Vacation part deux

Today got off to a rough start and didn't really pick up at any point. I guess I am still a little down about the convention being over.

So I stayed up super late last night and was planning on waking up early to see my mom off to the airport. But the either alarm clock didn't go off or I didn't hear it, and so she had already left... :(

Then we had our last breakfast at the hotel, said goodbye to everyone there and rushed to get our bags all packed. Oh, I have to remember the names of the sisters that know Vic Shields.... Dang... I forgot and don't think I'll ever remember. Oops. One of the sisters had her hair dyed red. If I ever give this link out to anyone and you were part of the Canadian delegation and you remember who I am talking about, let me know.

After we threw our bags into the taxi, Ralph and Paula sped off to our flat in the 18eme arrondissement, since they were late to meet up with the proprietor, and we still had to check out. Joel and I followed by metro.

The others don't really understand why, but I have a real hatred for the metro. OK, maybe not a hatred, but an intense aversion. I guess it stems from years of living in the suburbs, driving a car and not needing to use public transit. Plus extreme laziness. This intense aversion was not in any way lessened by this last trip on the metro. At the last stop we had to climb probably 8 flights of stairs to get out. I was thankful that we had sent our luggage ahead with Ralph & Paula instead of carrying it ourselves... That would have been murderous... The trip would have met a tragic end and my remains would have had to have been couriered back to Canada. Ralph & Paula, though, were not so thankful about having transported our luggage....

When the taxi dropped them off at the flat, the street was temporarily closed and the driver had to drop them off a ways off from the front door. So Ralph had to lug all the bags down the street, to the door. Then up two flights of stairs. Good thing he is accustomed to manual labour, unlike a certain accountant I know.

Joel & I finally arrived at the flat, and all 4 of us headed out to roam. We stopped at the bakery directly across the street and picked up some absolutely amazing pastries... Soooo good!!! Next we headed over to the Champion to do some grocery shopping. 90 euros later we came home and had a fully stocked fridge. Later on in the afternoon, Joe & Lynette Connell came over and Paula made an awesome green bean salad with lemon and onion, beets and camembert, which went along marvelously with the Bordeaux the proprietor had left for us.

Then Glen called and was going to metro it over, but instead I biked over and we biked back together. Lots of really sharp looking clothes. Biking through Paris was quite an experience in itself... After finally figuring out how to rent a bicycle, I hopped on and started riding-- and suddenly realized I had no idea where I was supposed to ride. It took a while, but I figured it out and there were no near death experiences, which is always a good thing. Along the way back Glen and I stopped at Vercourt, Glen's favourite menswear shop.

We made it back to the flat around 7:30 pm, and Joel was pacing outside.... I knew that was a bad sign... Turned out that I had accidentally taken both sets of keys and so the gang had to wait inside the flat the whole time I was gone... I felt like a heel, and the gang was perturbed, but Christian love prevailed eventually, but not after some smarmy remarks. This was definitely not one of the high points of the day.

We then met up with Myriam and Priscilla, two extremely short sisters from St Hubert, QC. But what they lack in height they make up for in niceness (I am probably going to send them the link to this blog, so I have to pretend I liked them). Joel had planned to take them to a chocolatier, but when we got there, we found the store was closed for the summer... So instead we toured around the area, went to the Sacre Coeur church, listened to some really awful French busker, ate some pretty good repes and perused the souvenir shops, then finished off with some coffee and dessert.

Afterwards we came home and broke into some fine Cognac. I ironed a million shirts and tried calling my mom, but she didn't answer (probably sleeping).

Well, that is basically our day, blow by tedious blow. Tomorrow is a sleep in day, and meeting in the evening.

I think I am beginning to fall in love with Paris... It is a very enchanting city with many faces... Even though no one is really around (everyone leaves town for holidays in August), there is still a really cool vibe to the city; tons of history and character... If life was not so complicated, I would easily pack up and find me a little flat in the 18eme.