I see London, I see France

I spent the weekend in Paris with friends from Seattle. It was very nostalgic to be back in one house with Mike and Max, two of my roommates from last year. I love how time can pass, but those types of friendships do not change. We fell right back into step with each other and picked up where we left off. Emmett finally made it on Sunday afternoon after being repeatedly delayed. Being in the presence of that crazy cat is always a good time.

My train arrived in Paris late on Friday evening so we spent the night catching up at Max’s over booze, although I was significantly behind the boys by the time we met at the train station. Saturday we accomplished very little but I still had a great time. Since my mom and John were engaged under the Eiffel Tower on New Years Eve of 2010, we walked down the Eiffel Tower to get my mom all of her table centerpieces and wedding favors for the big day in August. Her shopping list consisted of ten 10-inch Eiffel Towers for the tables and 100 one-inch Eiffel Tower key chains for her guest. (P.S. These are by no means light weight sourvenirs). Other than the Eiffel Tower, it was so nice to just lounge around Max’s house and sleep in a bed larger than my own single bed in London that I am convinced is made of cardboard. Saturday night Mike and I continued to catch up over spaghetti and more booze since Max fell asleep early. We headed down to the Champs de Elysee for drinks and cheesecake.

Sunday it was wonderful to sleep-in until the late morning. Since we had slept past breakfast, we went to lunch at an Indian restaurant. It is such a luxury to travel with Max who knows the language. He orders for you, reads signs for you, negotiates buying mass amounts of Eiffel Towers for you, essentially I feel less like the incompetent ugly American because of Max. Sunday afternoon Emmett made it and we headed out to Sacre Coeur church as Mike was suffering from cabin fever. It was as beautiful as it was in December, just nicer weather.

All my mom's Eiffel Towers - the little piles are 10 of the keychains.

Yesterday I unexpectedly went to Cambridge. My boss needed me to come to a client meeting with him where essentially I just took notes at a gigantic table with twentyish gentlemen. It was an interesting experience. I got to play grown-up which is always fun until sooner rather than later I really will have to be a grown up. The train ride was pretty. One of the things I still find lovely and shocking about London is in the span of twenty-five minutes you are boarding a train in one of the world’s biggest metropolises and then suddenly the train is cruising through the pastures of the countryside.

This evening I went to the play, “Mary Broome” at the Orange Tree Theatre. It is a story about a maid you gets pregnant out of wedlock in the early 1900s by a son in the family she works for. It was a really interesting storyline on irony, observations and honesty.