined tried to help me.....she called information to find out how to do it and gave it a shot on her cell phone.....it just wasnt working......silly calling cards.....well i didnt know what to do....she felt bad and had some phone cards she couldnt use cause they didnt work to call turkey where she was from so she gave em to me....they ddint have much on them only a dollar or two but she said if i needed to in an emergency they would be something......she was really nice but then they had to go out;.......so i was left alone, i this hotel that was so crummy.......stairs were crooked as you walked up em.....it was very lower class hotel.....had to share a shower and bathroom per floor.....the internet that they said was included on the booking website was defidantly 15cents a minute......i even gave it 13 minutes online to try to figure out how to use the phone cards but the grand MCI does not offer any help on the website......so i needed to leave this lace as i was frustrated and really pretty sadened.....i think by deciding to call home and then not being able to was a big let down.....i went to a ritzier looking hotel in hope maybe they would speak more english and take some pitty on me and try to help me figure this out......i was thinking it would just take the right perosn to call the right info and figure out what number i press to get outside of france......well no luck he just pointed to the payphone which i had tried many times.....then i went about wandering the streets.....it was kinda a bar type area and everyone was out and about and had somewhere to go.....everyone was with someone or had a destination but i had none of that....plus i was in the crappy overpriced hotel and no way to even call my family and frineds.....there was a little convience stand that had some fruit.....i looked around and it all looked so horrible....a stand like this at 10 at night i should not have expected nice food......but then i saw some granny smith apples....bruised and sickly in shape and color they would be prefect.....it reminded me of home and must have come from the US being called granny smitm......and if they wernt they would be in my mind from a little red barn on the way up to vermont......well it was the best apple i had ever had.....brused and rotten in some parts it had the taste of home all over it.....well i passed a police station....i figured maybe they would know about the phones.....no luck the girl looked at all my paperwork and shrugged.....dead end....it was time to wander back to the slums.....got there and did some arts and crafts......there were two other girls trying to call home having the same problem.....but it just wasnt the same.....they were traveling together and come to find out their dad was even with them.....they wernt alone.....and then it was even just to call one of their boyfriends who they were in a little fight over something stupid.....i had kinda zoned them out and didnt have the energy to give them much pity but went through the generic where u traveling to where u from deal anyway....then the girl who had helped me before returned and asked how i made out.....we chatted a bit and she had some intresting comments......first her name was mehtep (again phenetic).....and she was trying to learn english and eventually get a job in london.....currently she was just living with her sister there and working as a waitress......what was intresting about ti was cause amber and i had just talked about imigration......amber really thought it was bad cause of what it did to the economy.....and i kinda understand cause it is they who live there that pay the taxes and especially in canada it is really expensive with national healthcare and such......well mehtep was saying how she needed jobs where she could not claim much in taxes and in fact just what amber had disagreed with......yet she was trying to do good with it and get educated and so what is wrong with that......just something that has been wandering my mind today.....not sure how i feel about it just yet.......anyway mehtep and i wrapped up our conversation and i hit the sack......this morning i slept in a bit and it was such a great nights sleep.....my voice sounds like crap but i feel better....no more runny noise......so i made for the train station.....all of the subways are operating on minimal staffing due to it being 14 juilliet.....the big holiday......so i couldnt use the subway as the machines only were accepting CC and not mastercard......so i walked.....it was not far and would save 1.40.....besides it was a nice day and i needed to find internet so i could find out where the tour was....well got to the station waited ina pretty long line but i found a teain leaving tonight around 11 with a sleeping chair and used the first day of the eurail.....kinda exciting cause the ticket cost 117.00 and i only needed to pay 1.50 for the resevation......and technically i get the nigths acomodations....though not so comphy it is better then a ferry station.....with my sleeping bag and air matress i will make it into something.....the destination is toulouse.....i arrive about 630 and as long as i get a few hrs sleep i am gonna hope to make it throught the day and make it an early night.......that will change i am sure.......got to post and gonna find out where tonights festivities are as i can prolly see them til around 930......

i was recently asked about my travels and these entries cause they are mostly quantitative and lacked quilitative measures......well i have tried to intergect some thoughts which not long ago i dont think i could have done and certainly not like this in an open way for all the fam and frineds to see.....but the question was am i having a good time....i am very much having a good time.....i have to pinch myself and remember that i am in europe....as of late it has been paris....and to visit some of these little shops and see all their pasteries and endulge in one every so often......to eat it near some great little monument......in fact i get kinda excited when i have reason to talk to someone in french cause i feel good about trying and it has been coming back to me a bit so it is exciting when i have an excuse to talk to them......and being me i even talk to random people which is great....i am having a great bt of fun and learning quite a bit.....and never have i been so proactive about getting cultured and such......it is much lore overwhelming then i thought it would be though being away from home......i guess it is cause i have gotten closer to home then i realised......i have changed my perspectives a bit about home and life and it has become more important to me......it is something i am working on anyway......and i didnt expect to even think : wow i am still gonna be away for 6 weeks and that is a long time.....i thought it would all just fly by.......everything has been goign well though and things do seem to fall in to place....which is good and i think there is rhyme and reason why it does work like that....so with that i bid you adeau on a great note......paris has been educational fun and a great stay less the weather....i have learned a lot about how i would like to travel and how i will approach other cities and such....until later......benjamin