Dennis & Aimee's Big Gay Paris Adventure

Hi. No lack of action here, even though I haven't written in a while. We head for Copenhagen on Thursday night, so there will be more update then, but for now, here's what we've been up to, with pictures!

A few weekends ago, we visited our friends Denis and Laure, who own Bistro Resto, at the cafe of Laure's uncle, out in the suburbs. It was about a 25 minute metro ride from where we live. We had a nice lunch and got to see them on the weekend, which is rare, since the bistro is closed on weekends. We did recently give them our phone number, so who knows, maybe we'll get together on the weekend sometime. Anyway, that neighborhood was really neat, up on a hill. This little house we saw there looks like something you'd find in Germany, rather than Paris.


In other local news, it looks like they're done screwing with the Arc de Triomphe (finally) because the scaffolding appears to be coming down. This will be the first time we've been able to see the whole thing since we moved here. I'll know for sure when I walk to work on Monday. Meantime, here's a teaser:



Last weekend, a friend of Dennis' family came to visit. Her name is Julia. She brought her friend Claudia, and I think they had a nice time. It was a pleasure to host them, and we all went out for a lovely dinner on Saturday night, followed by a walk to the Eiffel Tower. Here are a few shots that you don't usually see. In the moon shot, you can see the lighthouse style lights. (It's like a concert at our house every night, with these giant beams circling by.) I was sure it was only one or two lights, but Dennis was right when he said there were actually four. You can see them changing in that shot.





Yeah, I know what you're thinking... doesn't Paris have anything else besides the Arc and the Eiffel? The answer is yes, it's just that I pass the Arc every day, and everyone who comes should really see the Eiffel. But speaking of things I see every day... I've been meaning to take a picture of this since we moved to this apartment. I pass this clock every day outside of the Swatch store on the Champs Elysses, and I *still* think it's funny. Woo! Bunny love!



Finally, I spent last week in Toronto on business, and I was *shocked* by what a lovely city it is, and full of such nice people. James and I had dinner with Brendan and Cindy (faithful readers will remember that they visited us only a month or so ago) and we were amazed at how knowledgable our waitress was. After that night, I proceeded to make friends at an astounding pace, something that isn't so easily done in Paris or SF. Granted, the weather was perfect, which didn't hurt, but here's how I spent my last evening there (excerpted from a mail I sent to Dennis):

I had a lovely last night here. I walked for miles around the city, had an excellent and relaxing pedicure. I saw six giant bronze cow statues lying languidly on a patch of green city grass. I saw a bronze elephant mother and two elephant babies who appeared to be strolling through a courtyard toward a fountain. I saw the sun turn the buildings into orange mirrory flames as it set. I heard music, saw people laughing at outdoor beer gardens, said hi to strangers. What a nice, nice city this is. It's like a fairy tale city.

I finally settled at an outdoor bar for dinner. The temperature was about 72 when I sat down, and about 65 when I left. Nice people introduced themselves to me randomly and struck up conversations. It's as though everyone here *wants* to be your friend, and get to know you. Gay people, married people. I met all kinds of nice people today.

I ate a salad with feta and summer tomatoes, followed by another salad with pickled daikon radish and seared tuna and raw scallops. I drank a gin and tonic as the sky grew dark. I chatted with the bartender.

Who knew people could be so nice? Even the waxing lady (something I can't find yet in Paris) is opening up the store 20 minutes early to accommodate me. Also, cheap!

Thing is, it's so nice it's a little creepy. Like the prelude to a horror movie, where they're trying to give you a false sense of security before the axe murderer comes out. Like, did I contract some nasty communicable disease there? Surely there must be a catch to all of that niceness. I'll have to visit in February to see if I still think it's nice. They do have 27 kilometers of underground malls/passageways in the city, which might make the winter almost bearable. I'll let you know if I find myself there again.

Here are the elephants! I didn't take a picture of the cows, but I found one on the web to share.



--Aimee