(I am writing this up to three weeks late as I have been on morning shifts most days, and so I have probably forgotten a lot of stuff)
30/06 - I can't say I am a big fan of these 0530 starts, but it does mean that I get a huge amount of daylight hours free afterwards - I met James and Dan at Bowling Meyrin as it was Dan's birthday (ish) and we played a quick three games, of which we won one each (I scored 149 in mine, including three strikes in a row, which I was quite proud of).
01/07 - After my shift today I went to the park and basked in the sun for an hour or two with a pizza - It was really nice and hot, I think I am beating Kelly in the tan race.
02/07 - I had a meeting at 1130 after which I got some work done and left at about four thirty to go and get a train to Paris. This occurred with no fuss, the journey was really beautiful - at one point the lady I was sitting next to told me that my wine smelt acrid, and probably had a "goût de vinaigre", which I felt was unfair considering it was wine I had just bought on a train. I thought it was fine, and complemented my burnt croque monsieur quite well. When I got to Paris I went to Pat and Reshmi's amazing top floor flat - it is in the Marais, in a)n awesome old building. They even have a little spare room, where Kelly and I stayed. It was stiflingly hot, so we left pretty soon to go and get some cold drinks. Kelly's plane was delayed, and she somehow ended up getting a cab all the way here with a couple of gay American dudes, who insisted on paying (which was lucky as she had no cash at all). We went out for a little dinner (I think I had steak tartare) at a place on P&R's road, then had some more drinks back in the flat.
03/07 - We had a bit of a lie in, in spite of the heat, and Pat and I went on a shopping trip to get stuff for lunch. Pat and I made fillet steak burgers, which we had in home-made brioche buns and also with slabs of home cooked foie gras - Reshmi made both of these, and they were delicious, athough the foie gras one was the richest thing I have eaten in a long while.
Pat had some work on his potential gold mining venture to do, so had a wander around the area with Reshmi, did some mild shopping then came back to get ready for dinner. We went to a place called L'Agrume, which was great. I had the assiette de charcuterie followed by the côte de veau, both of which were awesome. Kelly had the biggest oysters I have ever seen, and try as I might I was not able to bring myself to eat one - they just look a bit too gross. It was a nice little restaurant, and a great meal. After this we walked down to the Seine and watched the rollerbladers by Notre Dame. They were amazing, doing loads of cool stuff around a little slalom they had built, we watched for ages. Then it was time for tintos in a bar we passed (our lemonade had a superfluous firework in it) on our way to a fancy bar which was possibly called La Magnifique. We had some cocktails in there, which were delicious but unfortunately I have also forgotten which ones they were - it was pretty cool in there, until it started to fill up. We were moved once, as the lady claimed there was a reservation. We were quietly finishing our drinks in our new seats when she came up again, and essentially told us that we were not drinking enough and basically had not earned the right to be seated - the drinks, although delicious, were also pretty pricey, so we were a little hesitant to splash out on more. Also Kelly and I, unused as we were to the Parisian attitude to these things, were a little put out by being budged around, and got a bit annoyed at the place, so we left after finishing our drinks (veeery slowly). Also some greasy midget grabbed at Kelly as we passed, which didn't leave us with the best impression of the place. We walked back, as there was a dearth of cabs on the streets - it was a pretty warm night, and the walk was through some interesting bits of Paris. Kelly did turn me into a billboard for a 'gospel dream' concert, but I did not let that spoil the journey.
04/07 - Reshmi had an enormous hangover, and Pat had some work to do, so Kelly and I went out for a walk. We managed to misunderstand the system in a little deli, which led to the very stressful purchasing of some humous, and I grabbed a merguez kebab and a beer, which we ate and drank sitting down by the Seine. We explored Île St. Louis for a while, and bought some raspberry and rose Berthillon ice cream for Pat and Reshmi.
I took Kelly off to Châtelet Les Halles station on her way to the airport, and after saying goodbye (I hopped the barrier so I could come down to the platform, and then found I could not get out - I had to pretend to be part of a family to get out of the station). I found a Hare Krishna festival outside the station, and had a cheeky meal on my way home. Pat and I went for a drink in Place des Vosges, then met Reshmi in a café before dinner. They took me to one of their favourite bistros, a place called Chez Jalou. We were told we had to wait for half an hour or so, so when we got round the corner I rang them and asked for a table for three, and I was told 15 minutes - by the time we had got back I don't know if we saved any time, but I felt smug. The meal was great, I had baked goat's cheese (I think) for a starter, followed by an amazing pan-fried duck breast - It was a great restaurant, the waitresses were all friendly and helpful, and the wine was great. Pat and Reshmi have been good hosts, as much as work/hangovers have allowed, and I am looking forward to coming back here soon.
05/07 - In the morning Reshmi walked with me as far as the Metro station, as she was going to pick up another friend who was coming to stay (!). I slept most of the way to Geneva, then read Sherlock homes and went to CERN for a few hours, leaving with plenty of time to get to the supermarket and buy supplies for the next three days of shifts.
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