Bonjour all!

Hello to everyone from Paris!

After a very long flight we arrived in Paris tired and hot and sweaty. We didn't have any problems navigating Pearson or CDG, but we were a little confused about which trains we needed to take to get to our hotel. We were so hot and tired, that our brains were totally NOT working, so it was a little difficult to navigate in French. We got on one wrong train, and ended up walking up and down so many flights of stairs in the subway that we were even more tired and hot. At this point, I was thinking that this might have been a mistake. I was so cranky and confused and overtired and over heated, that all I wanted was to be back in Calgary. But we finally made it to the hotel, which is great. Our room wasn't quite ready, but they fixed it up quick for us. We had showers and then naps and then we went to have dinner on the patio of a nice French restaurant. That's when I started to enjoy myself. Nathan had duck confit and I had cheesy mashed potatoes with a sausage. Yummy!

Yesterday was Notre Dame, Sainte Chappelle, the crypt under Notre Dame and the Medieval Museum. Lots of walking and lots to see. Today we're off to walk up the towers of Notre Dame and then to the catacombes.

This place really does have a certain Je ne sais quoi!

T-minus 75 hours and counting....

Do you think I'm excited? No, of course not...

I can't wait to get on that plane and go. It's going to be such a nice trip. The weather in Paris the past week has been holding steady at about 23-26C, either partly cloudy or full sun. This is going to be so awesome! I also phoned my first French person on Saturday. One of the hotels that we wanted to stay in doesn't have email, so we had faxed a request to them. By the end of last week we hadn't heard back, so Nathan convinced me that we had to call them. I wrote out what I wanted to say (in French, of course) and then I dialed. A man picked up the phone and said 'Allo?'. Not 'Allo, Hotel de la Gare'. So I had no idea if I had the right phone number and of course asking that question was not part of my script. So I said 'Bonjour...ummm....'. And then he said 'I speak English, madame'. Apparently I was quite obviously not French. Oh well, at least I was prepared to make an effort. =D

Now all I have to do is attempt to accomplish things at work in the next three days. Not that I have a lot to do, but I can't just sit here and stare at the clock. Well, maybe for a couple of hours every day I could do that...

I have shoots!!!

I am so incredibly happy with myself! I have grown plants! Of course, they're bulbs that I just put in the ground and now, lo and behold, I have little shoots coming up! Look, look!


The green ones are crocuses and the purple are tulips. Of course, there are a whole bunch that aren't poking they're heads through right now. These are just the early risers I guess! More pictures to come as my little babies get bigger!

I'm cured!

I think the last 4 days have cured me of wanting a pet. Thank goodness! I was getting perilously close to being desperate for something furry and cuddly to cuddle. Not that there's anything wrong with Belal and Turtle, but the days of house/pet sitting has reminded me how much work a pet is and how much it restricts your life. All in all, it was a pretty uneventful 4 days. There were only a couple of wigging out episodes. =D I won't go into all the details of my irrational irritation with the pets. In any case, I'm extremely glad to go home to my own little house and my own bed and my own stuff. And my slippers. I miss my slippers.

I can't wait for the 3 day weekend! Lucky Nathan gets 4, since he never works Mondays anyway. At least we'll have 3 days to putter around together and relax in a pet free, fur free, slobber free, soft cat food free house. Ick.