11:25pm - Monday, January 11: Paris

A small little funky eclectic restaurant like something you'd see on Main or Commercial. We wanted steak frites. They had a special of steak frites, a glass of red wine and a coffee for 9.90 Euro. Pretty good deal right? Too good to be true right? Well, it was.

Th steak was stringy and undercooked and tasted like it was cooked on a grill that had never been cleaned. It was tough but soft all at the same time with the worst color on a steak ever. The fries were okay but undercooked, again, lacking nice golden brown color. The wine tasted like water that had gone bad. The bread that came with the meal was at least a day old (a major faux pas). Well, we saw that they had a standard coffee maker and so we thought that they couldn't screw that up.

They did.

It tasted as if they ground up their coffee beans, spilled the grounds on an old dirt trail and proceeded to scoop all of mixture into the brew machine.

Spew.

In a city where every second step is filled with the words, "Oooh, that looks like a nice restaurant! Let's go there," it's a marvel that for some reason we felt drawn to this spunky little restaurant. Maybe it was because of the 3 other tables that were seated with patrons or the fact that it's in a part of town with infinite competition, but we had high hopes for it. I can't remember the name of the restaurant because we ran out of there like the place was on fire but we know now: if it looks like it would fit in with restaurants on Commercial Drive or Main street, just keep walking.

This evening we went to see the Notre Dame and were pleasantly surprised to find out that they had a church service in progress. It was haunting and beautiful. Definitely one of the best tourist attractions I've ever seen. Lives up to all the hype to see it in person.

Tomorrow: The Eiffel Tower, Champs-Elysee and Arc de Triomph. Oh yeah, and buying a USB cable. Seriously, there are no electronic stores in Paris.