Home at last

My day began at 5AM Monday morning, 9PM PST on Sunday. I felt really sad about leaving, but all great things must come to an end, or at least an intermission. I'll be back though. I keep feeling drawn back and I know its only a matter of time before we meet again. I won't miss the cold though... thats for sure.

After a 9 hour flight to Dallas/Fort Worth, I found myself waiting around the luggage carousel with other weary passengers. It was just my luck that my suitcase was (or at least appeared to be... perhaps I wasn't paying enough attention) the last one off the plane. I'm not sure who schedules the connecting flights, but whoever scheduled mine must hate me.

The line for customs was ridiculously long. When I finally made it through, I had 15 minutes until my plane to SFO took off. I ran to the airbus and then to the next terminal, but to my dismay had to wait in another security line. Screwed. Thats the only word that came to mind.

At least I wasn't alone as I sprinted towards my gate. Another couple was experiencing the same fate. The flight was closed. Panting, coughing, and cursing, I felt like crying. I was tired, I was sick, I was sweaty, and I was in desperate need of a shower; I just wanted to go home.

I guess the airline person must have felt an enormous amount of pity for me. As I boarded the next flight to SFO (2 hours later), I found myself in first class. Nothing like some booze and chocolate ice cream to cheer this girl up.

26 hours after I woke up. I finally was able to crawl into my own bed. I'm home at last.

On my own again!

Chino left yesterday. No worries, I haven't been bored. More so just needing to decompress. The last week has been spent running around making sure she experienced as much of Paris as possible.

For the most part I've just been indulging in the things I like most. Food, shopping, reading, and relaxing. Last night I met up with Nina, a friend of Joan's, for dinner at a place called Chartier. It has an old Paris feeling about it. Its been open since 1896, yet still retains a lot of charm as well as a simplistic and very affordable French menu. Nina and I both had lamb chops with fries.

Here is Nina with our server, Mr. 39.

Un petit désastre

Today was a bit of a disaster early on. The morning started out fine. We went to Angelina, suggested by Michela, for some hot chocolate and breakfast. It was really tasty. Aside for Chino's Jus au Citron (which was essentially squeezed lemon juice).

Another day in Paris + ESCF Ferrandi

Today Chino and I got an early start, even though it feels like all of this running around is catching up to me. Not quite rid of the cold/SARS yet, but I'm working on it. We strolled through Luxembourg gardens and then had breakfast at Bread and Roses. They had yummy brioche:

Perusing the Paris markets

So apparently everything closes on Sunday. No shopping. Not many bakeries are open, and some restaurants even close. So unfortunately my plans to hit up Bon Marche, Kookai, and Etam were foiled.

What do Parisiens do on a Sunday? Relax and hit up their local market. We found ourselves at the Bastille market. And no, I am not stalking David Lebovitz so I can be like an old lady and ram him with my non-existent rolling shopping bag. They do have beautiful seafood, produce, flowers, and breads. We even picked up some goodies for dinner and some samosas to snack on.

Pretty flowers:

Sugar rush

Seems like Chino and I did nothing aside from eating sweets yesterday! Started off the morning w/ some pastries and headed up to Sacre Coeur. Its quite a hike, but this time I chose a metro station a bit to the Northeast so it wasn't too bad.

Here's Chino looking like she's going to push me down the stairs:

Versailles

So Chino and I went to Versailles today. I've been to the palace before, so I camped out in the gardens (and fell asleep) while she did the tour. We then took some pictures in the garden... silly poses.

Chino in Paris

Today I picked up Chino at CDG. Though she looked a bit tired, she perked up when I handed her a pain au chocolat. I was able to go the place that Joan recommended and scarfed down mine in a matter of seconds. No self control whatsoever. But its great to have Chino here!