Paris: Day 4

It's easiest to just break up our time in Paris by the places we stayed: Mother-in-law's, Parisian friend's and Couchsurfer's (hereafter known by her given name of "Catherine").

Before going on this trip, I got so many warnings from people telling me to be safe and not do anything stupid, and I think that we've done a pretty good job following those instructions, but for the first time, I could hear a few voices (Lisa, Stacie) saying "What?! You're couchsurfing? What the hell are you doing?!" But that's where Amy and I ended up -- sorry guys.

Fueled by the lack of desire to pay for a hostel/hotel in Paris, we turned to couchsurfers.com for a place to stay. On Wednesday morning, it was worth putting out a few emails to people with good references. To our credit, we only looked for female couches and tried to use people who had been verified. By Wednesday afternoon, we had the go ahead to stay at Catherine's, a woman of about 28, living in the suburb of Marie des Lilas, about 20 minutes outside the center of the city on the number 11 metro line.

Deal. On Thursday, we showed up with suitcases and sleep sacks in hand.

Having squared away our sleeping accommodations, Amy and I spent the day being lazy. Amy had been been struck with a killer migraine, so we made it as far as the mother-in-law's to pick up her camera (shipped to Paris from wonderful Chapman parents) and then took the metro to the park where she slept it off and I read.

Amy has gotten migraines for as long as I can remember, but within the last two years, it's with crazy frequency. No one knows why, it's just a fact -- neurologists are puzzled. But aside from them being extremely debilitating for her, they give me an excuse to feed my inner couch potato.Because for as much as I like being all active and stuff on this trip, it really cuts into my sitting around time. So with the headaches always on the horizon, I can keep a frenzied pace for a few days, and then eventually, I get to sit on a bench for a few hours and rest up. It's a cruel line of thought, but I offer to get water or hard candies to combat the nausea, cool compresses and such.

Eventually, we returned to the suburbs and trolled for dinner. After walking around looking for places to eat, we were faced with a difficult decision. No places in Marie des Lilas seemed to be serving meals, or if they were, they were way outside of our price range. So. Left with little else, we rationalized a trip to McDonald's. With such a small budget and a desire for a hot meal after so many sandwiches and baguettes, it tasted like heaven. Sometimes you jut can't fight it, even when you're in Paris (well, alright, a suburb of Paris).

We ended the day with grand plans for Friday -- a killer schedule, but sure to be a good one.