Paris 2008 - 11 Juin

Mercredi - The weather today is not quite as good as yesterday, which was beautiful. We wore light jackets and made sure we had our umbrellas with us. Then, we caught the 61 to Gare d'Austerlitz to get our tickets to Toulouse on Monday. Basically, the plan is this: train to Toulouse on Monday arriving around 20h00, dinner with our friends Tuesday evening, Montpelier on Wednesday, train to Barcelona on Thursday. When we got to Gare d'Austerlitz, we were surprised to find that it's quite a walk to the area at which you buy the billets. We did pass a group of several ticketing machines, but it wouldn't accept any of our credit cards. I suppose they have them set-up to accept only "smart cards", which we in the "greatest country in the world" do not have. Once we got to the ticket office, we stood in a long line for several minutes before Robb noticed a sign indicating it was for tickets on trains leaving today only. Getting to the pre-order section was not easy, something we are beginning to expect everytime we have to do anything here. We did however encounter one of the nicest public service people we've met. He was friendly, funny and quite helpful.

The trip back to the apartment on the bus was like riding in a mobile hospital ward. It seemed like everybody was coughing and sneezing. I was very glad when we finally got off and I'm hoping I didn't catch anything nasty.

We went out for dinner around nine-ish with no idea where we were going. I was going to take us down to Place Léon Blum and see what was open that looked interesting, but as we were walking down rue de la Roquette, we came upon Le Bouchon de la Roquette. It's a tiny little place, but it looked interesting and beside that, we were being accosted by some old guy who wanted god-only-knows what, but he kept walking behind us complaining about the weather and the wind, which was blowing somewhat strongly. So in we went. It was obvious that it was populated by locals only. We settled into a table and checked the menu. We both made a decision which we changed as soon as the waiter told us the plat du jour, Pork Roti with roasted potatoes. Excellent. For dessert, I had a tarte tatin and Robb had an apple tarte. Before we even finished dessert, we were the only ones in the restaurant and we wondered if the waiter would even offer café. He did and we accepted. All in all, a wonderful experience. Another place to which we hope to return.

Plus à venir, mes amis.

Paris 2008 - 8 Juin

Dimanche - Got up around 13h00, still tired. I think it was a mistake to come to France for so long. Robb just cannot grasp the severity of my illness and it's getting really frustrating for both of us. I simply cannot go day after day. Even simple little things like walking down to Place Léon Blum and walking back, wears me out if I don't get sufficient rest. I think the best I can do is maybe two weeks, but then I need at least two days of down time. Robb can't understand that and thinks I'm just being lazy, which in turn, pisses me off.

He wants to go to Toulouse, then Montpelier followed by Barcelona. I want to do that also, but there's no way I'll be able to do it without a couple days of doing nothing.....no little walks, no trips to the store and certainly no major trips like the one he wants to make tomorrow to the bank.

The problem is further aggravated by the fact that he cannot find his way around without me, so I feel guilty if I don't go with him.

So anyway, I could sense that he was feeling antsy today and I knew we needed some staples plus the weather actually took a turn for the better, so I got myself ready and off we went to Place Léon Blum because that's the only place to find an open store on Sunday. We again went to the Cocci Market. Then, on the way back, I stopped at a patisserie and bought several items; two macarons, two apple tartes and two fantastic cookies with whole hazelnuts.

Of course, once we got back to the apartment, which took a while because I had to keep stopping to get my breath, I was pretty much wasted, so going out to eat tonight is out of the question. As luck would have it, we do have something in the fridge.

Plus à venir, mes amis.