Do You Speak English?

My flight was actually quite pleasant. I got to Dulles early enough to avoid the evening jam. I lucked out and got an exit row seat with plenty of leg room. And I popped a Nyquil, ate dinner, and then crashed. I woke up when we were almost to Ireland. The rest of the flight was a breeze.

Paris! I'm psyched about my time here. The drugs have worked on the gout, but I'm still battling a cold. And I've moved into the aches and pains phase. So much fun. My brother-in-law (BNL) picked me up at CDG and we fought the traffic back to my sister's place. I crashed for a bit and then got up to wander around. I headed first to the Trocadero. It's got a great view of the Eiffel Tower and there was a photo I wanted to take that I couldn't get last time. There are two statues, one male, one female, facing the Eiffel Tower. Needless to say I was looking for a shot of the back of the male statue, a very nice strong back, with the Eiffel Tower in the foreground. When I get home I'll share it. Then I crossed over the Seine and walked under the tower itself. And that's where I saw the gypsies.

"Do you speak English?" they would call out to tourists. I managed to see this set up before I got to close and then purposefully, but hopefully a bit randomly, walked away from them. Ignoring their queries when any came close. Not to self, must walk with Ipod. It gives more credibility to not answering them. I walked through Las Invalides nieghborhood, then along the Seine, and crossed over at the Grand Palais. The weather was nice and I had shoved my coat into my cuir sac. I got some good pics and then started to wander up the Champs. It was about then that the rain started. Sprinkles at first, but big cold rain drops. I put the jacket back on and then trudged on. I did do some window shopping, but I don't need anything and it really is just so expensive here. I ended up back at my sisters just as my niece and nephew came home from school. So I ended up playing Uncle Trey for the rest of the night and renewed my engineering quals by helping my nephew assemble the exo-force bionacle figure. Yikes, as if i didn't have a headache before.

I almost slept through the night and woke up to a really bad headache. After getting the kiddos off to school, I buckled down and did some work. After the BNL got back from some golf, we headed down to the Grand Palais to see the Paris Art show. It was interesting. Mainly modern art, some sculptures. And I know that most of them were French, but did we really need to see so much female genitalia presented so prominently? Or in such an ugly manner? Just kind of weird.

After that, my head felt like it was going to explode, so I came back, crashed for a bit, and then played CandyLand, Chutes and Ladders, and "Let's Go to Mcdonalds" with my niece. And the only reason I survived that was due to the nice glass or two of wine I had!