This post is late because, well, we went to Italy on the Friday before we were supposed to write it. So we’re going to keep it short and sweet, and we’re going to let Charlotte write the French because if Chris does it, it’ll take like five times as long!
Une mise à jour rapide, parce que nous étions occupés à visiter Rome et boire des cappuccinos au lieu d’écrire le message de la semaine… Donc on y va vite fait assez bien fait !
Saturday evening, after our last post, we got together with Cha’s friend Marie, her mother, and her daughter, and went shopping for a big party to be thrown later that night. Then we all piled into Marie’s car and headed for her house, where the festivities would be held. About an hour of frenzied chopping, peeling, unwrapping, slicing, and arranging later, and we had ourselves a fancy buffet with cheese, charcuterie, veggies, chips, nuts, dips, and so forth. Not to mention the bottles (and bottles, and bottles) of wine. About thirty people showed up, including a bunch of Cha’s family and friends, and a good time was had by many.
Samedi soir, après la dernière mise à jour, nous avons retrouvé mon amie Marie, sa maman Diane, et sa fille Éléonore (trois générations de femmes fortes !), et nous sommes allés faire des courses aux Batignolles pour la soirée à suivre… ce qui a consisté à passer les trois quarts du temps disponible à la librairie des Batignolles avant de nous empiler dans la voiture de Marie, et de filer chez elle tout préparer aussi vite que possible. Un apéro dinatoire à grande échelle, avec fromages, charcuteries, légumes, chips, etc.–et bien sûr, des bouteilles et des bouteilles. Une trentaire de personnes nous ont rejoint pour fêter nos anniversaires, et merci merci merci.
Particularly amusing was a gentleman mansplaining me (that’s the best way I can describe it) about how “real” absinthe with “a certain molecule” couldn’t be found in the US because it wasn’t legal, despite me repeatedly telling him that that law had been lifted more than five years ago, that the molecule is called thujone and is found in wormwood, and that “real” absinthe is very definitely available in the US.
On Wednesday Cha’s sister Eglantine arrived in town with her youngest son in tow. Charlotte got together with her and their other sisters in the afternoon. I can’t speak to what occurred there, because I was working (perhaps they robbed a bank, but I think they might’ve gone shopping), but I joined them for dinner at Nol and Fred’s house. We had ratatouille, chicken, salad, and apple crumble, along with bread and wine. I brought a Côtes du Rhône that everyone really liked, so hooray for the guy at the wine shop who suggested it to me … unless they were all just humoring me.
Le mercredi, Églantine ( <3 <3 <3 ma sister) a débarqué à Paris, son petit dernier Thibault dans les bras. Nolwenn nous a accueilli chez elle tout mercredi — déjeuner et après-midi avec mes parents et les enfants de Nolwenn, ainsi que son adorable Mary Poppins, suivis d’une ballade au Luxembourg. Là, Gabriel et Valentine ont découvert ma Fitbit (“huhu, y’a un gros mot dans le nom !”) et en ont profité pour faire des concours de “qui peut atteindre le rythme cardiaque le plus elevé.” Le soir, rejoints pas Nol, Chris, Fred et Axelle, grand dîner en famille. Good times. Et le lendemain, pique-nique tous ensemble au Jardin des Plantes, par un temps radieux. Ils sont pas beaux ma famille ??
On Thursday, Charlotte once again abandoned me to my JavaScript endeavors and headed off to meet her family for a picnic in Paris’s famed Jardin des Plantes, which I’ve visited several times and which is awesome. I have nothing further to write here, because I wasn’t there, but I assume it was a lovely afternoon.
Before we knew it, it was Friday, which meant we spent the morning packing and otherwise getting the apartment ready to be without us for just over a week. We contracted the superintendent’s son to take care of the cats, so that was good, packed up all of our stuff, and grabbed an uber to the airport. We weren’t sure when we should arrive, but it turns out that getting through CDG’s international terminal on Saturday where most of Paris has already left for the long weekend on Thursday is super easy, so we ended up with plenty of time to spare. We wandered the (immense) duty free section, then stopped at one of the (few and woefully underwhelming) food shops to snag sandwiches for the plane. Shortly thereafter, we boarded, and were on our way to Rome!
Et voila, une semaine bouclée, on est déjà à vendredi, journée de préparation pour le voyage en Italie. Le fils de la gardienne a accepté de nous servir de cat-sitter: mon boulot de rêve quand j’avais 17 ans ! Le reste du voyage, pas grand chose à signaler, sauf un coucher de soleil absolument magnifique sur les Alpes. Si seulement mon téléphone prenait des photos correctes… Je vous promets que la photo ci-dessous est très, très en dessous de la réalité.
And from there, our story will continue very soon.
À bientôt, or rather: a presto!
