I am up to my clavical in culture.

And loving it!

We spent most of yesterday at the Musee' D'Orsay, our second visit this trip. I even sat in the main hallway with the sculpture and wrote for an hour. Heaven.

When I have a quiet moment, it drives me a little bats that I haven't been able to blog with photos while in France. But when you have to pay 3 Euros an hour (about $5) to get online, you begin to rethink your priorities.

I might have been glad if I'd brought my laptop because most places we've stayed provide free Internet connection, but then it would be another thing to lug around. People here seem to be politely amazed that a) I brought an entire carry-on sized piece of luggage and a backpack for three weeks' travel (this is considered a lot) and that b) my laptop is not in there somewhere.

We are using the Metro quite a bit. Hydra and I took it to and from the Eiffel Tower when he was here, and now Mom and I are finding it very useful. Even branched out to the buses this morning... They are a little harder to figure out, but stop more places and stay above ground where you get to say "Oh! The Louvre!" or "Our dome!" out loud, too loud.

Contrary to popular expectation, we've had no issues with French people being rude. There was one hotel in a not-great part of a town we passed through where the woman who checked us in was not very nice, but she just seemed like the type who has no patience and one certianly runs into those in the States.

From what I've read, if anything the French probably find us a bit rude. I've read that it's important to say Bonjour and even use a title of address like Madamoiselle or Monsiour when entering a shop to ask for something, and to pretty much always say please when ordering food, etc.

I find that I tend to be so focused on saying carafe d'eau (bottle of tap water) in an accent that will not draw a blank stare that I may completely forget to say hello and please. I think in the States we might say hello to a server in a restaurant, but that we figure lots of smiling and nodding while ordering establishes that we are friendly and that we are asking, not demanding.

According to Culture Shock, all this smiling and nodding may establish in the French waiter's opinion that we are a) mocking him or b) differently mentally abled.