I See London, I See France...

Hey everybody. Sorry about the long hiatus for all of you loyal readers out there (Mom, Dad...). We had a little mishap where our computer bit the dust and rendered us technology-less for a month or so. But now, thanks to some creative thinking by everyone's favorite Ian, we have a spanking new laptop complements of our home insurance! He's great isn't he, that Ian? :)

Quick recap. It's been a busy month for us. I'm back to teaching at college and am doing a grad course part-time. Ian is as busy as ever with training new employees at work, volunteering with refugees, and even getting to set up and deliver computers to refugees in need. We also moved in with our friend, Helen. She has a really nice house that has a spare room with your name on it! And it is away from the murder flat in an actual neighborhood. It's been awhile since either of us have had that, so it is a big deal for us.

I never did finish up telling about our summer vacation with Micah and Ryan. After visiting the headless angels and Alexander the Great in York, we headed down to London for a few days. We saw everything: Big Ben ("I thought it would be bigger." – Ryan), Westminster Abby, Buckingham Palace, London Bridge, Tower Bridge, London Tower (and all the Medieval torture devices), and oh, I can't even remember what else. We even took a day trip out to see Stonehenge. Ryan had his first meal of roast lamb at a pub along the River Thames, and Micah picked up some quality literature from a guy at Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park who was waving a sign that read, "Don't believe anything I say".

We also got to take the Eurostar through the "chunnel" to Paris for a few days. We loooved Paris. We've always heard that Parisians don't like tourists and are usually stuck up, won't speak French with you, give you the rolling eye, etc. We experienced the exact opposite. We adopted a local bakery as our favorite lunch stop and the shopkeeper lady there was just so cute you wanted to hug her. She didn't understand any English, but was really patient and friendly to us. The last day she laid out all our utensils for us and delivered our food with a cute smile and a "Voila! Bon appetite!"

Paris was the ultimate way to finish up a fantastic vacation. We saw Mona Lisa at the Louvre, kissed at the top of the Eiffel Tower at sunset, wandered through famous squares, ate a hot dog wrapped in cheese and bread, tourist-watched, got ice cream from a French girl who thought we were German (?), sauntered down the Champ d'Elysee, saw real dead people's bones in the Catacombs, inspected Notre Dame to see if it was the same as on a video game Ryan played, paid respects at the graves of Oscar Wilde, Jim Morrison, and Chopin, got hassled by vendors in front of Sacre Coeur, and dodged traffic around the Arc D'Triumph. And of course, we ate lots of amazing food, including escargots! I don't know why I had the impression that they would be raw and slimy and gross. French food is amazing: they can even make your mouth water for snails.

Our last night we dropped into a jazz bar/restaurant for dinner and got a real taste of the local life. During our dinner, the waiter joked with us about all sorts of things. A jazz pianist accompanied by two singers set up in a tiny space in the front. The singers were both quite hilariously mediocre, but full of the heart and the energy of someone who loves what they do. The guy even tap-danced…in a very interesting and sometimes racy way! (He was kind of middle-aged, too.) It is hard to explain how funny this all was, but we and the other customers spent the entire night laughing and clapping; completely enraptured by them and loving every minute of their little show. We will definitely have to go back to France.

Viva la France,
Kristy