Near the Hôtel des Invalides, we came across a bunch of Parisian kids playing roller hockey on the wet sidewalk (left). Rollerblades, and even old two-by-two skates, which are probably considered retro, are everywhere in Paris right now. We even saw cops on rollerblades - pulling over cars in traffic to give tickets.

One of the more interesting things we did was checking in with the US embassy. Since we'd been on the road for a few weeks and hadn't heard very complete English news, we wanted to make sure everything was cool as far as terrorism and computer systems. You go up to a giant, unmarked door near the Place de la Concorde, show your passport to the guy with the Uzi, and you're instantly admitted to a world where everyone seems to have a Texas accent.