Bonjour from France

Well, that French that I learned 13 years ago is coming in handy after all - as it slowly comes back. Getting off the train in Paris was a real shock - it's a little more scary being in a place where you don't speak the language when you're on your own. And also very thankful that I went to London first and Paul showed me how to use the Underground - I would never have worked out the Metro otherwise (and futher kudos to Paul and Shaz for telling me about the Paris Visite card).

Yesterday I arrived in Paris and found out that it is actually an hour ahead of London, counter to what my travel book says for some reason. My hotel is in Montmartre - I couldn't get a hostel, presumably due to the World Cup - and it is the weirdest place that I've ever stayed in. I have a single bed and a basin and a desk in my room. There is a shared toilet for the floor, and a shared shower for the whole building (although I think some of the bigger rooms have their own showers) - it costs €2 per shower, and you have to push the button in every minute to keep the water going. Weirdest place ever. There's no kitchen either, so I'm having to eat out - not great for the budget.

After I arrived last night I went wandering around because it was still daylight but too late to do anything and stumbled on the Moulin Rouge, 2 streets away from my hotel. I also discovered that they eat horse in France (I had to double check the translation of cheval to be sure). I think I'll be avoiding that particular delicacy...

Today I visited Disneyland Paris - I wanted to see the real French sights first, but I also wanted to avoid the kids that I assumed would pack the place on Saturday and Sunday, and potentially Friday. It was pretty cool - I went on the teacups as predicted, but I also went on all of the other rides. Most of them were pretty tame, especially compared to the rides at Dreamworld - with the exception of Space Mountain which was all in the dark and had a loop and a few corkscrews for fun. It seemed like every second building was a shop though, and there were no shortage of little kids running around in Cinderella dresses and Peter Pan outfits... and a number of adults walking around wearing branded stuff too. I very stupidly only wore a t-shirt and light jacket because it wasn't that cold in Montmartre, and promptly froze to death on arrival at Disneyland, so I bought myself a Disney jumper - I avoided the one that said "D O N A L D" across the front in big letters so that I could wear it at work without strange questions, and got a Stitch one instead (from Lilo and Stitch).

Now that Disneyland is out of the way, I can get down to the real touristing. Tomorrow I think I will have to make the first stop the Eiffel Tower. The most amusing thing I have found so far about Paris (and Edinburgh too for that matter) is that there are New Zealand flags everywhere (and no Australian ones!) I presume this has something to do with the World Cup, but that begs the question - what happened to the Wallabies?