Skinny legs and teeny tummies...

Ok, so, remember when I was accosted by the Italian artists? Here's the first "attack" result...What was funny, was I sat scrunched up on the steps before the huge Sacre-Coeur Cathedral, there was no belly peeking out! And if there was a belly peeking out, it certainly wasn't that teeny! Hehe...so is this what I'd look like if I had an eating disorder in Paris?

Truly interesting night...

(Fiona at not the best angle, but she refuses to let me take a good photo of her!)

I spent my day with a lovely Parisian (which usually would be a contradiction, but she defies typical Parisian personalities) named Fiona. I forgot a couple rather necessary things at home that would complete a few outfits so she took me to H&M. We met at the Metro stop near the shop and she showed up with her sweet and bouncy Pomeranian pooch. We wandered through shops (dog-bag thrown over her shoulder with a highly mouthy pooch shoved inside) and had a great time. She is truly a sweet girl (she's the girlfriend of Adam, Brandon's business partner) and half way through our wandering, she asked if I wanted to go to dinner with her, her father and his girlfriend. Normally, I wouldn't only because the evening is a good time for Brandon and me to re-connect after a day apart, but tonight, they have a going away dinner party to go to for a colleague and so I stayed with Fiona and went with her to dinner. I met her father who teaches French to foreigners and is very silly, though his English is really not so good and his girlfriend who's Argentinean (I believe that is what Fiona said...) and who's English is much better.

We left the mouthy pooch at her dad's place and walked down the road to what he claims is the best Chinese food in all of Paris. That might be, but I didn't necessarily think it was all that great. Don't get me wrong, it was delicious, but it wasn't what I would normally would have gotten. Firstly, it was in French and Chinese so I had to have Fiona and Ms. Argentina translate with as many descriptive words as possible until I guessed. One dish though, I did not guess correctly until it was placed on our plate. It was the critter I loathe the most. It was fresh sock puppets from hell...aka eel. I opted to NOT try that because I do not think I could have stomached that, and thankfully they also ordered a beef dish. Although, I now wish I didn't ask what it was. I wish I were more like Abby who is in Bangkok eating whatever is put in front of her without asking what it is. It just looked wrong. Alas, I am not that brave. So, here I sat, the only American who speaks English and German and a smidgen of French and even more of a smidgen of Chinese in a Chinese restaurant with a Parisian girl my age who speaks fast and wonderfully accented English, her father who has an even more thick accent and speaks little English, and his girlfriend who's Argentinean and has a fabulous accent and speaks fluent French with British words thrown in her English as she made fun of her boyfriend as he tries to tell stories in Franglish (French-English)...all while the people behind us are talking in Chinese and French. It was weird. Very cultural, I guess.

Pretty much what the sock puppet from hell dish looked like, but with some shoots with it instead of alone. They also didn't have all this sauce covering it. It showed the meat and how it was bumpy and all ewww. Total bleh.

Being fooled by the sun...

I commented to my mom the other day, that the reason I keep missing our targeted phone call/skype call time is because the sun is fooling me. Big time. We are set to talk at 9pm Paris time. But at 9pm Paris time, it looks more like 6pm Minnesota time (from what my eyes are used to! AND, we're just sitting down to eat by then! Aah, such is the life in Paris!)

Today, the sun rose at 5.49am and will set at 9.50pm. Now, I just looked up the sunrise and sunset times in Minneapolis for today, and the sunrise surprised me - at 5.28am. Sunset does not though. 8.56pm. An entire hour earlier than here! This is quite odd for me. I'm used to having the sun set no later than about 9pm! The latest the sun will set in Minneapolis is 9.04pm by the end of June, and the earliest the sun rises is 5.26am by the middle of June. And, for those real nerds out there who wish to be nerdy with me, the length of the longest day is 15h 37m 06s. Now, in Paris, the earliest the sun will ever rise is 5.47am by the middle of June and the latest 9.58pm by the end of June. (Alright, you fellow nerds...) the longest day here is a fabulous 16h 10m 52s.

It's so weird, I looked outside last night at about 11pm and it looked like it was still light out - the clouds were pink. It's very weird to have it still light out so late at night. I'm guessing it was the sun, but it could have been the Paris lights! There are a lot of them! Though, the night usually looks orange with all the Paris lights...so, I'm guessing this was the tail end of the sunset!

So before all the comments come about what a nerd I am, I know I am. Especially today. But YOU try and get used to the time via how light it is outside! You too will be fooled!

(And Mom, I'm definitely working on making our 9pm call on time this time!)

Doors...without Jim Morrison.

Ok, if anyone who's really close to me and knows me, they'll know I love doors. It started a few years ago when I lived in London, I think. I guess, seeing all these old doors that were hand crafted and done so hundreds of years ago intrigues me. How some doors kept their old look while others became modern. How old doors stood strong (or weak) while modernity crept in and passes by. Who was the man that carved them? Who was the man that crafted the door knockers? Who commissioned the door? Who has walked through that door? Who sought refuge behind that door? I love doors. Their history keeps me captivated.... Here are some doors in Paris. I do hope you appreciate them, as I do!