After an early morning walk to the train station, Bri and I caught the fast train (is there any other kind?) up to Paris. The train was a bit late picking us up, as there are actually two separate trains that chain together at Bordeaux, and one of them was late. The result was that we would split up upon arrival in Paris; Bri would go find Mom and Dad at the airport while I headed for the apartment we were renting.
As it turns out, this apartment rental is a really good deal if you have several people staying in Paris (I'm sure the same system exists elsewhere, but this was my first exposure to it). We rented through a last-minute deal with Vacation In Paris, and ended up with a great place with enough room for the five of us (Laura would join us soon) and conveniently located near food and (most importantly) a metro stop. A bonus was that the company is American, so we were able to pay in the recently cheaper US dollars.
Once I had the keys, and since the others would still be a while, I set about my usual routine: grocery shopping for the evening meal and some wine, followed by a bit of sitting around (did I mention the last few months have been pretty relaxing?).
Mom and Dad brought all sorts of stuff with them from Canada. Very welcome amongst these were the Christmas treats, especially the shortbread. Of course, it was great for the four of us to be together again, and we were very excited for Laura's arrival on the weekend.
The evening was a quiet one, since we'd all been on the road for most of the day. We had dinner at a little Lebanese place around the corner, and walked around Neuilly-sur-Seine, the suburb of Paris where we were staying that was lit up with Christmas lights.
Posted by warcode at December 12, 2003 11:09 PM