Parisian Pleasures

We're on a boat. We is me, my two sisters, their husbands and Deb. The six of us launched a few hours ago from Castelnaudary, an ancient town in Southern France after the briefest of orientations. It sits on the Canal du Midi and the plan is to float from here to the Mediterranean through wine country and we've budgeted two weeks. None of us have operated a 42' boat before or been through a lock but we've now passed through 9 locks and tied up to some stakes we pounded into the riverbank. It's time for dinner but first I gotta get you caught up.

We left Vancouver on Aug 3rd (it's now Aug 25) and arrived in Paris with my body saying it's midnight and the airport clock proclaiming 7AM. I tried to outsmart jet lag by staying up til 4AM the day before, sleeping a little on the plane and go on a bike tour at ten. Didn't work. Several sleepless nights and bitchy mornings followed but none of it drowned out the fantastic things we've seen and done since touching down.

We went straight from the airport to the bike tour and left them our bags as we explored the usual sites. Having seen it before did not diminish the splendour of Notre Dame or the Champs Élysées and the foreign sounds and smells assaulted the senses in the nicest way. The strong coffee, the melt in your mouth croissants, the waiters in their black waistcoats - I smiled so much my face hurt. And shed a few sneaky tears. I was here in 2001 with my daughter Rachel. She was dying and wanted to see Euro Disney to complete her personal trifector having already done California and Florida. The cascade of memories stretched my heart from bliss to anguish and I wouldn't change a thing.

But now it's time to find our temporary home and the adventure began. We'd booked a loft in central Paris but finding it was not for the faint of heart. Directions were lousy and the street was unknown to merchants within 200 meters of the location. We eventually found it after a few train missteps and redirections but access was via an unknown code. As Deb set off to solve that I proclaimed myself protector of the luggage, sat on the ground in front of it and let jet lag do its thing. 

Access to the suite meant a climb up 2 steep staircases and fortunately we've challenged ourselves to do 10 weeks overseas with just a carry on. Just as well because there was nowhere inside the 'suite' for luggage. I hid my bag under the ladder to the bed and Deb's went under the table. Well kinda, it was bigger than the table which rendered it to a drunken angle and unusable.  But you haven't really lived until you've attempted to climb over your partner at 2AM for a naked ladder descent to relieve nature's demand.

We did the Louvre and the D'Orsay, strolled Montmartre, got my tongue stung by a bee that was wallowing in my beer until my swig ended it's misery (and it started mine) and one more bike tour before exiting this complex, ornate city.  We'll finish up this adventure with three more days in Paris and planning on dinner at the top of the Eiffel Tower to celebrate Deb's b'day. But it was time to move on and Athens was beckoning. I've told you about that but not the week in Galatas or the week on Santorini. So many stories, such a lazy writer but next time I'll tell you about the pleasures of sitting still. And figure out how to post some pictures...