BATH BED AND BREAKFASTS

Have landed safely in Paris and am enjoying a slow Sunday morning at a nearby cafe. Took advice from friends and am staying at hotel near the center if Paris.
It's a bit cold, but not as bad as I was expecting and no snow falling (yet). Language will certainly be my biggest challenge as I am hopeless in that area. Luckily I have great friends I'll e spending most of my time with.
Very happy to have Internet access for my iPhone and iPad via an Orange Pocket wifi courtesy of @Cedric. This makes it easy for me to get around and stay in touch.
Was pleasantly surprised by entering customs at Charles de Gaulle airport. No silly forms or invasive bag checks. Pretty much just showed my passport and "Welcome to France".
Will be checking out some sights today and meeting up with friends for dinner. Can't shake the overwhelming presence of rich culture and history here. It's pretty overwhelming. More reports to come.

If you are curious about anything I am taking about or about my purpose here, leave a note in the comments and will try to respond.

It was certainly hard to leave Portugal, but it was time to fly back to Paris for the last two days of the trip. We stayed at a hotel near the airport (to catch an early flight), but there was still time to take the train into Paris for one last day. This is the view near the Metro stop in the Latin Quarter, which is where most of that day was spent. I loved the way the light looked on the statue, so I took some pictures. This is the best of them. I did a tiny bit of retouching of some marks on the statue, but apart from that, this is just as it came out of the camera. So the end of the trip came too fast, but I have many, many photos and lots of great memories.