Paris – Again!

We finally made it to Paris, completely exhausted, and proceeded directly to Amy and David’s shower, do not pass go, do not collect $200! I really have to say, there is nothing quite like a good shower after a month or so of backpacking! We didn’t hang around too long at Amy and David’s, however, as we were due to stay over at Leslie’s - one of Bec’s friends. What we didn’t know, however, that we were also being taken to one of her friend’s birthday parties. ‘That’s OK!’ we said, as we trudged along after her, fervently hoping that after a full day of work Leslie would also be exhausted and not want to stay too late. I warned her, in fact, that I was more than happy to go out, just so long as she didn’t mind if I fell asleep on a chair somewhere if it got past 12 or so! Leslie assured us that she didn’t want to stay out too late and that we would have an early night and hopefully catch up on some sleep that we’d been deprived of over the past month. That sounded fair, and indeed Leslie didn’t want to stay out too late, but unfortunately our ride home, another girl, did. Now, whilst my French had definitely gotten back up to speed, it was still not quite good enough to keep up most of the conversations going on around the table. That isn’t to say that Bec and I weren’t included, but there are only so many questions people want to ask two Aussies who are half falling asleep at the table. I say half falling asleep because, technically, only one of us did. Unfortunately, that someone was me. I made it to half past one, but by that stage I was really, really struggling! I eventually fell asleep, completely sitting up at the head of the table, head slightly down. Supposedly I had slept straight through people laughing at me, and eventually calling my name trying to wake me up to go. When I eventually did wake up, it was suddenly, and to the sound of a loud bang. I discovered everyone was standing on the other side of the room, looking in my direction. Everone, that is, except Bec, who was holding a cane woven chair – a chair with a big hole in the seat. I still don’t know exactly what happened, but Bec assured me it just spontaneously exploded. Personally, I think it more likely that she was about to smack me over the head with it in an attempt to wake me up, but she assures me that this would have been pointless anyway!

The next day we slept in, (THANKFULLY), had a wonderful Sunday lunch, and figured the best thing to do would be something which required as little brain-power as possible. Leslie had just the thing – an Olsen-twin movie about soccer. It was in French, but even despite theoretically improving my French, I could still feel my IQ points slipping away! Bec and I eventually went back to Amy and David’s, ate more, and packed Bec’s bag together – for the last time. The next morning, she was off back to the South of France. (There was more purpose to the brief visit than a dinner party – she had to pick up her other suitcase, which she had left with Leslie.) So I saw her off, went back home and rejoiced in internet. Despite rejoicing in internet for most of the next week, I somehow didn’t manage to update my blog, and for this I apologise again! I did have two very cute little girls keeping me on my toes! I can now sing a few French children’s songs, and am sure that I have a hilarious sprinkling of ‘kiddie’ French in with high-school remnants. The first word that comes to mind when I think of ‘knife’, for example, is Charlotte’s own invention “coup-coup”. As for ‘fork’, all that I can remember is Charlotte insisting that it was a ‘fork’ and most definitely not anything else!

So, for the next week I dallied around, recuperated, laughed in amazement at my Birkenstock tan on my feet, and tried (in vain) to avoid getting sick again. I also hung out lots with my friend Leslie and an old friend Eleni who I hadn’t seen for approximately ten years. Together with two of her other Friends, we went to Versailles and wandered around the gardens. I had been to Versailles a number of years before, but suffice to say that in mid-winter it possesses less of a ‘secret-garden’ charm and more of an enchanted ‘ice-queen’ sense of foreboding. Magnificent certainly, but this time the colour everywhere was breathtaking. In keeping with the Gastronomic Tour of Europe theme, we had Crepes in the town of Versailles, then after wandering around the gardens for a number of hours, spent an hour or so having a nap on the banks of the magnificent lake there.

I also had timed it perfectly to catch up with a big chunk of my Parisian family…
These kids are gorgeous, and I try not to be too disheartened by the fact that I’m having my French corrected by a two year old. It was almost time to move on, but David simply would not allow me to leave without sharing a glass of French red. He has vowed to do the same with cheese next time… so we’ll see how that goes!