My friend Marsha got me started on a hobby called letterboxing.

I thought it'd be fun to seek out some letterboxes while I was in Europe. I mean, any letterboxer I'm likely to meet around here will have all the local stamps from NJ & the surrounding area, but how many will have stamps from Paris?

So, in a section of the city called Belleville, not far from the cemetery, we found a listing for a letterbox. to get there, I had to hop 2 scary fences & walk down some disused railroad tracks into a tunnel, where I'd find a ladder. At the top of the ladder, if I reached behind my head, I'd find the letterbox.

Holly, Lucia & I found the tracks, but the fences were a bit high for us all to hop, so I went on alone.
Holly & Lucia waited for me on a trestle overlooking the tracks.

I, stamp in hand, disappeared into the tunnel. From where I was, I could see Holly & Lu the whole time. I only found out afterwards that they lost sight of me right away when I entered the tunnel. I followed the instructions carefully, but the ladder was nowhere to be found. I walked almost the length of the tunnel, but it was not to be, sadly.

Holly took the pic above, & I swiped it from her blog , totally without permission. Hope she won't mind. 8-)

I did find a letterbox a little later in the trip, but not in Paris...