Butcher of Seville

Suzy got her first Paris haircut from a woman who doesn't speak a lick o English. She dove into my hair with her scissors flying. Uhhh... If we measure in weight of hair chopped off, I definitely got my money's worth. Thank the Goddess we have plenty of Aveda with us, I think I'm gonna be using it.

Assumption Day weekend in Paris

Suzy and Sarah have found religion in the form of French religious holidays. A French holiday called Assumption Day snuck up on us, I didn't even know I had a 3 day weekend until Friday night when a friend told me. It was a nice surprise. We had a blast of a weekend. We started with Champagne with two friends from the UK that live in the building, then they took us to dinner at one of their favorite places. It was great! I had scallops with a different risotto. It was almost like barley with a thick cream, it was extremely delish! Sarah and I also tried Pastis (anise flavored drink). It was interesting, I'll probably have it again.

Saturday we rushed to Darty and bought a TV and DVD player. The language barrier just keeps slapping us down when we get off the beaten tourist path. Everything is a struggle, but it is all so interesting because it is different than the US. After Darty, we caught the train to Giverny to go see Monet's Gardens. I won't mention the fact that Suzy almost knocked over a machine gun carrying policeman in Gare St. Lazarre. Eeeek!! The gardens were beautiful. Flowers elbowing each other out of the way. The ponds were nice, but I wasn't prepared for the mass of people. I had Monet's Water Lilies in mind, and his paintings don't have a bunch of noisy tourists in them. D'oh! When we got back to Gare St. Lazarre, we walked down to our Cafe on rue de Rivoli and had a beer, then had Japanese food, then walked to Ile St. Louis for ice cream. Bertillon pour moi, svp! I had Poire (pair) sorbet, and Sarah had a nice dark chocolate. We walked home through Ile St. Louis to the apartement.

Sunday morning we slipped out, it was cool and clear. We grabbed pain chocolate, and walked around eating it. We went to the Bastille open air market with a friend. He showed us around the market, and we picked up amazing fruits and veggies. The white peaches melt in your mouth they are so good. Our friend lives one street over, so we got to see his place with timbered walls, and he made omelets for us. There was a chill in the air, and it was raining a bit, so we hung out with him for a while. It was tres relaxing. We had Indian food in the Latin quarter that night, and watched them play boules at Paris Plage. Paris Plage is a month long party on the Seine where they bring in truckloads of sand for a "beach", have bands and performers every night, and a big party. So we're hanging out on the bridge watching this huge party below, when along comes the special boat cruises that are holding Assumption Day religious services on the boats. The contrast with the Paris Plage party was incredible (and a little funny to us).

Monday another pain chocolate while walking. We headed over to a roman amphitheater that was built in the 2nd century. It's still there. There were firemen holding their morning soccer game in the middle, glad the place is still getting used. After working on a report for work for a few hours (damn that pesky job!), we met some friends for a beer.

Whew! I'll take an Assumption Day weekend any time. We really needed a nice weekend, and we definitely got that!

Can you please check for my visa one more time?

After two weeks in the hotel, I left for Houston, and Sarah moved into the bare apartement. Our air shipment hadn't arrived so Sarah was roughing it on a camping mattress, and towels stolen from the hotel . In Houston I had to once again...you guessed it.... Visit the French Consulate. My third visit there, they now recognize me. I had to pick up my long awaited Visa that goes with my work permit. The clouds parted, the divine light shone down, ....and they couldn't find my friggin Visa. They hunted through stack after stack of papers. "Are you sure it was sent here?" *Finally* they found it, and of course made me come back later that afternoon. Sigh.... Well, Suzy also got caught up on some shopping while she was there, things are much cheaper in the US than in Paris. She escaped the Houston heat without melting, and headed back to Paris, where summer weather is much more reasonable.

Money Money Money

A rough week, we almost ended up begging for Euros on rue de Rivoli. Well, not really. But it was weird. My PIN for my Austin debit card stopped working, and the bank couldn't figure out why. We didn't have our $$ here yet for our moving and living expenses, so no euros in the Paris bank. Two different Visa cards had the "call Visa" red flag go up because we were buying things on them at appliance stores in a foreign country. It was really weird. Finally my $$ showed up in Paris, and the Austin bank figured out that the new computer system screwed up all cash withdrawals in Europe. And the Visa people are now happy (I had forgotten to tell them we were moving to France). D'oh!