Sunday, July 2,2000
(the day after)

Oh Dear Diary,

What an adventure I have had!

My thoughts are all jumbled together. It has been so exciting and I have met so many people and seen so many sights and how will I ever be able to tell you about them?

You know how anxious I get in cities? coz I am a small town gal and Paris, well, it is bigger than big. But, I thought I was prepared to handle that, after all, I have been to Dublin and Belfast and Limerick and how much larger can Paris be? So, I was feeling brave and went exploring while Techranger and Twinhollow went to look for hotel rooms and Quietman49 went to find directions to Longchamp.

But, I was not prepared to find people staring at me. It was most unsettling. I know I looked a bit outta place in my jeans and my sneaks, but gee, I simply cannot carry the flame in a skirt and heels. What if a breeze came and blew my skirt into the flame and ..and…??? Besides, I thought to myself, grumbling a bit, haven’t they ever seen jeans before? And then, I thought, maybe it is because I am toting this big ole camera? Or, maybe it is because of my Irish accent? Or maybe it is just because I am gawking at everything with my eyes wide and sighing at all there was to see. Or…or…what??? I found myself wishing I had gone with Missswiss while she made her phone call to George. Or with Nadika while she walked her dogs.

Finally, being the curious sort that I am, I stopped the next passerby who stared at me, and said, “Excuse me, I noticed that you are staring at me, and others seem to be doing so also, and I am wondering if I have pigeon doo-doo in my hair?”(hoping he understood English, for I know not a word of French ). He laughed and said, ‘No, the birds have not landed” and pointed to the center of the square where there was a large message board. I thanked him and scurried over. There, in the middle of the board was a large photo of the Irish Delegation and it said, well, I could not read it , coz it was in French. Frustrated, I asked a school child to translate.

Oh, Diary, I am so very tired. I will need to catch you up tomorrow. Good night!!....Shamrocks

Continues.....