Change of Plans

     What is love? Love is letting someone hold your hand even after you watched them pick their nose and eat it. 

     In the grand scheme of things, today was probably the best day yet behavior-wise. There were only a few meltdowns and middle-of-the-street scoldings. 

     It was a rainy, dreary day but we decided to go see the Eiffel Tower anyway. However, the bus abruptly stopped nowhere near the Eiffel Tower with the announcement that that was as close as public transportation could get because they had put up a giant screen for people to watch the Euro Cup and there was a massive "fan zone" around the Eiffel Tower so we decided to take the metro to Montmartre (pronounced "ma-matray". Why, France? Why?) instead. 

     I had my first crepe (ham and cheese) while sitting on a chair watching JP ride some kiddie ride around and around to keep him entertained while my aunt and I ate. After lunch we went up to the Sacré-Cœur, which is a massive church that sits atop Montmartre,  which is a massive hill from which you can see almost all of Paris. The 

Sacré-Cœur (sak-ra-core) was beautiful and so quiet despite all the people walking through it. They had a roped off area around the pews where you could go to pray and since we didn't go to church yesterday we sat in a pew and prayed for a minute or two but were encouraged to hurry up our praying by JP. 

     After walking through the church we took a little train down through the town and sat behind an Italian family who kept chanting "Forza Italia!!" every few minutes. The Euro Cup has everyone riled up. 

     We came home for a while after that and JP watched The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I tried to watch it but fell asleep after half an hour or so (but was woken up by JP "accidentally" whacking me in the face). Also, we were sharing some popcorn but I guess I was eating too much because after about five minutes he took the bowl and held it in his lap with his hand over the top. And proceeded to eat the whole bag by himself. While drinking MY water. One day I'll get repaid for my niceness. One day. 

     Around 8 we left the apartment and walked to the apartment of a friend of my aunt's who was cooking us dinner. The apartment was NICE. But I felt weird getting the "tour" or whatever. I just feel weird looking in people's bedrooms. And the apartment was an open plan so all the doors were open and JP kept going in the rooms and like lying on the beds until I walked in and told him that it was rude to lie on people's beds. I mean, I feel like I'm intruding by just standing in someone's bedroom doorway but this kid just sprawls over their bed, no problem!! My aunt's friend Ray made duck, potatoes, and salad for dinner. He also offered me wine twice since I'm "of age" in France but I politely declined. When he asked if I liked duck I also lied and said yes. The duck was cooked very rare...it wasn't bad but I can't say I chewed it all the way. The potatoes and salad were great though. 

     Somehow we all ended up playing Scrabble and when his college-age daughter came home she thought that it was so "cute" that we were all sitting around playing a game. I guess that's not very French? Also when JP called Ray "Mr. Ray" she was like "Aw that's so cute. Is that a joke?" My aunt explained the American way of calling adults "Mr." or "Mrs." Whatever if you're a kid. I guess it is kind of weird. 

     At first, I kind of got the impression that Ray was an a-hole (for example, when we walked in some weird techno music was playing called "Pain in the A$$") and my aunt had told me that his wife committed suicide last year so I kind of assumed that he must've went off the deep end after that. But it turns out that he's actually a nice guy. And the music improved as the night went on. And duck isn't so bad after all. 

Quotes of the Day: 

"Happiness is not a destination. It is a way of life."-inspirational quote on a plaque in some store. 

"I need to poop!!!"-JP

Day 946 Song Recommendation: "Snowship" by Benjamin Francis Leftwich.

Day 947 Song Recommendation: "Little White Lie" by Living Days. Thanks to DL for the song rec. 

-SE Wagner