Paris, Day 4, waiting for overnight train to Madrid at 7PM. I am sitting inside a cybercafe in front of the Pompidou Museum sipping an ice cold Coca Cola, the first soft-drink I've had in 4 days. I've been subsisting on a steady diet of evian water and various sandwiches bought at local supermarkets, partly as a measure of fiscal austerity and partly due to the fact that I don't have the guts to sit down at a restaurant for a meal by myself. I've been staying at a hotel called the Hotel Arona in a great location right by the Opera house. Its a tiny little room with a balcony overlooking some Japanese mall. Seems like I've been in Paris for a month, I've spent most of my days walking around. I developed a blister on my right little toe, but fortunately it didn't pop, and I placed a premptive bandaid on the bugger which has staved off the pain. Anyway, I don't really feel like writing much right now, it's a little embarrassing to be honest, sitting in a cyber cafe in Paris, writing a journal entry on a computer screen that other people can see. I'll just be brief and say that I left for Ireland on Saturday and was met by A and D at the ferry terminal. I've always felt I underappreciated the value of my friendships, especially the few that I now have, but after spending several days with A and D I have come back into touch with the importance of friendships. They were so kind and D even took a day off from work to spend a day with me in Cork, a day which I would otherwise have had to spend alone. Anyway, we explored the coast of West Cork, went to a bar/nightclub in Skibbereen where a techno band was playing. It was actually pretty good, great in fact. Euro techno even in a tiny little Irish town beats anything from New York. On Thursday or so, I flew from Cork to Brussels, Belgium and they saw me off. It was a little like saying bye to family. I arrived in Brussels after dark, around 10 PM and had to walk through some scary neighborhoods to get to the hostel. At the hostel, I met 3 people all of whom worked for the European parliament, which I had never heard of. One guy from Slovakia had just started his job and gave me a brochure about the Parliament. An expat American worked for the parliament for several years and said it was a big bureaucratic mess, moving its entire operations between 3 cities every few weeks. He also had some pretty severe criticisms of US policy under Bush. So that was all I saw of Brussels, and the next day I was off to Paris. In Paris, I first tried to go to the youth hostel, but the one in town was full, or closed, and I had to go to one on the outskirts of Paris, near the last stop on one of the lines. The neighborhood was ok, but the hostel looked like some kind of building in Somalia with windows wide open, music blaring, people leaning out windows throwing trash out. I actually made a reservation and paid because I thought that was my only option, but later I spoke to someone at the tourist office who booked me a room at the Hotel Arona, and so that's where I stayed the last 3 nights. Overall, I'd have to rate my experience in Paris as a 5/10. The highlight was probably sitting in the square outside Notre Dame at dusk. Tonight it's off to Madrid!!!