I woke up this morning to the sound of the hustle and bustle of the street outside Jim's apartment window. My night on the inflatable mattress was very comfortable and very warm under the large comforter Jim gave me. It was hard to get out of bed because I was so warm and cozy. But I did and Jim and I spent the morning slowly getting ready and drinking coffee around the apartment. It was a nice change of pace to just relax and lounge around for a while.
We left the apartment around 11 or so and walked to the train station. We both needed to pick up our train tickets for tomorrow that we had reserved online. It was a little sunny outside and it was pretty nice weather. Nothing like Barcelona, but for Paris winter it was a nice day. Once we found the ticket off at the train station we stood in line for a little while. Jim was able to pick up his tickets with no problem and swiftly exited leaving me to get my tickets. The women kindly looked up my reservation and asked me for the credit card I used to reserve the tickets. I gladly handed over my card and she swiped it, but it did not match the original reservation. She explained this to me and asked for the correct card. Then in dawned on me, when Dad and I were booking this back in the states my credit card wouldn't work because they thought it was suspicious activity so we ended up charging it to Dad's credit card. I panicked and explained to her that I didn't have the credit card with me. She looked at me with such annoyance and responded with there is nothing she can do, I can't have my tickets. Great, just great. So I told her that I needed to buy new tickets for the exact same trains and times. She obliged and looked up the tickets, but she told me the train was near full and it would cost more than I originally paid. She looked at my reservation and saw the discounted price I originally paid and laughed rolling her eyes and saying, no way, your tickets are going to be WAY more. Great, just great. But there was nothing I could do, so I ended up paying about €100 more than I paid on my first set of tickets and was able to confirm I had tickets for the train tomorrow. So I walked out of the office paying lots of money and walking away with 2 reservations for the train. The clerk told me I could cancel my reservation online to get a refund for my original ticket, so at least that was a little reassurance.
After I explained the story to Jim he laughed a little, as did I as I shook my head in annoyance at not having he credit card with me. We quickly stopped at a photo booth so Jim could take his picture. He was able to finally get his very first Senior card and he needed a picture to go with it. Once he was happy with his picture and it was printed we walked down to the metro station. I think the picture looked very nice by the way. We then went to a shop where Jim could change some money before our big trip tomorrow. Right across the street from the shop was a very cheesy Christmas scene including a fluffy stuffed dog and a polar bear. We stopped to take a quick picture, our first picture together and laughed at the very odd scene. We walked a couple blocks and walked right in front of Notre Dame, it has a very (as Jim would say) putzy Christmas tree out front and I was able to take a picture of Notre Dame with the putzy tree. We walked around the touristy areas and Jim showed me a few of his competitors who have shops in the area. We stopped at a little Greek restaurant for lunch and I had a gyro with lamb and some french fries. It felt good to sit inside where it was warm. During our wonderful conversation at lunch suddenly girls started screaming and pushing chairs out of the way behind me. I quickly turned at all the commotion and realize a pigeon had flown into the shop and 3 tables of young girls started screaming and freaking out. It was hillarious to see them all so frantic, it was like a classroom of school girls. As Jim said "its only a pigeon."
We left lunch and Jim gave me a little tour of a church right near by called, Saint Severin. It was very nice, small yet magnificent. We walked a little bit longer and found ourselves in front of Jim's bookshop. On the walk there, Jim pointed out a shop where his old business partner recently opened a bookstore to compete with Jim's shop. Its about a half block away and I could see why Jim was a bit pissed off about it. We walked into the shop and greeted the other Jim, they discussed a few book orders while Jim dropped off some books from his apartment.
We walked down Rue St. Sulpice to Ruenns and turned left to find ourselves at a large and very fancy department store called Bon Marche. Jim wanted to show me the shop windows which are usually very impressive this time of the year. They were pretty, but we didn't think they were spectacular. We walked into the very pretty department store, which was a little fancy for my wallet, but Jim explained this is where be bought Lucas and Katie's wedding gift. He also walked around to show me all his favorite designers and all the clothes he would buy if he could. He has very good taste in clothes, much better than myself. We walked around a little to look at all the spectacular things, mostly in the men's area and then decided it was time to move on.
We took the metro to a shop on the outer part of central Paris and walked what Jim called, "very very long blocks," until we reached a little leather repair shop. Jim had dropped off his leather coat here a while back to fix a small tear in the sleeve. He had decided the shop lady was a little crazy and he could get it repaired at a better place. He also wanted to take it with us on our trip just in case it rained. We were greeted by the crazy French lady who I thought was very fun in her own way, but I couldn't understand a word she was saying. I think Jim was very thankful to get his coat back and felt better about finding a new shop to have the tear fixed at a later date.
Our errands were done for the day and on our way home we decided to stop for Chocolate, or hot chocolate. Jim decided on a place he wanted to go and we got off the metro. As we walked Jim explained we were now in the Jewish Quarter and right as he said that we walked right past a synagogue with the star of David in front. The area was really nice and it had great little streets full of great shops that I very much wanted to go into, but then I realized I couldn't afford anything inside. We walked in front of a restaurant with two Christmas trees outside and Jim pointed them out, "Christmas trees in a Jewish neighborhood." As I turned to look at them, I responded with "well they are sprayed black, so thats probably saying something." We had a little chuckle.
We turned the corner and a short distance later we walked into a nice sized cafe. We sat down and got cozy and took a look at the menu. We each ordered Hot Chocolate and two desserts. Jim ordered the cheesecake and I had a tarte with fruit and ice cream. The hot chocolate came in 2 small saucers and 1 larger saucer of cream. You pour real melted chocolate into your mug and then pour the warm creme on top and add some sugar to top it off. It was really sweet, but very good. My tarte was delicious, it was made of a pastry, prunes and apricots (I think). It was perfection. Jim's cheesecake was very good too, it was whipped and very light. It sure was a very sweet break, but it was the perfect time of day and it was nice to enjoy it!
Right across the street was a small art studio featuring about 15 or so original artists works. We flipped through the very fun artworks and made friends with the Norwegian saleswomen. She was very interested in helping us find what we were looking for and where we are from. She was really nice and as Jim mentioned later, far from French because of her kind nature. During our dessert Jim mentioned there was a small retro/used clothing store right around the corner that he frequents to buy neckties for €1. I asked if we could go and after the art store we walked around the corner and walked in. The place was PACKED. It was craziness as people dug through the coolest looking old clothes. Jim went straight for the neckties, and me the scarves. Jim found one red necktie with rhinestones, but it had a small stain so he passed. I found a few great finds in the scarves and we made our way downstairs. Jim found a neat old coat that was really fun, but the sleeves were too short. He said he often has that problem in Paris, but was a little bummed it didn't fit. Back upstairs I found a few large bags hanging from the banister and I studied them for a long time. There were two I really liked, leather and vintage. Jim was standing outside and I waved him back in to see the bags. He was very impressed with my finds and helped me inspect them. We decided the smaller of the two was not real leather, but the other one was. Jim said he was a little envious because the bag would be a great travel bag. I fell in love with it and decided I could carry it home on my flight and check my other bag. I told Jim he could use it this weekend to travel with and he was satisfied. I was so happy to walk out of the store with it. Its really nice brown leather and is clearly vintage. I think I will be excited about that find years from now.
We finally made our way home and I was able to do some laundry as we sipped wine. I found a book on the shelf about Trailer Travel and asked Jim a few questions about his childhood at the trailer park. He pipped up and filled me in on plenty of stories from his younger days. It was so interesting to listen to, I can't imagine the life him and my Dad grew up in. He has the most outrageous stories and it was so fun to learn more about my Dad. Jim also got out his old scrapbook my Grandma had made him of his baby pictures and we looked through that. It was great to see all the old pictures. He also showed me his scrapbook of Vietnam, which was VERY different but hilarious to see. I saw so much resemblance of my Dad and my brother from pictures of Jim when he was younger. It was a little eerie. I like hearing all the stories Jim had to tell about my grandparents, great-grandparents and of course my own father.
I went to change my laundry from the washer to the dryer and realized my favorite gold scarf had ruined all my whites! The color from the scarf had run and stained all my white clothes a yellowish green. Great. But oh well, they weren't really important clothes, but it did ruin my scarf. :(
When I waited for my clothes to dry I was able to get online to the ticket website and attempt to cancel my first reservation to get my money back. The trouble was the website is in French. Dad and I were so excited to have booked the tickets in the first place because we were able to navigate a French website. Well, now I needed to cancel the tickets in French. I asked Jim for a dictionary and tried my hardest to look up all my options. I finally looked up the word "cancel" and I was able to find it under the help section. Jim was packing and said he wouldn't really be much help anyway, so I tried to do it all on my own. When I finally found the screen explaining how to cancel my reservation Jim came over and we were able to follow the directions together. And we figured out how to cancel one of the tickets! YEAH! But for some reason the other ticket won't work, it keeps saying Electronic error. Damn. Oh well, at least I got a little over half the money back. I feel really proud that I was able to figure it out in French. Pat on the back for me. :)
Once the laundry was done we set off for dinner. Sushi, which Jim was actually surprised to here I liked. We walked just around the corner to a small Sushi restaurant. We ordered the same plate of Sushi and took our time eating. Jim enjoyed some sake, but I stuck with water. After dinner we headed back to the apartment to do some ironing. I was able to iron my pants and then I spent some time online. Jim just enjoyed some chocolate ice cream, but I told him I was chocolate-d out for the day and I passed.
Now I need to spend some time selecting which clothes I want to pack for tomorrow. Jim was able to pack his things in my new bag and I think he likes it just as much as I do! I finally don't have to travel with a hugely full backpack because I will be able to leave some things here! I am very excited about only taking what I need for the 4 days we will be gone. Now I just have to pick and choose what to take and what to leave...I hope it doesn't take me too long.
For those of you who voted, Jim and I are going to Amsterdam tomorrow and we will be staying on a houseboat!! I am so excited, it will be my first time in Amsterdam and my first time on a houseboat!
A Bientot, Anna
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