And We're Still Awake!

Kenneth:

So much can happen in 24 hours, especially when you're awake for every single one!  Where to begin?  How about the start:

As we travel down the security checkpoint line for our gate, Alex is supremely confident that we will pass without question.  Little does he know that thanks to a packing error, he's got an 9 inch long stainless steel wrench in his panniers.  When his bag is stopped, he thinks it must be some water bottle left in or something of the like, but as the TSA agent digs deeper into the bag, he discovers that wrench.  Sadly, the length limit for wrenches on flights is 7 inches (who decides these things??), and Alex pleads with him to no avail.  Finally, I chime in as well, and he goes over to his boss.  Ten seconds later, he discreetly hands it back to us, saying 'this is your lucky day.'  The gods have smiled upon us.

Now that we are checked in with all of our baggage, it's time to get ready for the flight, which is delayed an hour.  No big deal.  We head over and pick up that Motrin PM, which turned out to be a dud of all duds.  Notice that despite its claim to knock out anyone who dares swallow a pair, we are still awake as of this writing.  Fail, Motrin PM.

Alex:

Well, that isn't to say that the motrin didnt make us uncomfortably groggy for the next six hours, leaving me incapable of either falling asleep or watching the Lord of the Rings. While under its "influence", we had the surreal experience of encountering what could only be described as our dopplegangers. Sitting across the aisle from us was another pair of American guys, one brown-haired, the other red-headed, on a trip from Paris to Rome. They were high school friends who had gone to separate colleges. The red-head had studied Chinese. We made their acquaintance, and marveled at the striking parallels between our two groups. As they plan to do their trip by train, we fully expect to wearily crawl into every dusty town from here to Rome only to find our dopplegangers already there ahead of us, comfortably ensconced and sipping martinis.

After sharing some good cheer and hearty fare with our dopplegangers, we landed in Madrid only to have my wrench promptly confiscated, at last, by la policia. "But es para los bicyclettas!" I protested, in my desperation forming the most complex Spanish sentence I have ever spoken in my life. La policia was not impressed. 

Kenneth:

It's not often that one gets to leave the country for the first time, but today was one of those special days.  I set foot on Spanish soil first, to be fair, but within an hour we were being whisked off to Paris over the Pyrennees.  Still, according to my passport, Madrid was my first.  That's a regret I'll probably take to my grave.

Paris has been amazing so far!  We have reassembled our bikes (with great pains), eaten dinner, and even prepared for tomorrow's adventures downtown.  As it's getting late, more to come tomorrow.