näkten, kramas and fräjen (oh my)

We need towels.  Badly.  Right now, my little family of three is sharing a beach towel.  And we've been sharing the same beach towel for three days.  On our list of things to do since the day we arrived has been a trip to Ikea.  For some reason, the fates are against us.  On my birthday, we decided that a shopping spree at Ikea would be fun and well worth it.  Our house is fully equipped, but I can get a little picky about things like towels, cutting boards, colanders...  We figured the easiest way to equip ourselves at low cost would be with a trip to Ikea.  So, we braved the roads to one of the 10 Ikeas in our area.  It turned out to be the wrong one.  Only equipped for kitchens.  We were so frazzled from the drive.  When we saw "Ikea Cuisine" on the building, we just turned around and headed home.  This is after getting locked on a toll road for about 30 minutes each way.  Oh well.  It wasn't so bad.  At least Christopher got an idea of which way to go for the car rental return (see how well that went in yesterday's post.)

So, after the first failed trip to Ikea, we went into PARIS to celebrate my birthday!  Our first stop was the Eiffel Tower.  Gaius was such a trooper.  He led the way all the way up to the top.  Well, all the way to the top of where they let the walkers go.  If you want to go higher, you have to go via elevator.  I really think that's just cheating.  And I totally judge the able bodied people in line for those tickets.  I heard from Christopher that it's like 40 euros to ride an elevator to the top.  Our walking tickets were only like 3 euros each!

Here is a picture of Gaius totally acting wild after seeing the Eiffel Tower for the first time.  He went a little crazy.  He's even starting to drool...

He actually DROOLED on Christopher.  Here is the "after" shot.  Happy Birthday to Me, I guess!

Here we are resting after reaching the walker's summit.  Feeling great and happy.

Here is me on my birthday.  I can see now that I actually have crows feet.  Who cares.  I think I look pretty good in this shot.

Poor Christopher.  Every time he takes my picture, I complain that he takes pictures that give me a double chin and make me look fat.  He should just be mean and tell me to blame the subject, not the photographer.

[BTW, I am totally watching one of my favorite tv shows, "THE MENTALIST" in French while typing this.  It must be some kind of marathon, because it's been on for HOURS.]

Here is Gaius.  He got a real kick out of the fact that this cartoon character has a name spelled similar to his and is also wearing the same outfit.

I took this shot for my mother in law Jackie's coffee group ladies.  I had coffee with them a few months ago in Middlebury, CT.  On the wall of the cafe where we were was a big painting of the Eiffel Tower with almost the same perspective of this photo.  They asked me to take this for them.  And it's the first thing I did when we arrived at the Eiffel Tower.

We went to the Champs Elysée after the Eiffel Tower and bought cell phones at the Virgin Mega Store.  John Hayes told us to go the Champs Elysée for our phones because it's easy since all the workers speak really great english.  That's a real big selling point for John.  He recommends his bank for this very same reason.  Anyway, when we arrived at the Champs Elysée, Christopher and I looked at each other.  We realized that neither of us remembered the name of the place where we were supposed to go.  AT & T?  No.  T-Mobile?  No.  Hmmmm.  Maybe T-Mobile.  But I think I kind of remember Virgin Records.  Isn't that an airline too?  Do they even do cell phones?  Whatever.  I wasn't too happy that I had to troll up and down the Champs Elysée looking for a store with no idea what the name was.  My feet hurt.  It's a pretty long and busy crowded street.  Gaius was getting on my nerves.  And then we found it.  And the person who helped us knew no English at all.  Well, she knew "Very Little English."  But we both got phones and then had to rush home to call the US to transfer money to our new French bank account.  Which is how we ended up not going to dinner in Paris on my birthday.  Instead, we went home and I made crepes with cherry jam for dinner.

Anyway, it was the best birthday ever.  One I will always remember.  I'll have to tell you about our adventures at the French grocery store next time. 

à bientôt!