hey, again

Let's see how this works--a real US keyboard! I still can't type all that well but it does make things go faster...

I was up early today to wander around, and was lost, so I took a break and will write for a few moments. I am tired--last night I rolled in about midnight, and it was after 1AM by the time that I found my bed. I was a tourist last night, and went to see the Eifel Tower and other sites that you need to see at night. After a rainy wet day, it cleared off and it turned into a perfectly clear (and very cold) night. A great sunset to frame the tower...at least one more picture that might be worth printing. Just as good, though, was the group of back-lit folks waiting for the sun to go down and sharing a bottle of wine. Fun. Wish I had a bottle of wine and people with me to share it with.

While waiting for the sun to set and the light show to begin, I chatted for about an hour with a very nice man from Sweden. He was a lorry driver, and travels all over Europe. He was in Paris for a few days waiting for his load, so he drove his lorry/semi to the tower for pictures. You have to admire anyone who would drive an 18 wheeler in Paris at all, but to take it to a tourist spot just for pictures makes him a hero. It was fun to hear about Stockholm and the places he has been and will be going to. One funny thing was incredible number of people who asked me to take their photos in front of the tower. I was in a good spot, but I think that I assumed that I knew what I was doing because my camera was big and on a tripod. I bet I took 25 pictures. And some of them might even turn out! I should have charged them a few euros each.

I will write more about the state of the economy later but it is interesting. As I mentioned, there are lots of empty tables at prime times and prime places. That is odd, I think, even for this time of the year. I have also noticed lots of empty storefronts, in distant neighborhoods that I have explored but also next to Notre Dame and places like that. That indicates some kind of a problem or at least an effect of the economic downturn. But last night, since I missed dinner, I stopped at McDonalds (OK, I am sorry--it was late, I was tired, I was hungry, etc) and got some fries. I looked hard at the menu, and was amazed to see some super-sized meals that sell for more than 8 Euros. That is almost $11.00 US, and a normal diner, from my unscientific survey of waiting in line and watching, was still spending about 7 Euros on their late night snack. I wonder how long the line would be at McDonalds if every meal cost almost $10.00? Just for the record, McDonald's fries are the same everywhere--except here you can get mayoinaisse for them!

I have taken lots of photos, in the hope, as always, that even a blind robin gets a worm once in a while. I have not wowed myself, but I suspect that my photos at this point are a bit better than the average tourist. As a friend of mine would say, that is because I have a good camera. True, but I hope that there is a tiny bit more than that. I think that I can remember about a dozen shots that make the trip worth it. Photography has changes so much since I was here last, and it is very different than Praha. For sure, there are fewer Kodak/Fuji/Agfa picture spots in Prague than there are in Paris. And the prevalance of digital cameras has changed it so much. I see people shooting and then chimping (looking at their digital monitors to see if they got the shot) all the time. I wonder how many of these photos will actually be printed or if they will remain on the memory card with their Christmas and Easter pictures from 2008. I am sure that in some homes across the world, when people ask to see Paris pictures, a digital camera will passed around and the viewer gets to see Notre Dame on a 2.5 inch screen. Seeing, 0r being forced to see Paris that way has to be worse than the old slide shows.

I am foot sore, and a bit tired, but this has been a pretty smooth trip. You know what is the sorest part of me? My tummy, where my camera bangs against it. The camera I carry in front of me with the lens weighs about 4.5 lbs, and it is heavy as it bangs...I know, people are openly laughing--that should be the softest spot on me. Not true, mon ami. Abs of steel, remember? As Sancho says in Man of la Mancha, it doesn't matter if the stone hits the pitcher or the pitcher hits the stone, the result is the same. The steal of the camera against the steel of my abs is bound to cause some pain. I hope I don't hurt my camera! (-: