Day #280 - Baden-Baden to Paris

Parting shot from Baden-Baden

Cafe near my hotel in Paris

Christmas lights in Paris

Sunday, December 19th

Coming to you live from Paris, France - my home city throughout my travels this year. This is the 6th different time I've been to Paris in 9 months. I began my trip here on March 15th. Other visits included: the French Open, Bastille Day, a weekend after the Normandy Beaches, and a return flight from the states. I like it here. I'm pretty comfortable with the city layout. If you're going to have a 'home away from home' - why not make it the best city in Europe.

Today turned in to a little adventure to navigate the rail system from Baden-Baden to Paris. I had things lined out pretty well initially. I had a 12:45pm to Karlsruhe and then a 1:30pm connector into Paris - arriving at 4:30pm. Well, the connector from Karlsruhe was cancelled. No delays - just wiped off the boards. Luckily, I made 2 friends that would help me the rest of the day. A German guy and a French girl. Perfect. They had the language covered. All 3 of us needed to get to Paris. We let the German guy take over first. We got rerouted to Stratsbourg - a 2-train combination. Only problem - we were then going to have a big delay. We let the French girl take over. She worked the system to find an earlier train option. We jumped from 1 train to another as soon as we hit the ground. We found a direct option to Paris - and arrived at 6:30pm. I could have swung it by myself - but it was fun just to 'follow the leader' and not have to think. They both had connections out of Paris - to Nice and Toulousse, France respectively. We said our farewells and were on our own once again. (It's amazing to me just how many folks have helped me along the way this year -- today I would have been OK -- but so many other times, just arbitrary people have been my saviours.)

Our train arrived into 1 of the 6 main terminals in Paris - Paris Est. I had previously booked a hotel in the northern part of town - a couple hundred yards from Moulin Rouge. I knew the train terminal was close to my hotel, so I took a taxi. (8 euro) I checked in around 7pm and have just been relaxing most of the night.

Tomorrow, I'm going to see what the City of Lights has to offer at Christmas time.

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OK - I've come down to the Top 5 on my country list. The kidding around is just about over. Coming in tonight in the #5 position on my most favoritie countires list during my Gap Year 2010 is......................................................... SWITZERLAND

Israel (#12)

Iceland (#11)

Norway (#10)

Greece (#9)

Austria (#8)

Spain (#7)

Italy (#6)

Switzerland (#5)

SWITZERLAND (#5)
Well - this country is spectacular. By now you realize how much I enjoy the mountains, hiking, skiing, and just being outdoors. I don't think there is a better place in Europe for these activities. Two places I'll remember specifically when I think of Switzerland are: Zermatt and the Top of Europe (the Jungfraujoch). Zermatt (the Matterhorn) - I had my best hiking day here. Sitting out on the deck of Sunnegga Paradise Lodge, watching the para-gliders over the mountains -- it was amazing. Jungfraujoch (the highest rail station in the world - 11,400ft) - I had a chance to hike over to this lodge on a snow trail. The pictures I got during this walk are on the short list of best photos on my trip. What about Zurich? This place is elegant, classy, and a ton of fun to walk around. Then, you have Lucerne - one of the biggest tourist destinations in the world. I did a day trip to St. Moritz and walked around the lake. Speaking of lakes, how about the city of Geneva. Walking around Lake Geneva in mid July was incredible. I'll remember the couple days I spent in Interlaken. Swizerland is also very unique in other ways. It has it's own money - although completely surrounded by countries that use the euro. Switzerland stands for quality, money, finance - it may just be the most expensive overall country in Europe. It has a history of neutrality - unlike its neighbors. Combine all of these things - sitting strongly in the #5 position in my favorite countries list ---- Switzerland.