Last night [Friday] it was hard to fall asleep. When I finally did some stomping upstairs awoke me not thirty minutes later. Then I felt awake. After another hour rolling like a crocodile, sleep found me again. And after another hour I woke up to a strange sound. Someone - I assume they were drunk - was trying to get into our room. The keys here are the kind of cards you slip into the door slot, the door opens and only then can you pull the card back out. The card keys have tiny holes in them and when they are inserted into the door slot it makes a sort of popping sound; like cracking your knuckles, only if your knuckles were made of metal. The noise happened again and I said, “Daniel, someone is trying to get into our room.” He had already been woken up by the clamour and he said, “Is that what that is?” We both lifted our heads from our pillows and waited. I was prepared to yell, “Ay!” I was not prepared to get up though, you’ve got to pick your battles and I was too comfortable. In any case they must have figured out that they were at the wrong room because they decided to move along without me having to yell or get out of bed.
I ate so much at dinner I was almost not hungry for breakfast. You have to eat here though, it’s just too good not to. So I ate a croissant, a piece of strong cheese, a tiny crepe topped with cherry jam and washed it down with hot chocolate. France is an hour ahead of England which Daniel’s phone and our computers forgot so we thought we had an extra hour to kill before meeting Francoise at her apartment. Good thing she called our hotel to check! We walked the two blocks to her French home and called our Dad, Steve who is teaching in Taiwan right now. [We wish he were here.] It was fun to get to talk with him before we set out for a Parisian adventure. First we went on a hunt for lunettes de soleil [sun glasses] because mine broke on the train rides over and it is so sunny here! I found some that fit my face [it’s a small face] and we hopped on a bus because the views are obviously better there than from the metro. We exited the bus and the first thing I saw was a huge, old church [bien sur] and the second thing I saw was the Dior store [yay!]. The Saint Germain des Pres is from the 11th century. It’s beautiful and amazing and we never tire of seeing the inside. I’ve been giving euro donations to the churches because they are free and I’m thankful and aware after visiting London that this is not always the case. Daniel, on the other hand, has been giving euro donations to every person that has asked him for money.
We went to our favourite olive oil store where they always have amazing samples and picked up an orange and hazelnut nougat treat that we will share later. Then we went to one of Francoise’s favourite places to eat, which she and Steve took us to for dinner in December of 09. Daniel and Francoise both ate delicious salads and I had onion soup. Francoise loves when we eat dessert so we shared a pistachio crème brulee. Francoise also likes when Daniel and I explore alone so she set us free and we made our way across the Seine over to Notre Dame where the flowers and trees are in full bloom and so magnificently beautiful. We didn’t go in because there was a long queue and we’ve been lucky enough to see it a couple times. We took a long leisurely walk through the streets until we found the Jardin Luxembourg. There we sat on a bench and people watched for a fair amount of time.
Later in the afternoon Daniel had a hankering for a beer and I was more than happy to give my back a rest from standing and walking so much, so we chose a small café that boasted many different kinds of brew. I had a glass of red wine and the server supplied us with a small dish of popcorn to go with our drinks. I love snacking on sidewalks. There is so much to see. We had a nice time talking and giggling just watching Paris happen around us.
Before meeting up again with Francoise for dinner we went into a book store and browsed some French literature. There was a funny little book I found and for each day of the year it shared a famous person that died on that day. So I looked at the 7th of April [Daniel’s birthday] on which day a man named George Nissen, the inventor of the trampoline expired. Also I looked at the 12th of November [my birthday] and some sad composer passed away that day. I couldn’t understand the full description of his death; the book said he was sad and had a cartoon drawing of him crying into his piano keys.
Unfortunately we did not bring our camera charger to France with us and after Daniel snapped a few photos in the morning he let me know that our battery ran out [more death]. We do have his cell phone so we’ve been taking minimal pictures with that. We attempted in two stores to either find a new battery or a charger with no luck. So Francoise says we’ll just have to come back. I guess I’m okay with that option. Ha ha.
There is a street here in Paris that boasts rows and rows and creperies. They are small restaurants flourishing with all kinds of yummy crepes and our favourite is called “Creperie Josselin”. We ate a wonderful dinner, shared and bottle of brut cider, and Francoise assured me I would regret not getting my own dessert. I had intended to share. I said to her, “A cause de vous, je change d’avis.” The equivalent of which in English would be something like, “You changed my mind.” I was not disappointed, and I still got to share with Daniel. It’s really hard not to eat all day long in this city. After three meals here, I’m sure I’ve gained three pounds. How bad can a pound a meal be though, really?
Lastly, the left side of my head is actually rejecting my fanciness. Each time I wear make up my left eye hurts and swells up [three times in two months] and since I have also not been wearing earrings, yet did today, my left ear has a small infection. I can get on board without my clear mascara, although it makes me sad, however I love wearing earrings. Half the day here I walked around with only my right ear decorated. My last option is to be the kind of lady who only wears lipstick. I’m not much for lipstick in general but I’ll give it a go tomorrow and see how I feel. At least my hair is clean.
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