Sorry for the dearth of postings, but we haven't stopped walking since we got here. Yesterday we went to La Marais, which is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Paris. The Place des Vosges is there. It's the oldest square in France. It was built in the 1600's and consists of what was then townhouses owned by French aristocrats. Victor Hugo, among others, lived on the Place des Vosges. I'll try to get some pictures up of La Marais and Place des Vosges before we get home.

We shopped and bought enough stuff to fill two more XL boxes from the post office. Oh, I never told you that I'm now Le Chef d'Envoyer aux Etas Unis (the boss of shipping to the US). What a hassle! No one ships to the US. So, we did a bunch of research on the Internet and consulted with Anja at our B&B. We found out that, yes, they have UPS and FedEx here, but they are exorbitantly expensive. UPS wanted almost $600 to ship 50Kg (about 110lbs) to Austin. We finanlly figured out that the La Poste (the post office) has pre-paid shipping boxes for international shipments. The XL box has a weight limit of 7Kg (about 15lbs) and costs €38 ($53). This seems like a lot, but it includes the box, all the postage and insurance.

So, we ended up filling five of these boxes with stuff and shipped everything home for a little over $250. Not bad considering the distance. Someone definitely needs to figure out a better way to send stuff to the US. Sounds like a business opportunity here for somebody.

We had a little rain shower this afternoon, but it's stopped now. We're about to go out for dinner, so I'll stop for now. Until next time…