Tuesday - Il fait Chaud!

Tuesday
We vowed to find the internet, and we did, finally. We had to visit 2 Starbucks, and a place called Cojean before we were connected. While is it quite sad to have to resort to Starbucks, the coffee at the Cojean, apparently a popular place for lunch, was terrible. At our closest Starbucks the wi-fi (pronounced wiffy in france) was down, so we walked to one in the Opera quarter, not far away. Terry found us seats in the comfortably appointed upstairs as I attempted to order a coffee. While I would have no problem ordering a medium iced coffee in French, Starbucks has developed their own odd lingo here too. Finally the clerk just had pity on me and we both resorted to pointing. While we were sitting there, Terry confessed that he was not feeling well and wanted to go home. I stayed while he walked back to the house, not too far, but enough. I continued to work, looking up things online – I was really trying to find a laundry and a pedicurist. I have a lead on several streets that have laundries, but no luck yet on the pedicurist. Am I using the wrong word? Every woman who is French has perfectly done toes. They are wearing a dark brown again. Is Chanel’s “Vamp” back?

Eventually I left and walked home as well. I wanted to be sure Terry was ok, and that it was only kir, wine, beer, and wine at home that was ailing him, and not something else. I did walk a bit, working on getting my bearings, but it was hot. Really hot. The sort of hot that makes you think, I’m just going home.

After a day of not doing much, or getting any work, or sightseeing in, we chose to picnic on the Seine again. We had enjoyed it so much the other night, and this time we picked a pedestrian bridge to sit on. There was still some left over chicken from our previous meal, and my leftover lamb from the previous night, plus cheese and fruits, and of course wine. We got a fresh baguette and a bottle of mineral water, packed up our new picnic gear and headed out. Zoot Allors! I forgot the glasses. We decided to drink our rather nice wine from the bottle, rather then resorting to plastic. There is nothing like swigging wine from the bottle to make one feel rather raffish.

Across from us there was a large group of teenagers drinking on the bridge. At first we couldn’t tell if they were together or not, but eventually apparently they drank enough to stand close together. They were a group of about 8 – 10, both boys and girls, about 17 – 18 years old. Some of the boys were working hard at facial hair, and the girls were beginning to fill out nicely. We quickly noticed that they did not have any food with them, or wine. Just Alcohol and juice! Aahh! We realized, they are learning to drink. You have to go too far, and learn not to mix stupidly before you can become a professional, or at least a qualified amature. They were having fun though, and didn’t seem to ever get out of hand. There was quite a bit of hugging going on as we left!

A slightly older group of young men appeared as the sun began to set. They apparently only had wine, no openers or glasses. We had an entire pantomimed conversation about did we have an opener, yes, thanks, you are very welcome, glasses, no. They seemed to be on the prowl, and quickly turned their attention to several young women who were setting up their picnic.

As we were leaving we also noted some of the more practiced picnicers. These groups were older, they had blankets, or rugs even, glasses, boards with huge hunks of cheese sitting on them. The perfectly correct cheese knife thrust into the cheese, a linen lined bread basket with a load of country style bread nestled into it. Also salads, fruits, the works. Obviously they have been refining this art since they were the age of the youngest revelers on the bridge. We did notice most groups had much more wine then we did. They seem to average a bottle per person, while we are fine with one.

On the way home we walked through carnival in Tuillieries. Just like a small town fair, it has rides, games, and places to eat completely gross foods. We took many photos, and want to return again. In the day it looks rather dingy, but at night it glows, and we may even take the faris wheel ride over the city!