July 21, Paris

It's a cold and rainy morning in Paris. It's incredible that the weather could be so cold in late July, but it is. It's certainly going to be miserable for the cyclists on the Tour de France today if this weather system extends to where they are riding.

Yesterday was an exhausting day, even if it did involve mostly sitting. I spent from mid-morning to mid-afternoon mainly reading at the train station at Perpignan, as I had my heavy backpack with me and didn't feel like lugging it around. I had splurged on a first-class train ticket to Paris (an extra 11 euros or about $15.50 in US funds), so I had plenty of space on the train. From the train station I took two subway trains to get to within about two blocks of the hostel.

I'm in a four-person room. Being tired, I hit the hay early, around 10 p.m., and then was awakened repeatedly by the others coming in and out of the room and turning on the bright overhead light each time they entered.

I've only met one of my roommates, a young black man who pointed to himself when I entered the room and said "Me French". He doesn't seem to quite accept the fact that he can talk to me in French and insists on using phrases of broken English, even though I speak to him in his language.

For someone who has never been to Paris, speaks no French, and doesn’t have a plan of the subway system, trying to get to one's destination when one arrives must be daunting. The trains are always very crowded, and in the stations it's easy to get caught up in the rush of people hurrying to their next train. Most trips involve changing trains a time or two, and getting from one train to another within a subway system involves going down long corridors and up and down long flights of stairs. Only sometimes is their an escalator.