Nicole and I woke up on time, obnoxiously early and quickly got ready for our trip. Nicole opted to dress up for her trip home with a skirt and tights. I on the other hand opted to dress in my most comfortable clothing because I knew the next 22 hours would be hell. I was able to pack everything I owned into my two bags, very carefully of course and with bursting zippers, but it all fit. I warmed up some chocolate croissants for Nicole and I's breakfast and made my way over to tackle the inflatable bed.
It was so much harder than I expected to deflate this enormous inflatable bed. I started by just opening the valve and air started rushing out, but as time went on the air stopped flowing. So I went through a series of rolling and hopping and folding the air bed to get all the air out. Nicole walked in the room to find me sprawled out with all my limbs on all corners trying my hardest to push all the air out. I'm sure it was a hilarious sight, and I am happy to leave you all with a visual. Finally we both worked together to roll up the inflatable bed and got it inside its original bag, with all the tools it came with. Whew, it was a lot of work so early in the morning!
Once everything was ready to go I shouted at Jim that we were ready to hit the road and he rushed up to say goodbye. We gave quick hugs and said our goodbyes and he walked us out the door. I carried my HEAVY backpack on my back and my vintage bag in my hand, both were heavy and extremely uncomfortable to carry. Nicole had two bags around her shoulders and her small wheeler suitcase. We were quite the team pushing our way through the metro stops during rush hour. It took some maneuvering and some serious energy to get all our belongings onto the train, and through the next station and onto our final train to the airport. It felt so good to finally set my bags down on our final train and sit down for a moment of rest.
We didn't quite know what stop we needed to get off on at the airport, but we took a guess with Terminal 1, the last stop. Once we departed the plane and saw the terminal we immediately regretted our decision and found an information desk for help. The women very coldly assured us that we were in the right place, we just needed to head 2 floors up to Terminal 2A. We found the American Airlines desks first, which was my stop. Continental was right around the corner and so we said our goodbyes and parted ways. It was sad to see my companion go, and it was very lonely standing in lines all by myself.
The line was not short in the slightest, in fact it was so very very long. I waiting in line for check-in for about an hour. First through a securtiy questioning person and next to the checkout counter person. I was very thankful to drop off my large backpack once I was up to the check in desk. After the hour I just spent waiting in line, they ushered me to the security checkpoint and I had to wait in line for another hour to get through. At first there was a line for French passports and then all other passports. But the French Border person left and left only one person to check everyone's passport. It was incredibly slow. Once I was FINALLY done going through all the lines I had to rush to my gate. My plane was already boarding and it was scheduled to take off in about 30 minutes.
I made it onto the plane, but not without injury. I tried to stuff my coat inside my vintage bag, I was rather rushed in doing so and the bag cut my hand open in two different spots. OUCH! To make matters worse I had to carry the large bag with the same hand making the blood gush out even faster. It was not a fun task juggling things so I didn't get blood everywhere. I found my seat and got everything situated. I even had time to throw off my walking shoes and put on my cozy purple boots. It was a very smart choice for the rest of my journey.
Our plane stood on the run way for a long time and once in the air it was announced that we were taking a detour to avoid weather over the Atlantic ocean. This meant we needed to fly very far north, over Greenland to avoid the storms and it would add 45 minutes if not more to our flight time. Wonderful. The flight was...terrible. It lasted over 11 hours and it was light the entire time leaving me awake for most of the trip. I tried to doze off every once and a while, but it just didn't work and instead it left me with a splitting headache. The food was less than impressive and I was practically teary eyed near the end of the flight. I was starting to feel sick and just needed off the plane as soon as I could. We did indeed fly over Greenland, and I must say it was gorgeous. Miles upon miles of snow/ice covered mountains, it was so untouched and therefore so beautiful.
I was so very happy to finally land in Dallas and get off the plane away from the smell that planes have and all the people around me. I rushed off the plane and through customs. Fortunate for me the US Citizen line was the shortest I have ever seen it and I breezed right threw. I went to baggage claim and waiting tirelessly for my baggage. We had arrived late and I needed to get to my connecting flight ASAP. Finally my bag showed up and I was able to recheck it and make my way to my gate. I arrived just in time for the last round of boarding and took my seat on the plane.
I was not happy of course to be back in a plane, but I knew this journey would be short. As I settled in my seat and took in my surrounds, I soon realized, I was in fact on my way back to Nebraska. I was no longer surrounded by international people who all spoke different languages around me, I was instead surrounded by people mostly with a southern draw all speaking very loudly so I had to hear every word they were saying. I was no longer surrounded by nicely dressed Europeans with unique styles and fun haircuts, I was instead surrounded by poorly dressed people with Nebraska football sweatshirts and torn jeans, or worse...Texas sweatshirts and hats. I longed for the comfort of Europe with constant chatter that was merely background noise since I didn't understand a word of it. I did not care to listen to the conversation taking place behind me about a specific Frat and a roommates wedding that turned into a Frat reunion and how totally awesome it was. To say the least my flight home did not give me the comfort I was looking for after leaving my hiatus from the real world. I kept my head in my Terry Pratchett novel to help the time move by faster.
And finally the wheels of the plane touched down in a snow covered Nebraska and we parked at the gate. I deboarded the plane and headed straight for the exit. And there they were, my family smiling brightly at me right outside the gate. It was great to see them and we all hugged and greeted each other. It is always nice to be greeted with a warm sense of home. Lucas helped me pick up my bag from the baggage claim and we headed to the car. We laughed and I told stories about everyone I saw during my trip. It was great to talk about things I missed and things they should have seen. Grace and Katie couldn't come to the airport because Grace was very upset and they decided it would have been a bad idea to bring her to the airport. So we stopped at their house to drop off Lucas and of course to see Katie and Grace.
Grace is so big! And so adorable! She has grown up so much since I last saw her and even though she wasn't in the best of spirits it was great to see her! We stayed at their house and chatted for a while. It was great to be surrounded my family again and talk about the things families do. Lucas and Katie's place looks great all decorated for Christmas and Lucas has made a lot of progress on staining their chairs, nice work! After a while Grace got pretty upset and we decided to step out. Lucas and Katie have been housing my car this whole time, warm and toasty in their garage. Mom and Dad drove home in their car and I was able to drive my car home.
Oh how I missed my car and driving, it felt great to be behind the wheel again, even though there was ice and snow covering the ground. I even found my cell phone in the car and was able to turn it on for the first time in a month and check my messages. As I headed to the Interstate my favorite song for the moment, came on the radio and it certainly put a smile on my face as I thought, Welcome Home. I very much enjoyed my drive home, it is one of the things I missed the most, driving that is.
Dad helped me park my car in the garage giving me directions so I didn't bump my stacked up furniture from my old apartment. Its a tight fit, but I was able to get the car inside. We settled upstairs for some cookies and milk and chatted for a bit. I pulled out some gifts to show Mom and finally it was time to retire to bed. So here I am, lying in my comfortable bed after a clean shower and ready to go to sleep.
I am happy and sad to be home all at once. There are so many things I missed from home, but there are so many things I will miss about Europe. My trip was the trip of a lifetime, it was wonderful and I owe a special thank you to everyone who housed me and fed me. Jim, thank you for all your hospitality, it was wonderful spending so much time with you and experiencing everything we did.
As it is the end of my trip, I will say goodbye. I do hope you enjoyed my stories, I was so pleased to share my experiences with you. Bon voyage Europe, I hope to see you again soon.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Day 29 - Credit Card Day Finishes my Time in Europe
Jim woke up this morning to go to work at his usual time. Nicole and I were a little later, but we were able to get up at a good hour and get ready for our day. We rushed through getting ready with plans to meet Jim at 2:00 at his shop. My cell phone minutes had run out completely and we had no way to contact each other, so we had to meet at a certain time.
Nicole and I left the flat and headed straight for La Defense, the new grande arc of Paris. It was a LONG ride out to Le Defense. We sat across from a little boy about 3 or so, and he was the worst behaving child. Well not really, but boy did he get on my nerves. He decided to roll his lips together which resulting in him spitting everywhere and all I can say is the ride was even longer sitting across from such an obnoxious boy.
We arrived at La Defense and immediately walked out of the metro station. The arc was right in front of us and big as ever! The area around was kind-of pretty. Very different from the regular Paris, it was all glass and metal business buildings, but it all looked very cool. We took a lot of pictures and admired the area. It was so foggy you could hardly see across the metal buildings. It was very eerie looking and Nicole hated it, but I thought it made the glass buildings look even more neat. The fog separated this business structure from Paris and cut us off completely.
I was so excited to turn around and see a very large Christmas mart behind us. I haven't seen such a large Christmas mart in a long time and I was so excited to walk through it. There had all the usual junk that they sell, and some very cool things too. We had a great time walking through and seeing it all. We laughed at the French acting out info-commercials in front of us and trying to sell us things. I was able to buy a crepe for myself, thinking it would be my last and enjoyed it immensely. Nicole bought herself some warm chestnuts, which were...interesting to say the least. I hated them and liked them all at once, but we were only able to eat a couple at one time.
We finally left the Christmas mart at 20 till 2:00, we stayed there for so long! We intended to head to Sacre Cure, but we had run out of time. So we tried to find a pay phone to call Jim, but turns out the pay phones here don't except cash, only cards. So...we decided to just head to the bookstore now to meet Jim. We walked towards the Metro station and I handed Nicole her card to enter the metro, as I always did. But the exit was open, so we just walked right into the station without using our tickets. So I turned to Nicole to get her new ticket back from her so we could keep them all together. She handed me two used tickets and I told her they had already been used, where was the ticket I just gave her? But she insisted she couldn't find it, and it must be one of those two. So we are still bickering over the lost ticket, because this is the second time I have handed a blank ticket to Nicole and she lost it. So I made a vow right there to not hand her a ticket until we walk right up to the gate for her to use. Tisk Tisk.
We walked to Jim's bookstore and entered to say hello. On the walk there from the metro station we saw Santa Claus walking towards us. Actually, Nicole saw him walking towards us and shouted, "Santa Claus." It was really fun and I took a picture. It was a great thing to put us in the mood for Christmas. Once in the store, we were able to say both hello and goodbye to Jack and the other Jim. All three of us left and headed to Jim's local restaurant on the corner for lunch. We sat down at the only open table since it was rather crowded and as we were taking off our coats, I hit my head on the lamp above me and knocked the shade completely off the lamp. To make it worse, the shade hit my arm and I accidentally shot it across the restaurant, and I believe it hit at least about two people. I just wanted to make sure everyone was aware of our entrance, and goodness they were. Everyone gasps and then laughed at me and even the waitress made fun of me after taking our order. Great.
Lunch was delicious and once everyone forgot about my lamp experience I settled in my seat a little better. But my table was wobbly and every time I moved it would shake and threaten to throw my drink on the floor. This restaurant was very good at making me feel like a clumsy giant who would break everything in sight. In the middle of lunch the women behind us turned around and said to me, "I heard someone over here speaking very good English, was it you?" She had a very southern accent and was with her two children and husband. I said that we were all American and she made a sigh of relief. She told us she bought an International cell phone, but she couldn't figure out how to dial to the US. So we told her how to call home and she was so excited to have the help. She said she didn't know any French and it was great to have help from fellow Americans. We all thought it was rather funny, but I was excited because I actually knew the answer to her question.
After lunch we walked back to the bookstore because I forgot to take a picture in front of it. Next we walked the streets of the neighborhood which were very cute and Jim took us to a specialty shop so I could pick up a little something. Once we finished there, Jim took us to the best crepe place in Paris. We walked up to a little shop window painted dark blue with large glass jars filled with jelly's and peanuts outside. The street was full of drunk men around, Nicole and my age filling out of the Irish Pub across the street. There were men everywhere, and I mean everywhere! We all laughed because we were the only women in sight and all the boys turned to look at us as we walked up the street. Every single guy had a beer in their hand and some had football scarves around their necks. We guessed there was a big football match in Paris and this was the meeting area for all the boys. It was incredible. Nicole and I each ordered a crepe with chocolate and banana and it was so fun watching the guy make them. The first bite and I knew it was the best crepe in Paris, it melted in my mouth. It was so good, so I had to take pictures with us and our crepes in front of all the boys! We walked right in the middle of all the action to watch all the boys as we finished our dessert. Oh what a sight!
When we finished, we got back on the metro and Jim left us to head home. Jim realized earlier today that he could not find his credit card and he was in a rush to get home and see if he could find it. The last place we remember him using it was in Amsterdam, so we were all wondering where it had gone. Nicole and I went on to Sacre Cure. We finally arrived and took pictures in front of the very large cathedral. We sucked it up and walked up the HUGE amount of steps to get to the top. On the way up we were accosted by groups of men trying to sell us shit. They just would not take no for an answer and it was so frustrating trying to get away from them.
The Scare Cure Cathedral is my favorite, its so huge and really is inspiring. It felt really great to be back there, especially my last day in Paris. The view from the top of the hill is great too and we stood there admiring it for a long time. We took our tour of the cathedral and I lit a candle there for John. Outside the Cathedral we walked the streets and in and out of the shops. We found ourselves in a Chocolate shop where the guys working loved us. They kept shoving chocolate down our throats with all different samples and it was so much fun being in there. We continued on going in and out of touristy shops and finally made our way back home.
Once home I was able to tackle my backpack and started packing all my things. It was a challenge believe me! I have a lot more now than when I started and as I type this I have no idea how I will get it all home! But I did as much as I could and then we drank some wine to relax.
It was time for dinner and Jim took us to his local Mexican restaurant just a little ways from his apartment. I was so excited for Mexican! The place was so fun, it was so cozy and they were so friendly, I loved it. We ordered a pitcher of margaritas and nachos to share and we gulped them all right down. It was so funny to be in Paris and be at a Mexican restaurant. We were speaking French, Spanish and English! Dinner was AMAZING, I have missed Mexican food so much and it was WAY better than Mexican food at home! We finished the meal with ice cream, well Nicole and I did. Jim had a Cognac. Nicole had chocolate and coconut ice cream and I had mango and coconut. AMAZING! The coconut was so good, it melted in my mouth. As we were paying the bill my credit card was declined and I had to use another one. This was commemorative of my last night here in Paris...I need to go home now, I have no money left. But I paid for my part of the meal and we headed to a bar around the corner.
Jim wanted to show Nicole and I the neighborhood he calls Bo Bo. We walked around and he pointed out all the bars, packed with people. It did look very fun and I would have really enjoyed it, if I could speak French and I wasn't so tired. We settled at a bar called the Green Place and ordered a round. They played Michael Jackson the whole time, and I have to admit it was very comfortable! Once we finished, we continued our tour of the neighborhood and Jim walked me by a bar that he thought was so funny. It was called Sans Gene, meaning without Gene. He just had to get my picture in front of the bar. I felt a little silty, but it was quite funny.
So here we are at home, Jim is showing us some very neat pop-up books he has in his collection and I am typing away. I am getting very tired and not only am I dreading my long day of travel tomorrow, I am dreading going home. :(
It has been a wonderful trip around Europe and I certainly don't want the real world to hit me quite yet. So, although I don't want to come home yet...I will see you all soon! Can't wait!
Nicole and I left the flat and headed straight for La Defense, the new grande arc of Paris. It was a LONG ride out to Le Defense. We sat across from a little boy about 3 or so, and he was the worst behaving child. Well not really, but boy did he get on my nerves. He decided to roll his lips together which resulting in him spitting everywhere and all I can say is the ride was even longer sitting across from such an obnoxious boy.
We arrived at La Defense and immediately walked out of the metro station. The arc was right in front of us and big as ever! The area around was kind-of pretty. Very different from the regular Paris, it was all glass and metal business buildings, but it all looked very cool. We took a lot of pictures and admired the area. It was so foggy you could hardly see across the metal buildings. It was very eerie looking and Nicole hated it, but I thought it made the glass buildings look even more neat. The fog separated this business structure from Paris and cut us off completely.
I was so excited to turn around and see a very large Christmas mart behind us. I haven't seen such a large Christmas mart in a long time and I was so excited to walk through it. There had all the usual junk that they sell, and some very cool things too. We had a great time walking through and seeing it all. We laughed at the French acting out info-commercials in front of us and trying to sell us things. I was able to buy a crepe for myself, thinking it would be my last and enjoyed it immensely. Nicole bought herself some warm chestnuts, which were...interesting to say the least. I hated them and liked them all at once, but we were only able to eat a couple at one time.
We finally left the Christmas mart at 20 till 2:00, we stayed there for so long! We intended to head to Sacre Cure, but we had run out of time. So we tried to find a pay phone to call Jim, but turns out the pay phones here don't except cash, only cards. So...we decided to just head to the bookstore now to meet Jim. We walked towards the Metro station and I handed Nicole her card to enter the metro, as I always did. But the exit was open, so we just walked right into the station without using our tickets. So I turned to Nicole to get her new ticket back from her so we could keep them all together. She handed me two used tickets and I told her they had already been used, where was the ticket I just gave her? But she insisted she couldn't find it, and it must be one of those two. So we are still bickering over the lost ticket, because this is the second time I have handed a blank ticket to Nicole and she lost it. So I made a vow right there to not hand her a ticket until we walk right up to the gate for her to use. Tisk Tisk.
We walked to Jim's bookstore and entered to say hello. On the walk there from the metro station we saw Santa Claus walking towards us. Actually, Nicole saw him walking towards us and shouted, "Santa Claus." It was really fun and I took a picture. It was a great thing to put us in the mood for Christmas. Once in the store, we were able to say both hello and goodbye to Jack and the other Jim. All three of us left and headed to Jim's local restaurant on the corner for lunch. We sat down at the only open table since it was rather crowded and as we were taking off our coats, I hit my head on the lamp above me and knocked the shade completely off the lamp. To make it worse, the shade hit my arm and I accidentally shot it across the restaurant, and I believe it hit at least about two people. I just wanted to make sure everyone was aware of our entrance, and goodness they were. Everyone gasps and then laughed at me and even the waitress made fun of me after taking our order. Great.
Lunch was delicious and once everyone forgot about my lamp experience I settled in my seat a little better. But my table was wobbly and every time I moved it would shake and threaten to throw my drink on the floor. This restaurant was very good at making me feel like a clumsy giant who would break everything in sight. In the middle of lunch the women behind us turned around and said to me, "I heard someone over here speaking very good English, was it you?" She had a very southern accent and was with her two children and husband. I said that we were all American and she made a sigh of relief. She told us she bought an International cell phone, but she couldn't figure out how to dial to the US. So we told her how to call home and she was so excited to have the help. She said she didn't know any French and it was great to have help from fellow Americans. We all thought it was rather funny, but I was excited because I actually knew the answer to her question.
After lunch we walked back to the bookstore because I forgot to take a picture in front of it. Next we walked the streets of the neighborhood which were very cute and Jim took us to a specialty shop so I could pick up a little something. Once we finished there, Jim took us to the best crepe place in Paris. We walked up to a little shop window painted dark blue with large glass jars filled with jelly's and peanuts outside. The street was full of drunk men around, Nicole and my age filling out of the Irish Pub across the street. There were men everywhere, and I mean everywhere! We all laughed because we were the only women in sight and all the boys turned to look at us as we walked up the street. Every single guy had a beer in their hand and some had football scarves around their necks. We guessed there was a big football match in Paris and this was the meeting area for all the boys. It was incredible. Nicole and I each ordered a crepe with chocolate and banana and it was so fun watching the guy make them. The first bite and I knew it was the best crepe in Paris, it melted in my mouth. It was so good, so I had to take pictures with us and our crepes in front of all the boys! We walked right in the middle of all the action to watch all the boys as we finished our dessert. Oh what a sight!
When we finished, we got back on the metro and Jim left us to head home. Jim realized earlier today that he could not find his credit card and he was in a rush to get home and see if he could find it. The last place we remember him using it was in Amsterdam, so we were all wondering where it had gone. Nicole and I went on to Sacre Cure. We finally arrived and took pictures in front of the very large cathedral. We sucked it up and walked up the HUGE amount of steps to get to the top. On the way up we were accosted by groups of men trying to sell us shit. They just would not take no for an answer and it was so frustrating trying to get away from them.
The Scare Cure Cathedral is my favorite, its so huge and really is inspiring. It felt really great to be back there, especially my last day in Paris. The view from the top of the hill is great too and we stood there admiring it for a long time. We took our tour of the cathedral and I lit a candle there for John. Outside the Cathedral we walked the streets and in and out of the shops. We found ourselves in a Chocolate shop where the guys working loved us. They kept shoving chocolate down our throats with all different samples and it was so much fun being in there. We continued on going in and out of touristy shops and finally made our way back home.
Once home I was able to tackle my backpack and started packing all my things. It was a challenge believe me! I have a lot more now than when I started and as I type this I have no idea how I will get it all home! But I did as much as I could and then we drank some wine to relax.
It was time for dinner and Jim took us to his local Mexican restaurant just a little ways from his apartment. I was so excited for Mexican! The place was so fun, it was so cozy and they were so friendly, I loved it. We ordered a pitcher of margaritas and nachos to share and we gulped them all right down. It was so funny to be in Paris and be at a Mexican restaurant. We were speaking French, Spanish and English! Dinner was AMAZING, I have missed Mexican food so much and it was WAY better than Mexican food at home! We finished the meal with ice cream, well Nicole and I did. Jim had a Cognac. Nicole had chocolate and coconut ice cream and I had mango and coconut. AMAZING! The coconut was so good, it melted in my mouth. As we were paying the bill my credit card was declined and I had to use another one. This was commemorative of my last night here in Paris...I need to go home now, I have no money left. But I paid for my part of the meal and we headed to a bar around the corner.
Jim wanted to show Nicole and I the neighborhood he calls Bo Bo. We walked around and he pointed out all the bars, packed with people. It did look very fun and I would have really enjoyed it, if I could speak French and I wasn't so tired. We settled at a bar called the Green Place and ordered a round. They played Michael Jackson the whole time, and I have to admit it was very comfortable! Once we finished, we continued our tour of the neighborhood and Jim walked me by a bar that he thought was so funny. It was called Sans Gene, meaning without Gene. He just had to get my picture in front of the bar. I felt a little silty, but it was quite funny.
So here we are at home, Jim is showing us some very neat pop-up books he has in his collection and I am typing away. I am getting very tired and not only am I dreading my long day of travel tomorrow, I am dreading going home. :(
It has been a wonderful trip around Europe and I certainly don't want the real world to hit me quite yet. So, although I don't want to come home yet...I will see you all soon! Can't wait!
Day 28 - Versailles and Tour Eiffel
We were determined this morning and actually set our alarms to make sure we woke up early. We also dressed for warmth because it was raining and miserable outside. We all managed to get ready and out the door by 9, which is impressive for us. We made it to the train station and easily purchased our tickets for the train, and for the entire grounds at Versailles. The train was a double-decker train and I decided I wanted to sit on top for a change, so we did. Jim also directed Nicole and I to the side of the train with the better view, and he was right the views were great!
We pulled into Versailles and walked the short distance from the train station to the Chateau de Versailles. The weather had not improved in the slightest but luckily I brought my hat to help keep the rain off me. The gate at the Chateau is very impressive, all gold, it most certainly stands out. We walked up through the gate and went through the main entrance with the tickets we purchased at the train station. Jim and Nicole had to check their large umbrellas at the door, but I walked in with no problems.
Once inside the gate we saw a large sculpture by Jeff Koons called "Balloon Flower" in front of the Chateau. It looked very out of place, but it was a cool sculpture. We walked inside the Chateau to follow the tour and I searched for the audio guides. Jim was very hesitant to walk around with an audio guide, and he refused to do it at first. But Nicole and I were both getting one, so we finally talked him into it. Yes, we did look silly, yes we did take a picture, but they did keep the tour interesting. The tour started with the grand chapel built by Louis XIV. JeffKoons sculptures were placed in various rooms throughout the tour and I have to say having modern art inside a room from the 18th century was an odd experience. The palace was beautiful and the art was really cool, but we did play a game of "what item in this room does not belong" with almost every room we walked into. It actually became a rather entertaining game.
It is winter here, and although the palace was not packed with tourists, there were a lot of them. It is sad to say, but the palace was filled with the stereotypical Asian tourists. They move in herds as their tour guide leads them along and they snap pictures of anything...anything! I will describe our favorite girl, she was dressed in brightly colored converse shoes, white and pink socks with a floral theme placed over green and black stripped tights, a creme colored eyelet skirt, a maroon jacket with a backpack on and funky colored glasses. Nicole and I watched her move from room to room and snap picture after picture of the stupidest things. The best part was she didn't even look at the screen to see the picture, she would just hold up the camera in a general direction, take a picture and then turn the other way and snap another. I bet she took 200 pictures inside the palace alone! Okay, maybe I had more fun watching all the tourists inside the palace than actually admiring the palace. Who can blame me? It was an experience just watching people's excitement.
I on the other hand took my camera out, maybe three times to take picture of Jeff Koon's art. Guess what happened my fourth time? My camera died. Yes, I came all the way to Versailles and no camera. Perfect. I do have to note that this new camera is fabulous, I have not charged the camera once since I left for Europe on November19th ! Almost a month later and it finally dies. Incredible! Of course it doesn't give me much of a warning that the battery is getting low, but still I couldn't believe this is the first time I needed to charge it!
I will say the Hall of Mirrors was my favorite part, I can't imagine living in a world like that! After the tour we found a bathroom and had an interesting experience getting the umbrellas back. Jim and Nicole walked through a maze, back through security and had to get through locked doors, all to get back their umbrellas, it was so so odd. I really wanted to tour the gardens and see Marie-Antoinette's Village, so we decided to brave the cold and walk around the property. I said, "we should go until we just can't take it anymore," and off we went. The gardens were beautiful in the dead of winter, so I can't imagine what they would look like in the summer! Sadly almost all the statues were covered and the fountains were turned off, so we didn't get to see the gardens in their full splendor, but it was still really pretty to walk through.
In case you have never been to Versailles, let me tell you, ITS HUGE!! We walked for a couple miles in the cold and found ourselves at PetitTrianon , which is a smaller home just like the palace. We took our tour and walked around the gardens there finding ourselves at the Temple of Love, which is gorgeous. The Temple is placed in the middle of a small island, as Nicole and I walked over the bridge we admired a swan for a long time. He was so graceful as he dipped his head into the lake for food and swam around close to us. Since I didn't have a camera with me, Nicole took a few pictures of the swan and the area. Jim took a picture of me in front of the Temple of Love, Nicole however refused to be photographed on 'island of love'...not sure what that is about. :)
We looked at the map and figured we still had another 2 miles to walk until we reached Marie-Antoinette's village called, Queen's Hamlet. It was way past lunch time and we were freezing and hungry so we decided to make the walk back to the palace and onto the train station. The walk was uneventful and as we neared the train station we turned another directions to find us a nice little place to eat. We were so happy to sit down that is was hard to focus on the menu. Jim and I both eyed our neighbors large iron pot of Beef Stew and happily ordered. Nicole could only find one thing on the menu that was vegetarian and ordered it, a salad. Poor girl, Europe is just not made for vegetarians. We ordered wine for the table and at last minute Jim asked me ifi would share some oysters with him. I have eaten one ray oyster in my life and I HATED it. But I am not the type of person to back down from trying new things, so I agreed. A little while later 6 oysters arrived in front of Jim and he gave me the basic overview on how to eat them..."scoop out the foot on the bottom, make sure to scrap it out so it floats in the water...". I did everything he said and added a little red wine vinegar with onions. Nicole snapped my picture (with her camera of course) and down it went. It just slid right down...and it took me a second to realizei was actually pretty good! I was really surprised with myself, I actually liked it. It tasted like the sea, which is hard to explain, but it did! Jim offered me another so I went through the same routine and ate the second one. I am not sure I would settle down with a plate of oysters for a meal, but all in all I like them. So there you go, I tried something new again and I liked it. The stew arrived and Jim and I were both very pleased with our decision. It was AMAZING and the perfect thing on a cold day like today. Nicole's salad wasn't quite as good as she would have hoped and I felt bad for her. After Jim's usual coffee we walked to the train station and got on the train. We weren't positive it was our train, but we figured what the hell?
Nicole and I instantly dozed off after having a full stomach and some wine. Jim started reading, but I'm pretty sure he dozed off too. I woke up just in time to see us arrive at the station Tour Eiffel. Earlier we discussed Nicole and I stopping at the Eiffel Tour on the way home and meeting Jim at the apartment later. So Jim casually said, "you know, you two could get off here to see the Eiffel Tower." And with that Nicole and I jumped up and ran down the stairs and off the train. My knee was really stiff and I was amazed I actually made it to the platform without falling down. Nicole and I walked out of the Metro and straight to the Eiffel Tour. It was great to see it again in all its mighty. I took numerous pictures of Nicole in front of the tour and just as we finished a young guy asked me if I would take his picture too. So I agreed and knelt down, my knee still killing me, and it gave out and my knee hit the pavement, the wet, cold muddy pavement. I took the picture, handed back his camera and looked down to find my newly washed jeans dirty in one big circle around my knee. Bummer! I was so sad, and my mood as a little ruined. But the smell of cotton candy was enticing and Nicole said we will find some treats to cheer me up. We walked around the bottom of the tour, found a bathroom and looked at the not so long line. We were approached by MANY guys trying to sell little Eiffel Tower trinkets, which we found so funny. We like the little stations set up on the ground with strings on either side, so when the cops come they can grab the strings and run!
We walked across the street to get the best view of the Eiffel Tour and stopped at a little stand for a snack. You guessed it, we each got a Crepe of Nutella and a Coca-light. On our way, we were again asked by a nice couple if we could take their picture in front of the tour and we agreed. We then made our way up the stairs and enjoyed our delicious snack watching the Eiffel Tower. The clouds had finally broke for the first time since our arrival and we could see the sun's reflection on the clouds as it was setting. It was beautiful outside. The sun went down and we watched the Eiffel Tower suddenly glow a blue/purple color, that I declared as Indigo. The Tour was also decorated with large golden stars that turned on as well, and it was so pretty to see it shining in the city. The view from up there was great too. It was finally not quite as foggy and we could see all the monuments of the city. We stood there for a long time enjoying the atmosphere. We walked up a little higher and again, two guys asked us if we could take their picture. I swear I must have had a large sign saying "I am here to take your picture, just ask!" But oh well, at least I was able to help people out. Nicole and I slowly made our way down the hill and back towards the metro. It was so nice outside that we took our time walking back.
Once inside the metro we navigated our way to the fancy department store because I still needed to do some shopping. We went to the Opera House Metro stop and walked outside to head over to the department store. As we walked to the department store, Nicole excitedly pointed toward a girl walking in front of us and shouted "oh my god its that picture girl!" Sure enough walking on the street in front of us was the odd dressed girl from Versailles, strutting along. We couldn't believe out of the entire city of Paris and after our stop at the Eiffel tour we would see her here! It was so funny! We shopped a little bit, but left empty handed and went back to Jim's apartment.
Jim let us in the door and we all were able to sit down and rest. Nicole instantly fell asleep on the air mattress as I talked to Jim for a little while. I tried to startblogging , but I felt tired as both of them were napping and I laid down next to Nicole to take a nap myself. Only Nicole had decided to lay on top of the blankets wrapped up in the bathrobe, so it was a bit of a battle getting under the cozy comforter to sleep.
Jim had told us about a houseboat party that night and Nicole and I thought about going. It started at 7:30 and was supposed to have French poetry readings and live music. At 8:30 Jim woke us to say we should probably get ready if we wanted to go to the party. We slowly got up and it took us a long time to decide if we wanted to go or not. It was so cold outside and we didn't know where we were going, plus it was a long ride to get there. But at last we decided we have to go and quickly got up to get ready. I was finally able to get out the black dress I brought with me and get dressed up for an evening out! Nicole and I took some time getting all dolled up and Jim researched directions on how to find the houseboat. Jim showed me onGoogle Maps how to get there and we were off.
We navigated our way through the metro, to the speed train, 14 and all the way outside the city center to the Bibliotheque. We got off the Metro stop just like Jim said and walked outside. It took us about 15 minutes to realize we didn't come out of the right exit and we still needed to go up farther to find our way. Once we found the right street (after a lot of puzzled looks at the map), we confidently walked down the street to the river and took a right, just like Jim said. We were supposed to take a right, walk to the next bridge and the boat was supposed to be on the left side in the water. But we walked the whole way (most likely 2 miles) and it was all industrial stuff. Mostly cement factories lining the water. We finally gave up after about an hour of walking and trying to look at the map and retraced our steps to the metro station. As soon as we reached the bridge we started at we saw lots of boats with flashing lights and looked over the pier to find two boats filled with people. We thought we recognized the one boat from the picture but it had a HUGE line out front. At this point we were so frustrated and tired that we really didn't want to stand in a line, in the cold next to the river to get into this party. It was already after 11, and the metro stopped running at 12:45 and we had a long ride home. So we said forget it and made our way back to the station.
You can imagine we weren't in the best of spirits, but we decided to stop in central Paris and find a bar and a place to eat to end the evening. Once we were in central Paris we realized all the restaurants had closed down and it was very difficult to find food. We remembered a food stand from earlier and walked there. Nicole got a baguette with cheese and fries. I just ordered fries, but it took me a while to explain to the workers what I wanted. They didn't understand fries, and apparently I couldn't pronounce "frites" correctly. Finally I said Chips and they were instantly knew what I meant. After we ate our food, since we were starving, we went out into the street to find a bar. We walked around the corner and settled for a fancy looking techno bar. We walked in and walked straight to the bar. The bartender was really friendly and helped us order with mixed English and French. We paid €7.50 each for our tiny drinks with fancy glow sticks in them and took a seat. Once we looked around we soon realized we were in a gay bar. Leave it to Nicole and Anna, our one night out looking for a bar and we settle for a gay bar. So we laughed and said it was just like our game earlier, "what in this room doesn't belong?" It was still a delicious drink and we were entertained.
We wanted to go to another bar, but it was nearing time for the metro to stop and we really didn't want to miss that, so we walked back to the station. After waking Jim up upon our arrival and explaining to him that we never found the boat we went to bed. We were pretty hyper and talked for a long time about us not wanting to go home yet, and perhaps we should change our tickets and go to Ireland instead. Finally we dozed off after a long day.
We pulled into Versailles and walked the short distance from the train station to the Chateau de Versailles. The weather had not improved in the slightest but luckily I brought my hat to help keep the rain off me. The gate at the Chateau is very impressive, all gold, it most certainly stands out. We walked up through the gate and went through the main entrance with the tickets we purchased at the train station. Jim and Nicole had to check their large umbrellas at the door, but I walked in with no problems.
Once inside the gate we saw a large sculpture by Jeff Koons called "Balloon Flower" in front of the Chateau. It looked very out of place, but it was a cool sculpture. We walked inside the Chateau to follow the tour and I searched for the audio guides. Jim was very hesitant to walk around with an audio guide, and he refused to do it at first. But Nicole and I were both getting one, so we finally talked him into it. Yes, we did look silly, yes we did take a picture, but they did keep the tour interesting. The tour started with the grand chapel built by Louis XIV. JeffKoons sculptures were placed in various rooms throughout the tour and I have to say having modern art inside a room from the 18th century was an odd experience. The palace was beautiful and the art was really cool, but we did play a game of "what item in this room does not belong" with almost every room we walked into. It actually became a rather entertaining game.
It is winter here, and although the palace was not packed with tourists, there were a lot of them. It is sad to say, but the palace was filled with the stereotypical Asian tourists. They move in herds as their tour guide leads them along and they snap pictures of anything...anything! I will describe our favorite girl, she was dressed in brightly colored converse shoes, white and pink socks with a floral theme placed over green and black stripped tights, a creme colored eyelet skirt, a maroon jacket with a backpack on and funky colored glasses. Nicole and I watched her move from room to room and snap picture after picture of the stupidest things. The best part was she didn't even look at the screen to see the picture, she would just hold up the camera in a general direction, take a picture and then turn the other way and snap another. I bet she took 200 pictures inside the palace alone! Okay, maybe I had more fun watching all the tourists inside the palace than actually admiring the palace. Who can blame me? It was an experience just watching people's excitement.
I on the other hand took my camera out, maybe three times to take picture of Jeff Koon's art. Guess what happened my fourth time? My camera died. Yes, I came all the way to Versailles and no camera. Perfect. I do have to note that this new camera is fabulous, I have not charged the camera once since I left for Europe on November19th ! Almost a month later and it finally dies. Incredible! Of course it doesn't give me much of a warning that the battery is getting low, but still I couldn't believe this is the first time I needed to charge it!
I will say the Hall of Mirrors was my favorite part, I can't imagine living in a world like that! After the tour we found a bathroom and had an interesting experience getting the umbrellas back. Jim and Nicole walked through a maze, back through security and had to get through locked doors, all to get back their umbrellas, it was so so odd. I really wanted to tour the gardens and see Marie-Antoinette's Village, so we decided to brave the cold and walk around the property. I said, "we should go until we just can't take it anymore," and off we went. The gardens were beautiful in the dead of winter, so I can't imagine what they would look like in the summer! Sadly almost all the statues were covered and the fountains were turned off, so we didn't get to see the gardens in their full splendor, but it was still really pretty to walk through.
In case you have never been to Versailles, let me tell you, ITS HUGE!! We walked for a couple miles in the cold and found ourselves at PetitTrianon , which is a smaller home just like the palace. We took our tour and walked around the gardens there finding ourselves at the Temple of Love, which is gorgeous. The Temple is placed in the middle of a small island, as Nicole and I walked over the bridge we admired a swan for a long time. He was so graceful as he dipped his head into the lake for food and swam around close to us. Since I didn't have a camera with me, Nicole took a few pictures of the swan and the area. Jim took a picture of me in front of the Temple of Love, Nicole however refused to be photographed on 'island of love'...not sure what that is about. :)
We looked at the map and figured we still had another 2 miles to walk until we reached Marie-Antoinette's village called, Queen's Hamlet. It was way past lunch time and we were freezing and hungry so we decided to make the walk back to the palace and onto the train station. The walk was uneventful and as we neared the train station we turned another directions to find us a nice little place to eat. We were so happy to sit down that is was hard to focus on the menu. Jim and I both eyed our neighbors large iron pot of Beef Stew and happily ordered. Nicole could only find one thing on the menu that was vegetarian and ordered it, a salad. Poor girl, Europe is just not made for vegetarians. We ordered wine for the table and at last minute Jim asked me ifi would share some oysters with him. I have eaten one ray oyster in my life and I HATED it. But I am not the type of person to back down from trying new things, so I agreed. A little while later 6 oysters arrived in front of Jim and he gave me the basic overview on how to eat them..."scoop out the foot on the bottom, make sure to scrap it out so it floats in the water...". I did everything he said and added a little red wine vinegar with onions. Nicole snapped my picture (with her camera of course) and down it went. It just slid right down...and it took me a second to realizei was actually pretty good! I was really surprised with myself, I actually liked it. It tasted like the sea, which is hard to explain, but it did! Jim offered me another so I went through the same routine and ate the second one. I am not sure I would settle down with a plate of oysters for a meal, but all in all I like them. So there you go, I tried something new again and I liked it. The stew arrived and Jim and I were both very pleased with our decision. It was AMAZING and the perfect thing on a cold day like today. Nicole's salad wasn't quite as good as she would have hoped and I felt bad for her. After Jim's usual coffee we walked to the train station and got on the train. We weren't positive it was our train, but we figured what the hell?
Nicole and I instantly dozed off after having a full stomach and some wine. Jim started reading, but I'm pretty sure he dozed off too. I woke up just in time to see us arrive at the station Tour Eiffel. Earlier we discussed Nicole and I stopping at the Eiffel Tour on the way home and meeting Jim at the apartment later. So Jim casually said, "you know, you two could get off here to see the Eiffel Tower." And with that Nicole and I jumped up and ran down the stairs and off the train. My knee was really stiff and I was amazed I actually made it to the platform without falling down. Nicole and I walked out of the Metro and straight to the Eiffel Tour. It was great to see it again in all its mighty. I took numerous pictures of Nicole in front of the tour and just as we finished a young guy asked me if I would take his picture too. So I agreed and knelt down, my knee still killing me, and it gave out and my knee hit the pavement, the wet, cold muddy pavement. I took the picture, handed back his camera and looked down to find my newly washed jeans dirty in one big circle around my knee. Bummer! I was so sad, and my mood as a little ruined. But the smell of cotton candy was enticing and Nicole said we will find some treats to cheer me up. We walked around the bottom of the tour, found a bathroom and looked at the not so long line. We were approached by MANY guys trying to sell little Eiffel Tower trinkets, which we found so funny. We like the little stations set up on the ground with strings on either side, so when the cops come they can grab the strings and run!
We walked across the street to get the best view of the Eiffel Tour and stopped at a little stand for a snack. You guessed it, we each got a Crepe of Nutella and a Coca-light. On our way, we were again asked by a nice couple if we could take their picture in front of the tour and we agreed. We then made our way up the stairs and enjoyed our delicious snack watching the Eiffel Tower. The clouds had finally broke for the first time since our arrival and we could see the sun's reflection on the clouds as it was setting. It was beautiful outside. The sun went down and we watched the Eiffel Tower suddenly glow a blue/purple color, that I declared as Indigo. The Tour was also decorated with large golden stars that turned on as well, and it was so pretty to see it shining in the city. The view from up there was great too. It was finally not quite as foggy and we could see all the monuments of the city. We stood there for a long time enjoying the atmosphere. We walked up a little higher and again, two guys asked us if we could take their picture. I swear I must have had a large sign saying "I am here to take your picture, just ask!" But oh well, at least I was able to help people out. Nicole and I slowly made our way down the hill and back towards the metro. It was so nice outside that we took our time walking back.
Once inside the metro we navigated our way to the fancy department store because I still needed to do some shopping. We went to the Opera House Metro stop and walked outside to head over to the department store. As we walked to the department store, Nicole excitedly pointed toward a girl walking in front of us and shouted "oh my god its that picture girl!" Sure enough walking on the street in front of us was the odd dressed girl from Versailles, strutting along. We couldn't believe out of the entire city of Paris and after our stop at the Eiffel tour we would see her here! It was so funny! We shopped a little bit, but left empty handed and went back to Jim's apartment.
Jim let us in the door and we all were able to sit down and rest. Nicole instantly fell asleep on the air mattress as I talked to Jim for a little while. I tried to startblogging , but I felt tired as both of them were napping and I laid down next to Nicole to take a nap myself. Only Nicole had decided to lay on top of the blankets wrapped up in the bathrobe, so it was a bit of a battle getting under the cozy comforter to sleep.
Jim had told us about a houseboat party that night and Nicole and I thought about going. It started at 7:30 and was supposed to have French poetry readings and live music. At 8:30 Jim woke us to say we should probably get ready if we wanted to go to the party. We slowly got up and it took us a long time to decide if we wanted to go or not. It was so cold outside and we didn't know where we were going, plus it was a long ride to get there. But at last we decided we have to go and quickly got up to get ready. I was finally able to get out the black dress I brought with me and get dressed up for an evening out! Nicole and I took some time getting all dolled up and Jim researched directions on how to find the houseboat. Jim showed me onGoogle Maps how to get there and we were off.
We navigated our way through the metro, to the speed train, 14 and all the way outside the city center to the Bibliotheque. We got off the Metro stop just like Jim said and walked outside. It took us about 15 minutes to realize we didn't come out of the right exit and we still needed to go up farther to find our way. Once we found the right street (after a lot of puzzled looks at the map), we confidently walked down the street to the river and took a right, just like Jim said. We were supposed to take a right, walk to the next bridge and the boat was supposed to be on the left side in the water. But we walked the whole way (most likely 2 miles) and it was all industrial stuff. Mostly cement factories lining the water. We finally gave up after about an hour of walking and trying to look at the map and retraced our steps to the metro station. As soon as we reached the bridge we started at we saw lots of boats with flashing lights and looked over the pier to find two boats filled with people. We thought we recognized the one boat from the picture but it had a HUGE line out front. At this point we were so frustrated and tired that we really didn't want to stand in a line, in the cold next to the river to get into this party. It was already after 11, and the metro stopped running at 12:45 and we had a long ride home. So we said forget it and made our way back to the station.
You can imagine we weren't in the best of spirits, but we decided to stop in central Paris and find a bar and a place to eat to end the evening. Once we were in central Paris we realized all the restaurants had closed down and it was very difficult to find food. We remembered a food stand from earlier and walked there. Nicole got a baguette with cheese and fries. I just ordered fries, but it took me a while to explain to the workers what I wanted. They didn't understand fries, and apparently I couldn't pronounce "frites" correctly. Finally I said Chips and they were instantly knew what I meant. After we ate our food, since we were starving, we went out into the street to find a bar. We walked around the corner and settled for a fancy looking techno bar. We walked in and walked straight to the bar. The bartender was really friendly and helped us order with mixed English and French. We paid €7.50 each for our tiny drinks with fancy glow sticks in them and took a seat. Once we looked around we soon realized we were in a gay bar. Leave it to Nicole and Anna, our one night out looking for a bar and we settle for a gay bar. So we laughed and said it was just like our game earlier, "what in this room doesn't belong?" It was still a delicious drink and we were entertained.
We wanted to go to another bar, but it was nearing time for the metro to stop and we really didn't want to miss that, so we walked back to the station. After waking Jim up upon our arrival and explaining to him that we never found the boat we went to bed. We were pretty hyper and talked for a long time about us not wanting to go home yet, and perhaps we should change our tickets and go to Ireland instead. Finally we dozed off after a long day.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Day 27 - A Cold Day of Art
Nicole and I stayed up late last night reading my book, laughing historically the entire time. We found it highly entertaining and it was hard to put down. So, we woke up late...again. Last day, we swear. I began the morning with a load of laundry as Nicole and I got ready. Jim left for work and we told him we would meet him at the bookstore when we were ready to go for the day. We left the apartment after all the laundry had been finished and we had put our things away. Nicole and I navigated to Jim's bookstore via the metro and walked in to say hello.
Jack had just returned with his lunch so we browsed the store for a while so he could eat his lunch in peace. Jim handed me a copy of "A Year in the Madre," and told me to read it on my plane ride home. I gladly accepted the gift called A Year in Shit and tucked it away in my purse. After Jack finished his lunch he came downstairs to man the desk so Jim could escape with us for about a half hour. So we all three left and Jim directed us to the art gallery shopping district. We stopped in at Cozy for lunch, a quick salad and sandwich shop. Nicole and I both ordered a baguette with mozzarella, lettuce and tomato and a coca light each. Jim enjoyed a wonderful looking salad. We ate in about 10 minutes without hardly saying one word to each other and that was the end of that. Jim pointed us in the direction of shopping streets and headed back to the bookstore.
So Nicole and I walked up and down the streets, sometimes stopping in art galleries and other times too scared to open the door. I should say sometimes we tried to open the door, but it was locked. Very strange these art people. We saw a welcoming hallway full of art and walked in the door to browse. We made it about half way down the hall and realized it was not an art gallery at all, it was a school. So we casually turned around and headed for the door, but not before a young women could stop us and inform us that this was indeed a school and what exactly were we doing. We quickly said, yes and ran out the door.
We spent the next hour or so walking up and down the streets, stopping in stores mostly for warmth. It was a freezing cold day in Paris and we decided to spend it shopping outside, what were we thinking? We finally stopped for a warm cafe and had a good conversation. Once we left the cafe we walked to a Christmas mart around the corner, but we mostly just walked right through. It was too cold to stop and look. We spent the next 2 hours walking in and out of cute boutiques and its amazing how quickly time flys here in Paris.
While we were in a store called Muji, Jim called to say he was almost done at the store and we should head back to his bookstore. We tried to find our way but got distracted by a post office and a fun dishware store with lots of bright colors. I didn't know exactly where we were, but I let my sense of direction kick in and we walked toward where I suspected the store to be, and wallah...there it was.
Jim was anxious to get out of the store and wanted to forget about his long day at the office with some chocolate. He lead us straight to what he considers a VERY good chocolate shop and we waited for a table. Once we found a table we each ordered a real hot chocolate with real whipped cream on top, then we all got up one by one and pointed out exactly which dessert we wanted to eat. Well Jim and I ordered a dessert, Nicole ordered a pretzel and the lady behind the counter thought she was crazy. She kept telling Nicole it wasn't sweet, and Nicole kept saying, I know, its perfect. I got a kick out of it. Jim ordered a chocolate/banana pie and I ordered a very thick cookie. It was all very good and it certainly was an overdose of sugar...just like we like it.
After we left the shop, we went directly across the street to a very neat boutique with really fun furniture. Its a shame we couldn't bring any of it home. We left the shop and Jim lead us towards a large department store so I could do a little last minute shopping, but we were distracted on the way and stopped at Sephora. Jim and I have a ritual where we stop at Sephora and do some perfume and cologne shopping together, so we couldn't let our tradition die. I was able to walk away from Sephora with 3 samples while Nicole was told only 1 per person. Looks like I got the better deal! But they didn't have the perfume I really wanted, so I didn't get to buy any. Jim found one he really liked, but I told him it smells a little like sunscreen to me. So we will see if he decides he likes it.
After a half hour in Sephora we finally left and headed toward the department store. To my disbelief they didn't have anything I wanted and we left empty handed. This was just not our day for shopping! On our walk home we stopped at a fresh fruit and vegetable store and loaded up on vegetables for a stir-fry dinner tonight. We also picked up some delicious fruit for tomorrow morning. Nicole and I had a lot of fun looking at all the different fruits and vegetables available to us!
We jumped on the metro and after a short ride home, and Nicole almost falling over with our groceries in hand we arrived at Jim's stop. Jim went to the store to buy wine and sour cream for our beats and Nicole and I headed toward the apartment. Well as usual we were distracted by a grocery store on the way and stopped in to get a few things...orange juice (because we drank all Jim's), Coca-light (because we have to get our fix in) and Kinder chocolate eggs (because Nicole apparently adores them). We met Jim back at the apartment to find he also bought orange juice, so he is all stocked up now!
Immediately Nicole and I began to clear off the dinner table that we had been stacking with our personal things throughout the week. Jim began cooking our dinner by chopping up all the veggies and steaming the rice. I was instructed to put on some music, wash all the dishes and wash the spinach. Nicole shelled all the peas and tore apart the spinach and I'm sure did some other things while I was busy doing dishes. Jim cooked a wonderful stir-fry meal for the three of us and we all sat down to enjoy it together. Along with our stir-fry and rice he served beets with sour cream. Its actually a good combination and I might take that one home with me. We ate at the dinner table for the first time since my arrival with lit candles and a bottle of wine. It was all very lovely and Jim entertained us with stories of his yesteryears.
After dinner Nicole and I did the dishes while Jim did research for our day trip tomorrow. Now we are all nearing bed time as our day was exhausting walking and trying to keep warm. Jim has a chocolate mouse yet to serve, and the best chocolate ice cream in the world. Its a good thing we all like chocolate, because I have most likely eaten it with every meal here. Nicole did open her Kinder chocolate egg but wasthoroughly disappointed to find a Madagascar Hippo toy. I might leave mine for another day, I don't want her to get two major disappointments in one day. :)
Nicole and I will most likely end the night reading my book again...we are nearing the end and we just think its hilarious. Its been really fun having Nicole here, we keep each other laughing and something always seems to happen.
Night! We have an early day tomorrow!
Jack had just returned with his lunch so we browsed the store for a while so he could eat his lunch in peace. Jim handed me a copy of "A Year in the Madre," and told me to read it on my plane ride home. I gladly accepted the gift called A Year in Shit and tucked it away in my purse. After Jack finished his lunch he came downstairs to man the desk so Jim could escape with us for about a half hour. So we all three left and Jim directed us to the art gallery shopping district. We stopped in at Cozy for lunch, a quick salad and sandwich shop. Nicole and I both ordered a baguette with mozzarella, lettuce and tomato and a coca light each. Jim enjoyed a wonderful looking salad. We ate in about 10 minutes without hardly saying one word to each other and that was the end of that. Jim pointed us in the direction of shopping streets and headed back to the bookstore.
So Nicole and I walked up and down the streets, sometimes stopping in art galleries and other times too scared to open the door. I should say sometimes we tried to open the door, but it was locked. Very strange these art people. We saw a welcoming hallway full of art and walked in the door to browse. We made it about half way down the hall and realized it was not an art gallery at all, it was a school. So we casually turned around and headed for the door, but not before a young women could stop us and inform us that this was indeed a school and what exactly were we doing. We quickly said, yes and ran out the door.
We spent the next hour or so walking up and down the streets, stopping in stores mostly for warmth. It was a freezing cold day in Paris and we decided to spend it shopping outside, what were we thinking? We finally stopped for a warm cafe and had a good conversation. Once we left the cafe we walked to a Christmas mart around the corner, but we mostly just walked right through. It was too cold to stop and look. We spent the next 2 hours walking in and out of cute boutiques and its amazing how quickly time flys here in Paris.
While we were in a store called Muji, Jim called to say he was almost done at the store and we should head back to his bookstore. We tried to find our way but got distracted by a post office and a fun dishware store with lots of bright colors. I didn't know exactly where we were, but I let my sense of direction kick in and we walked toward where I suspected the store to be, and wallah...there it was.
Jim was anxious to get out of the store and wanted to forget about his long day at the office with some chocolate. He lead us straight to what he considers a VERY good chocolate shop and we waited for a table. Once we found a table we each ordered a real hot chocolate with real whipped cream on top, then we all got up one by one and pointed out exactly which dessert we wanted to eat. Well Jim and I ordered a dessert, Nicole ordered a pretzel and the lady behind the counter thought she was crazy. She kept telling Nicole it wasn't sweet, and Nicole kept saying, I know, its perfect. I got a kick out of it. Jim ordered a chocolate/banana pie and I ordered a very thick cookie. It was all very good and it certainly was an overdose of sugar...just like we like it.
After we left the shop, we went directly across the street to a very neat boutique with really fun furniture. Its a shame we couldn't bring any of it home. We left the shop and Jim lead us towards a large department store so I could do a little last minute shopping, but we were distracted on the way and stopped at Sephora. Jim and I have a ritual where we stop at Sephora and do some perfume and cologne shopping together, so we couldn't let our tradition die. I was able to walk away from Sephora with 3 samples while Nicole was told only 1 per person. Looks like I got the better deal! But they didn't have the perfume I really wanted, so I didn't get to buy any. Jim found one he really liked, but I told him it smells a little like sunscreen to me. So we will see if he decides he likes it.
After a half hour in Sephora we finally left and headed toward the department store. To my disbelief they didn't have anything I wanted and we left empty handed. This was just not our day for shopping! On our walk home we stopped at a fresh fruit and vegetable store and loaded up on vegetables for a stir-fry dinner tonight. We also picked up some delicious fruit for tomorrow morning. Nicole and I had a lot of fun looking at all the different fruits and vegetables available to us!
We jumped on the metro and after a short ride home, and Nicole almost falling over with our groceries in hand we arrived at Jim's stop. Jim went to the store to buy wine and sour cream for our beats and Nicole and I headed toward the apartment. Well as usual we were distracted by a grocery store on the way and stopped in to get a few things...orange juice (because we drank all Jim's), Coca-light (because we have to get our fix in) and Kinder chocolate eggs (because Nicole apparently adores them). We met Jim back at the apartment to find he also bought orange juice, so he is all stocked up now!
Immediately Nicole and I began to clear off the dinner table that we had been stacking with our personal things throughout the week. Jim began cooking our dinner by chopping up all the veggies and steaming the rice. I was instructed to put on some music, wash all the dishes and wash the spinach. Nicole shelled all the peas and tore apart the spinach and I'm sure did some other things while I was busy doing dishes. Jim cooked a wonderful stir-fry meal for the three of us and we all sat down to enjoy it together. Along with our stir-fry and rice he served beets with sour cream. Its actually a good combination and I might take that one home with me. We ate at the dinner table for the first time since my arrival with lit candles and a bottle of wine. It was all very lovely and Jim entertained us with stories of his yesteryears.
After dinner Nicole and I did the dishes while Jim did research for our day trip tomorrow. Now we are all nearing bed time as our day was exhausting walking and trying to keep warm. Jim has a chocolate mouse yet to serve, and the best chocolate ice cream in the world. Its a good thing we all like chocolate, because I have most likely eaten it with every meal here. Nicole did open her Kinder chocolate egg but wasthoroughly disappointed to find a Madagascar Hippo toy. I might leave mine for another day, I don't want her to get two major disappointments in one day. :)
Nicole and I will most likely end the night reading my book again...we are nearing the end and we just think its hilarious. Its been really fun having Nicole here, we keep each other laughing and something always seems to happen.
Night! We have an early day tomorrow!
Monday, December 15, 2008
Day 26 - Crepes de Rat in Power Cable, Nebraska
It was a lovely morning of sleeping in for all of us. Nicole needed to cure her jet lag, I needed to cure my cold...and Jim needed to enjoy his last day before going back to work. It was quite comical watching me try to get of the bed this morning, because it is wedged between a desk and a bookshelf, so you can only get in or out from the foot of the bed or the top of the bed. Nicole was laughing at me as I tried to get my foot down on the floor, but it was blocked by all our bags and I practically had to roll out feet first. But I was finally successful.
Jim ran out to the bakery around the corner and picked Nicole and I up some croissants to start our day off right. And they sure did! I took my medicine with some orange juice and I started to feel much better. We took our time getting ready for the day and didn't end up leaving the apartment until around 1:30. Nicole and I agreed it would be our last lazy morning. We headed straight for the canal and Jim took our first picture of Nicole and I together in Paris. Oh and also we snapped a picture of Jim and I. We then made our way to the Opera House and across the street to the fancy Department store called Gallerie Lafayette. The shop windows were our first goal and we were highly satisfied with what we found. The first window we walked up to was a window full of moving babies smoking a hookah pipe. The babies were floating on mushrooms and a flower was the leader of the hookah. Each baby was doing something different in the scene...one couldn't stand, four had the pipes in their hands and the rest were doing odd things. Each of the windows was directed by moving wires, making each object a moving puppet and we figured from the first window that Alice in Wonderland was the theme of the windows. Our guess was correct as we moved to each window. The next window was the tea table set by mini flamingos and a hiding Mad Hatter. The next window was a doctor's office full of dogs and some upside down flamingos. The next window scene were teddy bears trying to keep a door closed and the last window scene was full of mice making a flamingo look very pretty, as if the flamingo was Cinderella. We also saw a lot of shop windows set up with Alice in different designer dresses with the biggest hair you have ever seen. One of them was a mirror and the reflection was of Alice on the ceiling. I could go on and on about the windows, they were very impressive.
We finally walked inside the department store and the center of it is all open with a HUGE Christmas tree hanging from the ceiling. It was decorated with pink and purple and I thought it was magnificent. As was the department store, Jim and I made our usual stop in the Perfume area and smelled a couple of perfumes that I have been thinking about buying. We were able to walk around and look at all the beautiful clothes...all the beautiful clothes that none of us can afford. Jim left us not too long later to head off to work for the afternoon. So he handed me his apartment keys with direct instructions, "do not lose these!" So I slipped them in my purse and assured him they would be safe and sound. So Jim set off and left Nicole and I by ourselves.
Nicole and I continued around the department store for a little while longer until we both decided we needed to leave before we start buying things. So we walked across the street and looked at more fancy windows from the same department store and walked a little further to an H&M (Nicole's favorite) and did a little shopping. Nicole bought an over the shoulder purse for herself for the trip and then we made our way to the street again. We stopped in a couple of fun shops along the way and ended at the Opera House. We walked into the Opera House and looked around for a while. Once we got in line to buy tickets for a tour we saw a sign saying the Auditorium was closed for rehearsal, so we were a little bummed about that and decided not to go in.
So we brainstormed our next move and decided to head toward the Louvre and find some crepes in the park nearby. On the walk we admired the shops, and perhaps stopped in a few, its hard to remember now. We found the Louvre and took some pictures of ourselves, aren't we special? We didn't see a crepe place in our line of vision, so we moved on through the Louvre and onto the river, The Seine. We walked across the bridge and tried to see the Eiffel Tower, but it was too foggy outside, as we expected, it was a freezing cold day. So we took some pictures and moved on to the main bridge in the area, Pont Neuf. The bridge is decorated with goblin heads under the main portion and Nicole was quick to point them out since she learned all about them on her boat tour four years ago. We celebrated with pictures and decided to head somewhere warm. We walked across the street and carefully selected a cafe to stop at based on whether or not they served crepes. Once we found a cafe we thought was suitable we walked in and took a seat.
Right away, Nicole and I ordered an American Coffee. At this point I figured the bigger the better, more warm substance for my body to get warm. We also studied the crepe menu very carefully, for those of you who know me well, you will know that crepes are one of my favorite foods and I instantly fell in love with them my fist time in Paris. I ordered a crepe de nutella and Nicole ordered a crepe de chocolate and banana. I can't even describe how delicious they were. My first bite was like heaven melting in my mouth. I had waited 4 years for this and it was so worth it! We were both completely indulged in our crepes and we were very proud of our decision to find them.
After our warm up stop we decided to surprise Jim at his bookstore and navigated the streets we needed to walk to get there. It wasn't too far really, so we thought it would be a good choice. On the way there we crossed over the bridge Pont Neuf and walked down the main street there. It was full of the cutest/funniest shops and we found ourselves continuously stopping to shop. Each store was so unique and so fun to look at, I really enjoyed our time shopping. We did find a shoe store and I picked up a very cute set of boots to check the price thinking it would be astronomical, but it was actually within my price range! I couldn't believe it! So we stopped in to try a few pairs on, and I ended up buying two pairs of boots for myself! I know, I know, but as Nicole reassured me, I need a Christmas present for myself! I bought a pair of purple boots and a pair of gray boots. I am very excited about them, I am just not quite sure how I will get them home. One thing at a time...;)
So after stopping in many more shops we finally found ourselves at Jim's bookstore. I was a little surprised to see someone I never knew behind the desk and introduced myself. Once Jim returned from upstairs, he was just as surprised to see me and introduced me to James, his computer guy. We talked a little about what we had done and I showed Jim my new boots. He's not too crazy about the purple ones, but thats okay with me. :) We talked to Jim about what to do next and Nicole and I both mentioned we wanted to see the Museum of Modern Art. We looked in a guidebook in the shop and it didn't close until 9, and it was closed tomorrow so we decided to go. We took 1 guidebook from the shop to borrow for the rest of our time here and said our goodbyes.
On the metro, Nicole and I only had 3 stops to go and we got off the train right when we were supposed to. The trouble is, we had no idea how big this station actually was. We tried to follow the Exit sign, but it kept leading us everywhere but outside. We walked forever underground and it kept leading us to new train lines, with another sign pointing another direction to the exit. When we finally found a real exit we were so excited we didn't care where we ended up. Well, just like that we had no clue where we were once we were above ground. We tried to find street signs and find ourselves on the map, which we did an okay job doing, but we couldn't find the museum on the map so it really wasn't too helpful. But we decided to start walking and figured we would spot the building sooner or later. We also stopped to grab our baguettes out of our bag to snack on as we walked.
I finally spotted the industrial looking building out of the corner of my eye and we made our way to the entrance. We checked our bags (my shopping bags of course) and coats and bought our tickets. I was actually able to get a discount for being under 26 without an official youth card. Alright! Nicole was not so lucky. Bummer for her. We made our way to the top of theescalator that stands on the outside of the building to see Paris at night. It was very beautiful, but it was still really foggy outside, and we couldn't see too far. The building was really cool though and we enjoyed the view. We walked through the two galleries on the top floor and had a great time. The art was great, it was Futurism mostly and an artist called Jacques Villegle. We had a great time looking at it and once we left we walked out toward the escalator and saw the Eiffel Tower twinkling in the fog. It was beautiful! It was so foggy that we could only see the bottom half, but still we could see it!
We made our way down 2 stories and went to the main museum to see the installation art. We toured the first floor extensively and found it all so cool. It was a great museum but as we were finishing the first floor they announced that it would be closing in a half hour. We had one exhibit on the first floor that we really wanted to see so we quickly rushed downstairs to make it in the exhibit. The exhibit is Ron Arad called No Discipline and it is all very unique chairs. The exhibit was awesome, we spent about 10 minutes taking pictures and walking around until they announced that it was closed and a women asked us to leave. Sad.
So we went to get our coats and bags and headed to the gift shop. We walked around and looked at all the books until Jim called around 9:00. We met Jim outside the museum, after I took a picture of Nicole in front of the air blowers outside the museum...of course! She was so excited about these air blowers, so she took a lot of pictures. We found Jim and he asked us how Thai food sounded for dinner. We all agreed enthusiastically and followed Jim all the way to the restaurant. WE walked in a very nice restaurant and sat down where it was nice and warm. We had a little bit of a hard time finding a vegetarian meal for Nicole, but we finally found something and we all ordered our food. We did order a Papaya salad, and it was great...shredded papaya, carrot and a vinegar sauce. We also ordered some egg rolls and our dishes. They brought the wrong dish out to Nicole and she had to wait while they made the correct meal for her, but she said it was good once it finally came.
We left dinner and decided to stop by the crepe place for yet another crepe. Why not, you only live once, right? So as we were walking to get our crepes, Jim said, "oh, remind me at the crepe place to show you the rat store from Ratatouille." So then we joked about Crepes of Rat and made our way. The crepes were deliciously warm and Nicole and I were very happy...it was our second crepe of the dayafter all ! We walked around the corner and Jim pointed out the window of the Rat killing store. All the sudden Nicole and I weren't so happy with the food in our mouths as we stared at the dead rats in the window. Ew, that's the one word I have for that place. :)
Jim walked us to the metro station and Nicole and I decided to sneak the system and use one ticket to get us both through. Which meant sliding through the gate together...kind-of awkward. Jim said they hardly ever check tickets at night, so we should be fine. Welp, sure enough we turn the corner and there they are...checking tickets. It was our lucky night, because all of them were tied up with people and we practically ran by. Jim said we really dogged a bullet on that one and we swiftly made it to our train.
We made it home to Jim's cozy apartment and I immediately settled in on the computer. Nicole and Jim have been very patient with me. Nicole has been entertained by books from Jim's apartment and Jim is entertaining us with fun stories about...well anything really.
Jim just handed me a copy of Terry Pratchett's novel Sourcery because he knows I will love the series. I read aloud the author's biography and we all laughed at how funny it was. I am really excited to start reading the books because it just sounds so odd. I handed it to Nicole to look at and she asked if we had read the dedication. We both said no and she decided to read it aloud. In the dedication he thanks a fat American women with a broken suitcase on wheels and Power Cable, Nebraska. So we all had a good laugh once we found out the meaning of the term, which none of us had ever heard before.
Jim actually has to get up on time tomorrow, since he is opening the shop. And I need to get up and do some laundry before Nicole and I head out for the day. Its already late and I need to take my next dose of medicine to help me sleep. It was a fantastically fun day and it was so much fun having Nicole here. We were able to laugh and shop just like we have been doing for years.
Until tomorrow...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Cable
Jim ran out to the bakery around the corner and picked Nicole and I up some croissants to start our day off right. And they sure did! I took my medicine with some orange juice and I started to feel much better. We took our time getting ready for the day and didn't end up leaving the apartment until around 1:30. Nicole and I agreed it would be our last lazy morning. We headed straight for the canal and Jim took our first picture of Nicole and I together in Paris. Oh and also we snapped a picture of Jim and I. We then made our way to the Opera House and across the street to the fancy Department store called Gallerie Lafayette. The shop windows were our first goal and we were highly satisfied with what we found. The first window we walked up to was a window full of moving babies smoking a hookah pipe. The babies were floating on mushrooms and a flower was the leader of the hookah. Each baby was doing something different in the scene...one couldn't stand, four had the pipes in their hands and the rest were doing odd things. Each of the windows was directed by moving wires, making each object a moving puppet and we figured from the first window that Alice in Wonderland was the theme of the windows. Our guess was correct as we moved to each window. The next window was the tea table set by mini flamingos and a hiding Mad Hatter. The next window was a doctor's office full of dogs and some upside down flamingos. The next window scene were teddy bears trying to keep a door closed and the last window scene was full of mice making a flamingo look very pretty, as if the flamingo was Cinderella. We also saw a lot of shop windows set up with Alice in different designer dresses with the biggest hair you have ever seen. One of them was a mirror and the reflection was of Alice on the ceiling. I could go on and on about the windows, they were very impressive.
We finally walked inside the department store and the center of it is all open with a HUGE Christmas tree hanging from the ceiling. It was decorated with pink and purple and I thought it was magnificent. As was the department store, Jim and I made our usual stop in the Perfume area and smelled a couple of perfumes that I have been thinking about buying. We were able to walk around and look at all the beautiful clothes...all the beautiful clothes that none of us can afford. Jim left us not too long later to head off to work for the afternoon. So he handed me his apartment keys with direct instructions, "do not lose these!" So I slipped them in my purse and assured him they would be safe and sound. So Jim set off and left Nicole and I by ourselves.
Nicole and I continued around the department store for a little while longer until we both decided we needed to leave before we start buying things. So we walked across the street and looked at more fancy windows from the same department store and walked a little further to an H&M (Nicole's favorite) and did a little shopping. Nicole bought an over the shoulder purse for herself for the trip and then we made our way to the street again. We stopped in a couple of fun shops along the way and ended at the Opera House. We walked into the Opera House and looked around for a while. Once we got in line to buy tickets for a tour we saw a sign saying the Auditorium was closed for rehearsal, so we were a little bummed about that and decided not to go in.
So we brainstormed our next move and decided to head toward the Louvre and find some crepes in the park nearby. On the walk we admired the shops, and perhaps stopped in a few, its hard to remember now. We found the Louvre and took some pictures of ourselves, aren't we special? We didn't see a crepe place in our line of vision, so we moved on through the Louvre and onto the river, The Seine. We walked across the bridge and tried to see the Eiffel Tower, but it was too foggy outside, as we expected, it was a freezing cold day. So we took some pictures and moved on to the main bridge in the area, Pont Neuf. The bridge is decorated with goblin heads under the main portion and Nicole was quick to point them out since she learned all about them on her boat tour four years ago. We celebrated with pictures and decided to head somewhere warm. We walked across the street and carefully selected a cafe to stop at based on whether or not they served crepes. Once we found a cafe we thought was suitable we walked in and took a seat.
Right away, Nicole and I ordered an American Coffee. At this point I figured the bigger the better, more warm substance for my body to get warm. We also studied the crepe menu very carefully, for those of you who know me well, you will know that crepes are one of my favorite foods and I instantly fell in love with them my fist time in Paris. I ordered a crepe de nutella and Nicole ordered a crepe de chocolate and banana. I can't even describe how delicious they were. My first bite was like heaven melting in my mouth. I had waited 4 years for this and it was so worth it! We were both completely indulged in our crepes and we were very proud of our decision to find them.
After our warm up stop we decided to surprise Jim at his bookstore and navigated the streets we needed to walk to get there. It wasn't too far really, so we thought it would be a good choice. On the way there we crossed over the bridge Pont Neuf and walked down the main street there. It was full of the cutest/funniest shops and we found ourselves continuously stopping to shop. Each store was so unique and so fun to look at, I really enjoyed our time shopping. We did find a shoe store and I picked up a very cute set of boots to check the price thinking it would be astronomical, but it was actually within my price range! I couldn't believe it! So we stopped in to try a few pairs on, and I ended up buying two pairs of boots for myself! I know, I know, but as Nicole reassured me, I need a Christmas present for myself! I bought a pair of purple boots and a pair of gray boots. I am very excited about them, I am just not quite sure how I will get them home. One thing at a time...;)
So after stopping in many more shops we finally found ourselves at Jim's bookstore. I was a little surprised to see someone I never knew behind the desk and introduced myself. Once Jim returned from upstairs, he was just as surprised to see me and introduced me to James, his computer guy. We talked a little about what we had done and I showed Jim my new boots. He's not too crazy about the purple ones, but thats okay with me. :) We talked to Jim about what to do next and Nicole and I both mentioned we wanted to see the Museum of Modern Art. We looked in a guidebook in the shop and it didn't close until 9, and it was closed tomorrow so we decided to go. We took 1 guidebook from the shop to borrow for the rest of our time here and said our goodbyes.
On the metro, Nicole and I only had 3 stops to go and we got off the train right when we were supposed to. The trouble is, we had no idea how big this station actually was. We tried to follow the Exit sign, but it kept leading us everywhere but outside. We walked forever underground and it kept leading us to new train lines, with another sign pointing another direction to the exit. When we finally found a real exit we were so excited we didn't care where we ended up. Well, just like that we had no clue where we were once we were above ground. We tried to find street signs and find ourselves on the map, which we did an okay job doing, but we couldn't find the museum on the map so it really wasn't too helpful. But we decided to start walking and figured we would spot the building sooner or later. We also stopped to grab our baguettes out of our bag to snack on as we walked.
I finally spotted the industrial looking building out of the corner of my eye and we made our way to the entrance. We checked our bags (my shopping bags of course) and coats and bought our tickets. I was actually able to get a discount for being under 26 without an official youth card. Alright! Nicole was not so lucky. Bummer for her. We made our way to the top of theescalator that stands on the outside of the building to see Paris at night. It was very beautiful, but it was still really foggy outside, and we couldn't see too far. The building was really cool though and we enjoyed the view. We walked through the two galleries on the top floor and had a great time. The art was great, it was Futurism mostly and an artist called Jacques Villegle. We had a great time looking at it and once we left we walked out toward the escalator and saw the Eiffel Tower twinkling in the fog. It was beautiful! It was so foggy that we could only see the bottom half, but still we could see it!
We made our way down 2 stories and went to the main museum to see the installation art. We toured the first floor extensively and found it all so cool. It was a great museum but as we were finishing the first floor they announced that it would be closing in a half hour. We had one exhibit on the first floor that we really wanted to see so we quickly rushed downstairs to make it in the exhibit. The exhibit is Ron Arad called No Discipline and it is all very unique chairs. The exhibit was awesome, we spent about 10 minutes taking pictures and walking around until they announced that it was closed and a women asked us to leave. Sad.
So we went to get our coats and bags and headed to the gift shop. We walked around and looked at all the books until Jim called around 9:00. We met Jim outside the museum, after I took a picture of Nicole in front of the air blowers outside the museum...of course! She was so excited about these air blowers, so she took a lot of pictures. We found Jim and he asked us how Thai food sounded for dinner. We all agreed enthusiastically and followed Jim all the way to the restaurant. WE walked in a very nice restaurant and sat down where it was nice and warm. We had a little bit of a hard time finding a vegetarian meal for Nicole, but we finally found something and we all ordered our food. We did order a Papaya salad, and it was great...shredded papaya, carrot and a vinegar sauce. We also ordered some egg rolls and our dishes. They brought the wrong dish out to Nicole and she had to wait while they made the correct meal for her, but she said it was good once it finally came.
We left dinner and decided to stop by the crepe place for yet another crepe. Why not, you only live once, right? So as we were walking to get our crepes, Jim said, "oh, remind me at the crepe place to show you the rat store from Ratatouille." So then we joked about Crepes of Rat and made our way. The crepes were deliciously warm and Nicole and I were very happy...it was our second crepe of the dayafter all ! We walked around the corner and Jim pointed out the window of the Rat killing store. All the sudden Nicole and I weren't so happy with the food in our mouths as we stared at the dead rats in the window. Ew, that's the one word I have for that place. :)
Jim walked us to the metro station and Nicole and I decided to sneak the system and use one ticket to get us both through. Which meant sliding through the gate together...kind-of awkward. Jim said they hardly ever check tickets at night, so we should be fine. Welp, sure enough we turn the corner and there they are...checking tickets. It was our lucky night, because all of them were tied up with people and we practically ran by. Jim said we really dogged a bullet on that one and we swiftly made it to our train.
We made it home to Jim's cozy apartment and I immediately settled in on the computer. Nicole and Jim have been very patient with me. Nicole has been entertained by books from Jim's apartment and Jim is entertaining us with fun stories about...well anything really.
Jim just handed me a copy of Terry Pratchett's novel Sourcery because he knows I will love the series. I read aloud the author's biography and we all laughed at how funny it was. I am really excited to start reading the books because it just sounds so odd. I handed it to Nicole to look at and she asked if we had read the dedication. We both said no and she decided to read it aloud. In the dedication he thanks a fat American women with a broken suitcase on wheels and Power Cable, Nebraska. So we all had a good laugh once we found out the meaning of the term, which none of us had ever heard before.
Jim actually has to get up on time tomorrow, since he is opening the shop. And I need to get up and do some laundry before Nicole and I head out for the day. Its already late and I need to take my next dose of medicine to help me sleep. It was a fantastically fun day and it was so much fun having Nicole here. We were able to laugh and shop just like we have been doing for years.
Until tomorrow...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Cable
Day 25 - A BIG Surprise in Paris
Jim and I woke up at 9 this morning in order to get packed and ready to check out of our houseboat. We were able to get everything packed and ready to go. I will admit I felt awful this morning, my head was all clogged up and I feel like I could stay in bed all day with this cold, but we had to get back to Paris. I did have two Chocolate crossiants to help make myself feel better and they were delicious! So we did dishes and cleaned our part of the houseboat. Once everything was packed and we were ready to catch our train, we checked out of the houseboat with David and said our goodbyes. I did sign the guestbook with my name and Lincoln, NE just in case any of you go there someday, you will know I stayed there too!
We left for the train station and made it in plenty of time! We stopped at a cafe upstairs and Jim was able to order and omlete and coffee while I treated myself to Hot Chocolate. We finsihed up and headed to our platform to wait for our train. Once the train pulled up Jim and I boarded on our seperate coaches and the train pulled out of the station less than 10 minutes later. I enjoyed the long train ride with the book I had taken from Jim's book shelf and it really wasn't too bad of a ride. I struggled breathing the whole time through my nose, but I was very entertained by my book.
Once we pulled in to Gaud de Nord I got my things together and walked onto the Platform to find Jim. I didn't see him anywhere, so I waited a few minutes until he emerged from the train. We began our long walk down the platorm without really saying much to eachother. Jim had his two large bags and I had my heavy backpack on. As we were walking suddenly a very excited girl in a hat came rushing towards me waving her arms in excitment. It took me about 2 minutes to realize who it was, it was Nicole DeWald! Nicole from Lincoln...I couldn't believe it, I was stunned. I had no idea what in the world Nicole would be doing here and her and Jim said hello. I went to introduce them still in shock, and they said they already knew each other. I asked Nicole what she was doing here and she said she flew to Paris for the week to surprise me! I honestly was frozen in shock and my face was glued with a look of puzzlement the entire time. I couldn't believe Nicole was actually here in Paris. She said she decided to come to Paris last week and made all the plans contacting my parents and my uncle to make all her reservations. She wanted it to be a surprise, so she did it all behind my back. She will be here during my stay and we will leave together on Friday to go back to Lincoln. We paused for a brief conversation and Nicole told me about how she planned everything, I just couldn't believe it! Jim needed to go to the bookstore to get the keys to the apartment, so we sent him on his way while we looked for a Pharmacy for me to get medicine and have a coffee. Sadly Nicole had arrived in Paris at 10:30 this morning and had to wait until our train pulled in at 4:30 this afternoon. We stopped for a coffee and she told me everything, I am still just so shocked she pulled everything together. It will be really fun to have a friend here this week while Jim is working and we will be able to see all the touristy sights! We were able to catch up about everything over our coffee, but sadly we didn't find an Pharmacy that was open.
After our coffee we got onto the Metro and I lead Nicole to Jim's apartment. Nicole forgot pajama's, so we stopped in a few places to find something for her to wear. It was more difficult than you would expect, but we found her some pants. We met Jim at the apartment and he let us in. I gave Nicole the tour and I showed her all the goodies I have collected so far on my trip. Jim went to the store and upon his return handed us bowls of snack food and wine while we relaxed and used the computer. Including the Marshmallow's mom sent to uncle Jim through Nicole. Thanks Mom! Nicole would like me to mention to Kimmy that we are enjoying wine and cheese together. :) Wish you all could be here. The apartment is freezing after a weekend with no heat, so we are all cuddled around the heater.
After our relaxation time, we left the apartment to get some dinner. We got onto the Metro and stopped near the Modern Art Museum, which looks like a very industrial building. We walked around the neighborhood a little, which is very pretty. Jim pointed out the stand where I had my very first crepe EVER, 4 years ago. I was tempted to stop, but dinner sounded a little more filling. We all agreed on Italian and made our way to a cute little restaurant off of Place des Enfants square. Jim told us a story about the square from a book called Perfume about a famous perfume maker. He also informed us the Rat Store from the Ratatouille movie, the scene where the father shows the son the Rat killing store, is right around the corner from the restaurant. Jim knows how to speak to me with Pixar film relations.
Nicole and I shared a salad and pizza while Jim had a salad. It was a very nice meal and the restaurant was really warm. I was in heaven until my medicine decided to stop working and I felt horrible. All I wanted was to go home to bed, and so we did. Thankfully. I started to feel better on the walk home, but I was anxious to pop another pill and hit the hay. And so I did, with my vapor rub to help me breathe. Nicole and I shared the air mattress which was a very cozy fit, but it helped us stay warm. Well I can only really speak for myself, but I slept great. Although it was a little tough moving around because the bed would make these awful noises and the whole thing would shake, so you couldn't help waking the other person up. Either way it was great having Nicole here, and I really still can't believe she planned the whole thing and everyone was able to keep it secret from me. As Jace said in her card, "What's better than Paris?...A best friend in Paris!" On that note, thanks for the cards girls!
We left for the train station and made it in plenty of time! We stopped at a cafe upstairs and Jim was able to order and omlete and coffee while I treated myself to Hot Chocolate. We finsihed up and headed to our platform to wait for our train. Once the train pulled up Jim and I boarded on our seperate coaches and the train pulled out of the station less than 10 minutes later. I enjoyed the long train ride with the book I had taken from Jim's book shelf and it really wasn't too bad of a ride. I struggled breathing the whole time through my nose, but I was very entertained by my book.
Once we pulled in to Gaud de Nord I got my things together and walked onto the Platform to find Jim. I didn't see him anywhere, so I waited a few minutes until he emerged from the train. We began our long walk down the platorm without really saying much to eachother. Jim had his two large bags and I had my heavy backpack on. As we were walking suddenly a very excited girl in a hat came rushing towards me waving her arms in excitment. It took me about 2 minutes to realize who it was, it was Nicole DeWald! Nicole from Lincoln...I couldn't believe it, I was stunned. I had no idea what in the world Nicole would be doing here and her and Jim said hello. I went to introduce them still in shock, and they said they already knew each other. I asked Nicole what she was doing here and she said she flew to Paris for the week to surprise me! I honestly was frozen in shock and my face was glued with a look of puzzlement the entire time. I couldn't believe Nicole was actually here in Paris. She said she decided to come to Paris last week and made all the plans contacting my parents and my uncle to make all her reservations. She wanted it to be a surprise, so she did it all behind my back. She will be here during my stay and we will leave together on Friday to go back to Lincoln. We paused for a brief conversation and Nicole told me about how she planned everything, I just couldn't believe it! Jim needed to go to the bookstore to get the keys to the apartment, so we sent him on his way while we looked for a Pharmacy for me to get medicine and have a coffee. Sadly Nicole had arrived in Paris at 10:30 this morning and had to wait until our train pulled in at 4:30 this afternoon. We stopped for a coffee and she told me everything, I am still just so shocked she pulled everything together. It will be really fun to have a friend here this week while Jim is working and we will be able to see all the touristy sights! We were able to catch up about everything over our coffee, but sadly we didn't find an Pharmacy that was open.
After our coffee we got onto the Metro and I lead Nicole to Jim's apartment. Nicole forgot pajama's, so we stopped in a few places to find something for her to wear. It was more difficult than you would expect, but we found her some pants. We met Jim at the apartment and he let us in. I gave Nicole the tour and I showed her all the goodies I have collected so far on my trip. Jim went to the store and upon his return handed us bowls of snack food and wine while we relaxed and used the computer. Including the Marshmallow's mom sent to uncle Jim through Nicole. Thanks Mom! Nicole would like me to mention to Kimmy that we are enjoying wine and cheese together. :) Wish you all could be here. The apartment is freezing after a weekend with no heat, so we are all cuddled around the heater.
After our relaxation time, we left the apartment to get some dinner. We got onto the Metro and stopped near the Modern Art Museum, which looks like a very industrial building. We walked around the neighborhood a little, which is very pretty. Jim pointed out the stand where I had my very first crepe EVER, 4 years ago. I was tempted to stop, but dinner sounded a little more filling. We all agreed on Italian and made our way to a cute little restaurant off of Place des Enfants square. Jim told us a story about the square from a book called Perfume about a famous perfume maker. He also informed us the Rat Store from the Ratatouille movie, the scene where the father shows the son the Rat killing store, is right around the corner from the restaurant. Jim knows how to speak to me with Pixar film relations.
Nicole and I shared a salad and pizza while Jim had a salad. It was a very nice meal and the restaurant was really warm. I was in heaven until my medicine decided to stop working and I felt horrible. All I wanted was to go home to bed, and so we did. Thankfully. I started to feel better on the walk home, but I was anxious to pop another pill and hit the hay. And so I did, with my vapor rub to help me breathe. Nicole and I shared the air mattress which was a very cozy fit, but it helped us stay warm. Well I can only really speak for myself, but I slept great. Although it was a little tough moving around because the bed would make these awful noises and the whole thing would shake, so you couldn't help waking the other person up. Either way it was great having Nicole here, and I really still can't believe she planned the whole thing and everyone was able to keep it secret from me. As Jace said in her card, "What's better than Paris?...A best friend in Paris!" On that note, thanks for the cards girls!
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Day 24 - The Twilight Zone
Jim and I woke up a little later this morning and headed first to the Rembrandt House. I officially admitted to myself that I have a cold this morning. I didn't sleep too well and my nose is completely stuffed up. It is not fun to be sick on vacation. :( We took a tour of the house, me with an audio-tour and Jim without. It was a very pretty house considering when it was built and it was set up just like it would have been used by Rembrandt. However at the top of the exhibit they had a large exhibit on Backer, which was Rembrandt's student. So it was really more focused on Backer than Rembrandt which was odd. It was a good tour though.
After the tour we walked around the Red Light District, but it doesn't have quite the same charm during the day. We stopped in a few shops for some shopping including a very fancy hat shop where we had a good time. There were so many hats in there that would be so fun to own! Jim had a wonderful time trying on all sorts of hats and actually decided to spring for one. Through the rest of the trip he would continuously mention how much he likes his hat. So I'm glad he was able to find something he liked.
We toured the shops and the sights for a while and made our way back towards the flower market. I spent a long time here deciding what to buy and what would be good to take home. We even took a little break to grab some lunch at Wok to Go. It was very good fast Thai food. After we ate and warmed up a bit we went back to the flower market and I was able to make some decisions on what I wanted. We made our way back to the houseboat but we spent most the time stopping in little shops along the way and looking at all the cool things they have to offer. Shopping is really great in Amsterdam, its filled with all sorts of boutiques and really great furniture and art shops.
We got back to the houseboat with our intention to warm up and head to the VanGough Museum. But we checked the times and it closed in a little over an hour, so we wouldn't make it anyway. So we settled with writing postcards and taking a nap before we went out later. The nap felt great and I was able to get warm again. We stayed at the houseboat for a long time and ended up watching a Dragon show called Merlin...not much is on Dutch television, but we found it entertaining.
We finally left the houseboat later in the evening and took the metro to the red light district. It was certainly more populated now and I will say it was very different at night. It was interesting to walk around and see everything. We were hungry at this point, but we couldn't find a cash machine so we spent a long time looking for one. We finally found one very close to where we had started and then continued our search for a nice place to eat. We finally agreed on a Pizzeria Steakhouse down an alley. The food ended up being okay, but nothing to cry home about. It was after all just a small place in the red light district. But it was nice to spend some time enjoying the evening.
After dinner we went next door to a coffee shop called The Twilight Zone. I enjoyed a nice piece of cake while we sat and took in the atmosphere. Jim and I were very excited about the name "The Twilight Zone" and we were very happy with our selection. It had a great crowd and we enjoyed ourselves. After The Twilight Zone we made the long walk back towards our part of town and tried to decide on a bar. Most of the bars were packed with people, but Jim and I weren't in the mood to jam ourselves in a loud bar, so we settled for a very quiet bar on the corner near our hotel. A little party was happening inside and the crowd was very entertaining. They were dancing and singing to old American music like Madonna, Prince, etc. It was hilarious. We sat for a long time and sipped our drinks, but the night was getting very late so we headed home. I was very happy to get to bed and take some medicine to help me breathe. It was a long day, but it was a great day to end our time in Amsterdam!
After the tour we walked around the Red Light District, but it doesn't have quite the same charm during the day. We stopped in a few shops for some shopping including a very fancy hat shop where we had a good time. There were so many hats in there that would be so fun to own! Jim had a wonderful time trying on all sorts of hats and actually decided to spring for one. Through the rest of the trip he would continuously mention how much he likes his hat. So I'm glad he was able to find something he liked.
We toured the shops and the sights for a while and made our way back towards the flower market. I spent a long time here deciding what to buy and what would be good to take home. We even took a little break to grab some lunch at Wok to Go. It was very good fast Thai food. After we ate and warmed up a bit we went back to the flower market and I was able to make some decisions on what I wanted. We made our way back to the houseboat but we spent most the time stopping in little shops along the way and looking at all the cool things they have to offer. Shopping is really great in Amsterdam, its filled with all sorts of boutiques and really great furniture and art shops.
We got back to the houseboat with our intention to warm up and head to the VanGough Museum. But we checked the times and it closed in a little over an hour, so we wouldn't make it anyway. So we settled with writing postcards and taking a nap before we went out later. The nap felt great and I was able to get warm again. We stayed at the houseboat for a long time and ended up watching a Dragon show called Merlin...not much is on Dutch television, but we found it entertaining.
We finally left the houseboat later in the evening and took the metro to the red light district. It was certainly more populated now and I will say it was very different at night. It was interesting to walk around and see everything. We were hungry at this point, but we couldn't find a cash machine so we spent a long time looking for one. We finally found one very close to where we had started and then continued our search for a nice place to eat. We finally agreed on a Pizzeria Steakhouse down an alley. The food ended up being okay, but nothing to cry home about. It was after all just a small place in the red light district. But it was nice to spend some time enjoying the evening.
After dinner we went next door to a coffee shop called The Twilight Zone. I enjoyed a nice piece of cake while we sat and took in the atmosphere. Jim and I were very excited about the name "The Twilight Zone" and we were very happy with our selection. It had a great crowd and we enjoyed ourselves. After The Twilight Zone we made the long walk back towards our part of town and tried to decide on a bar. Most of the bars were packed with people, but Jim and I weren't in the mood to jam ourselves in a loud bar, so we settled for a very quiet bar on the corner near our hotel. A little party was happening inside and the crowd was very entertaining. They were dancing and singing to old American music like Madonna, Prince, etc. It was hilarious. We sat for a long time and sipped our drinks, but the night was getting very late so we headed home. I was very happy to get to bed and take some medicine to help me breathe. It was a long day, but it was a great day to end our time in Amsterdam!
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