Paris, France

I woke up around 14:00 with a pretty bad hangover (the worst for me in a long while), showered, dressed, and then continued to relax in my dorm room bed. Giovanni woke up around 18:00 (in his defense, he did just cross the Atlantic and was still suffering from jetlag) and shortly after we decided to have dinner in the hostel restaurant (yes, this hostel has a club, a restaurant, and a rooftop bar, but it doesn’t have a kitchen, a common refrigerator, and a small, personal, friendly atmosphere). I took the elevator down to the restaurant, ordered my dinner, and then Giovanni joined me once he was showered and ready. For dinner I had a much needed Powerade, an Orangina (i.e. sparkling orange juice, which actually tasted quite nice), cheesy nachos (made with Doritos), and a pizza with ham, olives, and mushrooms. After dinner, Giovanni and I walked to the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, which was created in 1867 AD and built by Jean-Charles Alphand; this park features a cliff that towers fifty meters over an artificial lake and that has the Temple de la Sibylle perched on top, making it a very picturesque place that was very popular with locals. Giovanni and I walked around the park, taking in the sights, before heading back to the hostel around 22:00 (although it felt like 19:00/20:00 – neither of us were used to the sun setting so late and were surprised each day we were in Paris how late it actually was compared to the sun’s position in the heavens). Once back at the hostel, I relaxed some more before going to sleep (sometime around midnight), still very tired from last night’s excess and in need of rest before our visit to the Louvre the next day.