I arrived at the Gare du Nord and walked right through customs without getting my passport stamped.  That was a real letdown as I was looking forward to taking sh*t from a Frog from the beginning of my arrival in Paris.  Instead I wandered around for 10 minutes or so until I found the LONE escalator to the lower level.  I found the French equivalent of an ATM machine, got some French Monopoly money and bought my ticket for the Metro.

The lines of the Metro are quite extensive and laid out like a bowl of spaghetti.  There is no reason for anyone living in this city to ever have to own a car.  This is a good thing, because given the choice of a Renault or the Metro, I'd just assume hop a train anyway.  I arrived at the Champ du Mars stop (Tour Eiffel) and guessed as to the direction of my hotel.  They had a huge map there, but I was feeling emboldened by my mastery of their subway system.  After walking past my hotel three or four times (the name on the side was NOT the same as the name on my itinerary) I wandered in by dumb luck.

The hotel  Les Jardins de Paris Tour Eiffel is actually a pretty nice place.  The accomodations were no worse than any Motel 6 you might have stayed at before although the shower is a little small.  Had I not lost weight before going to Europe, I doubt I would have made it through the doors. Having successfully dropped off my stuff and taken a shower (you work up a big sweat carrying 300 pounds of luggage up stairs), it was time to take in the sites and sounds of Paris.