5:15pm 2/29/12 in flight

Tuesday we had to set out alarms for the first time to get a cab over to the Conrad. Of course the night before we had massive drama. Dad couldn’t get the pilot lit and we had to call in an emergency furnace tech.

We got on a bus tour to go visit El Yunque National Forest. It was really a four seat van and it was jam packed. We drove to the park and stopped in four locations. The first was the visitor’s center, which Mr. b and I skipped and did the short walking trail instead. We saw giant snails on the path. Then we stopped at the Yokahú lookout tower. It’s a recreation of the old Spanish tower. Mr. b loved the breeze at the top. You could see the coast and Calebra island. Next we went to a big picnic area that used to also be a swimming hole. They closed the baño grande in the 70s because of accidents. There was a cool series of small falls as one of the many creeks flowed through the area. Finally we stopped for a photo op at the waterfall pictures on all the travel ads: La Coca. It was a sheer drop and it was lovely.

We got back to the Condado about 1pm and decided to stay on that side. We walked down to the driver-recommended place for lunch, Casa Lola. It was far fancier than we were in the mood for but we stayed and it turned out to be exactly perfect.
Then we walked back to La Concha to change into our swimsuits and scam use of their beach and pool. The surf was really high so I didn’t even bother going into the water. Mr. b body surfed and got beaten by the waves for a while. Once we had enough we tried out the infinity pool. I had never been in one before. It was cool. Mr. b went to get us some drinks but they were too expensive, even for tourist hotel standards, so we packed up and moved down the beach. We ended up at the Atlantic Beach Club, which looked totally sketchy but ended up being exactly where we needed to be. We had some drinks and stared at the ocean.

When we got back to the apartment we did some packing and worked on finishing our bottle of Don Q. We went back to Patio de Sam and got dinner. Plantain and sweet potato chips and the best mofongo ever. Plus delicious mojitos. We hung out in the Plaza de Ponce for a while before heading back home.

After some TV Mr. b wanted to go back out and try the upstairs bar that was projecting a light show onto the plaza. I love the place. It felt like a St. Paul dive, with pool tables and everything. We got to chatting with the bartender, Eduardo, and his lady friend, Marie. He was supposed to make her dinner but had to work so she was hanging out. Eduardo is originally from Cuba and is an archaeologist, working in Ponce on the south of the island. We all got along great and then a couple of Argentine navy men came in. The quiet one had to get up and be on duty in the morning but Ignacio was ready to have fun. I left at 1:30 to go to bed, right as Mr. b was buying him a shot for his birthday the day before. I woke up about 3 and went back down there in my jammies to fetch him. Ignacio came home with us to exchange names to keep in touch on facebook. I want to try to locate Eduardo, too.

We got up early this morning and picked at our leftovers for breakfast. Security at the San Juan airport was ridiculous. They were clearly on island time and didn’t care. We spent over an hour on the taxiway at JFK but are in the air now. The drink cart is two rows away.

9:15pm 2/27/12 San Juan

I did end up joining Mr. b across the street once he got back from the casino. He won $100 on blackjack and was double hammered. We went to bed shortly after. I slept in the loft.

We both couldn’t get moving this morning. Mr. b went out for some rellenos de papas for breakfast and then we just sat around for a while. We decided to walk the whole way to the locals’ beach, which is closer than the tourist one but still about 2 miles away. We took our time strolling and it was actually a lovely walk. The beach had tons of teenagers and some families. There was a lot of rocks as a breakwater so it was calm instead of wavy.

After we were done with the beach we walked over the bridge to the tourist side. We stopped for lunch at a Mexican place that had windows opened up right on the surf. There was a tide pool below with crabs walking around. The waitress climbed out and threw hunks of bread. The water churned where the fish swarmed to eat it.

We didn’t do much this evening. Naps back at the apartment. Then some souvenir shopping for the kids. We got a small bite for dinner but I couldn’t finish my soup. I burned the tops of my feet today. They’re definitely going to peel.

9:30pm 2/26/12 San Juan

We did go out again last night after 8 or 8:30. We walked down to the harbor and through the crowds of tourists. We hung out for a while at the plaza closest to us and bought some snacks. Then we ended up just hanging out and watching a marathon of American Chopper.

This morning we walked to the corner and got breakfast at La Tortuga. As is apparently typical around here, it was slow but delicious. Then we walked to the harbor and waited for the ferry.

The ferry took us across to Cataño where we boarded a van to the Bacardi distillery. The tour wasn’t really that special but it was free and we found a nice couple to hang out with. They also provide drink tickets for 2 drinks, which were of course delicious but weak.

We took a minivan cab back to the ferry but wanted to stay on that side of the harbor for a while. The driver said the hamburger place right where he dropped us off was great. The owner looked Jamaican but was Puertorriqueño. We hung out there for hours, drinking Cuba Libres, eating hamburgers, and talking to locals. It was a great spot.

We had to wait forever to get the next ferry. We checked out the huge cruise ships and the pirate ship (used in the Brando version of Mutiny on the Bounty) and stopped in for another drink near the tourist harbor. Then we found ourselves at the foot of San Cristobal so decided to check out the fort. We went through it quite fast; it was closing in less than an hour. The dungeon was the coolest part. There were some amazing views into the old city.

We made our way home and have been relaxing, drinking rum and watching TV. Right now Mr. b is out on a supply run. The SuperMax is closed. I’m watching the Oscars. There’s a music video shoot down the block.

5:00pm 2/25/12 San Juan

A little over 24 hours ago, Mr. b got a job offer.

We left the apartment after breakfast yesterday and headed to the right out our door. We headed through a plaza and found ourselves at the edge of a great swath of green grass next to an old fort wall. Everywhere we looked were school kids, wearing field trip t-shirts, flying kites. We passed through the school groups and entered the first for on the island, El Morro.

The fort was huge and super cool. Kirk would love it. We took lots of pictures of the most piratey spots for him. After we were forted out, we started back through the grassy area, this time making towards the channel instead of the ocean. We followed along the inner wall and came upon the San Juan Gate. We rested in the shade of an awesome old tree with roots hanging down from its branches.

Mr. b wanted to get over to where the cruise ships come in. It took a few tries but we eventually found ourselves in an area that looked very much like Navy Pier. I was exhausted so we went into the first place for lunch: Señor Frogs.

After we ate we headed back home for naps. That’s when Mr. b got the call with the offer. We were obviously very excited and got ready to splurge on dinner. We dressed up and went across the street to Barú. It was delicious and expensive.
We were so full and tired we contemplated calling it a night. But we rallied about 10pm and headed down the block to Patio de Sam and had a few rounds, listening to the local guitar player.

This morning we had appointments for pedicures at 10am. We took a cab to the spa and discovered it as the wrong one. But they could get us in and when they called their sister location to cancel us, found out they only had on scheduled!

Mr. b won $25 at the hotel casino while my toenail polish was drying so we got fancy drinks at the hotel bar. Another cab ride took us to a pizza chain that was supposed to have great gluten free. They had none. So we started wandering. We found the beach but not the exact perfect patio bar Mr. b was hoping for. My feet were killing me. Finally we went into a local place called Café del Angel. Service was TERRIBLE. We didn’t get served for nearly an hour. They were very apologetic, gave us a free round of drinks, and when the food finally came, it was totally worth it.

We hung out in the La Concha hotel lobby for a while before heading out to the beach. Mr. b played in the water longer than I did of course. We just layed in the beach chairs and relaxed. We tried to find another beach but my feet couldn’t take it anymore. We ducked into another hotel bar for a break and then took a cab home.
We’re probably just going to cook at home tonight rather than going out for dinner again.

10:30am 2/24/12 San Juan

We had 3 flights yesterday; Mpls to Chicago, Chicago to Miami, Miami to San Juan. We finally got into a taxi about 11pm. There was a medical emergency on the third flight. They even asked for a doctor over the PA!

We’re staying in an apartment on Calle San Sebastien in the Old City. The streets are cobble stone and narrow. It reminds me of the old cities of Antibes or Monaco.

Last night we walked to the SuperMax for groceries. Mr. b made a pitcher of rum punch by chopping up some mango, grapefruit, papaya, and limes and pouring in rum. I haven’t tried it yet. He kept going out last night and it was creeping me out to be here alone. The door locks by key on both sides so I had no way out.

This morning it’s raining lightly. I made some eggs with chorizo and queso blanco and had them with tortillas.

On the Road

Driving nearly 10 hours with a freshly potty trained 3 year old went surprisingly well. We pulled over once each way for a side of the road pee break but the rest of the time Kirk made it to a rest stop or gas station with no problems. Well, there was that one instance of a little turd nugget escaping into his underpants but it wasn’t really a Big Accident. And since we’ve been home he’s been pretty dang good about pooping in the potty instead of his overnight diaper. So that’s a good change!

He did start a new habit of stalling out bedtime by getting up to pee a hundred million times after being put to bed. He had a bout of insomnia one night (thankfully his cousins weren’t kept up by his constant movement) and would ask for more juice and then pee and then ask for more juice and then pee and then ask for more juice… Our new thing is to not allow him to get a refill – and by refill I mean an inch or less of beverage in his sippy cup – unless he pees first. Even if it’s 2 in the morning. I’m just plain sick and tired of changing sheets every frickin night. Next step is convincing him he can get up and go pee by himself. Last night he got up 5 times! “I gotta go pee!” “Well then go!” He doesn’t request an escort during the day so I’m not sure what the difference is. Then again, he doesn’t ever get out of bed on his own, even in the morning. He waits until someone opens the door or turns on his light or something. Which is great for preventing any unannounced appearances during Mommy and Daddy Time, ahem, but is definitely something we’ll have to work on for bathroom visits.

Mr. b is thinking of getting a portable DVD player. And not actually to use in the car. Kirk keeps himself entertained with toys and singing (hearing a little kid sing the Ramones “Beat on the Brat” is pretty much the cutest thing ever) and looking out the window and talking to us and everything else that you do while on a long drive. I just don’t think watching movies in the car is something we need. But I agree that it might be fun to have the TV to ourselves now and again when Kirk is dead set on watching something he’s already seen 50 billion times. On Sunday afternoon, while we were recovering from the Thanksgiving trip, Mr. b was in the bedroom watching something, I was in the living room watching the episode of Top Chef I had missed, and Kirk was in his bedroom watching Cars on the laptop. It was silly and modern and perfect. It’s not like it would be a common occurrence either. But hey, we live in the future so why not go for it?

Pre-Turkey Round-Up

Yesterday I had another ob check-up. I'm glad for how quick and easy they always are. Get weighed (gained another pound so that plus 2 last month puts me back at my "starting weight" which, granted, was at least 10 and closer to 20 pounds more than it ought to have been), check blood pressure, wait for New Doc. Then when he comes in it's up on the table to measure my belly, listen to the heartbeat, and that's it really. I rarely have any questions. He rarely has anything to ask me about. Next month, however, is the glucose tolerance test. Bleh.

I realized tonight while rinsing out the shower that my normal high levels of natural shedding have seriously been curtailed. I don't remember it dropping off like this when I was preggers with Kirk. But I also didn't have the massive chemo levels of hair loss postpartum either. Should be interesting to see if that happens this time.

Tomorrow we drive south to Springfield, MO, for Thanksgiving feasting. It'll be the first long drive we've taken since Kirk's been in underpants. I'm not really sure what to expect. I've pulled out spare pants to keep in the car just in case but he's really been accident-free for quite some time now. He's even been having dry naps for the past week or so. Overnight is another matter entirely but I don't count that. Except for the pooping thing. He continues to eschew the potty for poops. He's regular and goes every night: in his overnight diaper after he's been put to bed. We've been trying to at least convince him he needs to let us know so we can then change his diaper. He's had a poo-burned butt far too frequently of late from sleeping in his own crap. Gross. How can he stand that?

I'm bored of my paltry selection of maternity shirts already. I still have some to pull out that were obviously for when I'm further along but I think I might start in on them sooner, just for variety. Otherwise, I'm going to have to do some shopping.

Weekend Labor

Mr. b was in Washington DC the whole long weekend. We didn’t get to go in July (original plan was to leave the reunion early and spend a couple days there) and I told him he could go for his birthday. He didn’t believe me. But then, after discovering low airfares and cheap hotel rates due to being the weekend in between the DNC and RNC, well, he was off!

So Kirk and I needed to make sure we stayed busy in his absence. I get burned out on full-time single parenting anyway and I figured it would be even worse with the first trimester effects still showing up on occasion. Though thankfully not as often as I move closer and closer to that magical second trimester line. I arranged to go over to my brother’s house Saturday afternoon and to my friend’s house Sunday afternoon. Then my sister needed some hemming done and came over with the girls Saturday morning. So we were just the right amount busy and had lots of fun and Kirk got plenty of attention and playtime with his cousins and friend. I didn’t have anything planned out for Monday, thinking we would just do some shopping. We went to the wading pool before lunch and hit the grocery store post naps.

That night, about two hours after putting Kirk to bed, I heard a horrible coughing fit. Poor buddy, he must be getting a cold. So as I was getting ready for bed I peeked in on him. Something wasn’t right. I quietly snuck over to his bed and the smell hit me. He had thrown up! He was laying on his back, sort of in a daze, not exactly asleep, with piles and piles of red noodles all over him (watermelon and chicken noodle-O’s soup) and covering his pillow and his blankie and his sheets. It was horrifying and I felt awful that I had waited the 10 minutes or so before checking on him. I peeled his jammies off him and started gathering up the mess. I stripped his entire bed and we threw the first of many loads into the washing machine right away. But he wasn’t done. His stomach wasn’t empty yet. And I had let him have a little drink of water so up that came. He threw up three more times throughout the night. I had a puke bucket for him to use but he didn’t always make it in.

Obviously we stayed home on Tuesday. I wasn’t going to make the mistake of letting him have regular food or beverages too soon and kept him on water-with-a-splash-of-juice for a couple of hours in the morning. He even kept down two saltines. But then at about 11 he threw it all up again. Thankfully on the floor and not the freshly washed bedding. He started perking up a bit after a nap and he was keeping crackers down and drinking Gatorade at that point. He was fine yesterday.

But what caused it in the first place? I honestly have no idea. He definitely drank heavily chlorinated pool water but that was quite a long time earlier in the day. And he didn’t have any problem packing away his entire lunch. Could it have been food poisoning at dinner? I had some of the same soup but not much. After feeling pretty good all weekend I was hit with a major bout of preggo at the dinner table and spent the entire meal with my head on my arms, moaning to myself between spooning soup up for the boy. We both had watermelon. Was the coughing fit I heard the result of throwing up or the cause of it? I know that A2 has a tendency to puke when she coughs too hard and then she’ll be set off for a good ten to twenty hours of repeated puking if she tries to eat or drink too much. I sure hope that Kirk hasn’t manifested a similar trait. But for the moment, all is back to normal. Mr. b is safely returned. And all the sheets in the house are clean.

Vacation

What he said.

I did keep a travelogue some of the days so I’ll transcribe that and add to it after I get our pictures uploaded. Basically my routine was thus: get up, make muffins, take Kirk to the beach, take Kirk to the pool, eat lunch, put Kirk down for a nap, take Kirk back to the beach, go to the other house for dinner, start drinking, put Kirk to bed, stay up late drinking and playing games.

I am beginning to wonder, however, if the constant heartburn is truly related to all the excessive drinking. I’ll give it a few more days.

Keep Austin Weird

We went on an impromptu trip to Texas the other week. It was a lot of fun. Also incredibly hot. Kirk was excited about 1) flying on an airplane, 2) going to the Texas capitol, and 3) seeing his cousins. Heh. Mr. b’s poor mother didn’t stand a chance!



Being married to a Presidential History Nerd means a willing partner when going to lots of really cool places like the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center. It’s a good thing Kirk likes that kind of crap, too, or else there’d be trouble!



Screwing around in the Williamson County Courthouse ended up the highlight, oddly enough.






Kirk was pretty pissed we weren’t allowed to to inside the Texas White House during the LBJ Ranch tour.



When we got back home, Mr. b made Kirk a model Texas Capitol. Yes, that’s Princess Leia.

Too Much Information

Some things you may want to know and one thing you may not want to know.

Kirk has invented a new word. It is "dinty". It means anything that he finds gross, icky, in his way, or otherwise enjoying his experience of whatever it is he's doing. Typically, it refers to food. "Got dinties on it." "It's all dinty." Mr. b ate all the dinties [toppings] off his pizza and then Kirk was fine with the saucy crust. We are starting to use dinty in our normal conversation.

Kirk got to go in a tower in Missouri. I refused to go to Stupid Ass Holiday Amusement Park Whatever with my MIL and my aunt-in-law and the kids so he did. Such a good hunny. I got to hang out with the boys as an honorary member of the patriarchy. It was a very good time and I won money off them when they thought I'd be an easy mark. Heh. Also, my sweet potato cheesecake was awesome.

We are continually amazed by what Kirk knows about that we didn't teach him. He's had a semi-obsession about beanstalks (as in "Jack and the") for a couple of months. Where did that come from? Near as Mr. b can tell it's a common story on the various Disney and PBS shows like Little Einsteins and whatever. The most recent one is whales. Specifically humpback whales. Did they watch something at daycare? No idea. We tried watching Star Trek 4: Spock Likes Whales last night but he didn't really pay any attention. He was more into playing cars.

Kirk has been "teaching" the cat. He explains things that he does to her and shows her toys and gives her a running commentary on what he's doing. Perhaps this is a sign that he needs a sibling. It seems all the cool internet parents are working on seconds. Still not ready for that myself though.

And finally, Mr. b declared that he's no longer "going to let that little fucker get in the way of [his] sex life." This was after we snuck into the bedroom for a quickie while Kirk was watching Depeche Mode videos on YouTube. That was definitely a first. Unfortunately, I couldn't concentrate. Mr. b promised we'll practice whenever I'm wearing a skirt.

Family Vacation

Whenever the Eiffel Tower is shown on anything (Little Einsteins, mostly though in the DM "Strangelove" video) I point out to Kirk that Mama and Daddy when there on vacation. It seems like as good of short-hand as any. I'm not going to try to explain the Riviera to him when he doesn't even know what France is! But there seems to be an interesting side effect I hadn't foreseen. I've been warming Kirk up to the idea that we're driving down to Missouri for Thanksgiving by telling him that he gets to go on vacation with us this time. And he expects that he'll get to go up in a tower! He believes me that the Eiffel is too far away. But he still thinks that vacation = tower.

Of course there's always the chance we'll have to scrap our plans altogether. Mr. b's cafe is flooded right now and he's bailed 300 gallons of water since 1am (had to "sleep" there, too) and the plumber hasn't arrived yet. Yay. I guess we can always do our Turkey Day chowin' down at Kim's Chinese - Vietnamese. Mmmm, Kim's.

30 September 2007

We both woke up exceedingly early and so slowly finished getting ready, packing, and cleaning. After check-out we caught the train to Antibes. The ticket machine was still broken so another free ride. I was concerned about finding our correct seats on the fast train but we did it right and five hours later, were back in Paris. We quick time harched to the Metro, thankful that we had the foresight last weekend to book a room at the same hotel so we knew exactly where to go. After ditching our luggage we tested my theory that the Metro tickets were good for all day – yep! So we did a little recon on our train to the airport tomorrow and then headed towards the Champs de Elysses. We slowly made our way to the Eiffel Tower.




We took the stairs up to the first level and took in the view.


I was disconcerted and fighting vertigo the whole time


so I went back down and [Mr. b] climbed to the second level. [I guess irrational fear must suit me because this is hands down the best picture of me in years.] Unfortunately they had stopped selling elevator tickets to the tippy top so he missed out on that. We Metro’d back after buying a gift for my mom (Dad was easy – got him a Marina Baie des Anges hat back at the complex when buying postcards) and started looking for a restaurant for dinner. I declared that I was too tired to think in French anymore so we ended up at a place with an English menu. It was a lot more expensive than we had anticipated – we got ripped off on the drinks for the fixed price menu – but good. Just two long-ass flights tomorrow and then we’ll be home, kissing Kirkie.

29 September 2007

Another frozen quiche for breakfast and then eventually made our way to the train platform. The ticket dispenser was out of order. [It was the weekend so the booth wasn't open and the automatic machine was the only option. We didn't know what to do if we got stopped by a conductor but there were quite a few of us on the platform so I figured we'd get it sorted.] It started raining when we got to Antibes; we stopped at a bar we had passed the previous two times we’d been there. A walk took us to the small bay


and then we explored the edge of the old walled city.


[I was really mad at Mr. b when we got back to the apartment and I realized that I wasn't in a single one of the Antibes photos. It still bums me out a little.]

After circumnavigating the border we wandered the narrow streets, occasionally stopping at shops.


Bought Tintin figurines for [Mr. b] and a large plush Snowy for Kirk. Another round of rain brought us to a café for another break. Returning to Villeneuve-Loubet we went back to the shops so I could find a coat. There was a massive sale going on and it was madness. [Mr. b] went to McDonald’s while I shopped. Then back to the apartment to prepare for the first leg of our journey home. Snack at the grocery store. Then dinner at a cute little pasta place. Then I packed while [Mr. b] cleaned. Early wake-up tomorrow.

28 September 2007

We had every intention in going to Nimes. First we found out the check out procedures for our apartment, then went down to the bike rental place. The guy thought we were nuts for thinking of doing six hours of driving in one day but more importantly, it would have been 165 €. [I guess this was an example of our "Americanness". Sure, three hours one-way is a lot but it's totally doable. And we've both done it. Many times.] So we checked out the train option, stopping along the way to buy a hat I had found the day before. Three different trains to Nimes. So. An hour at the Clubhouse Marina, downloading iTunes TV and regrouping. Sex and then an unexpectedly leisurely lunch. We determined a while ago that tip is included. Today I realized that they don’t deserve it anyways. We walked down the seaside path all the way to Cagnes sur Mer, then cut back through part of the town on the way back.


[Check out the reflection of the Med in my sunglasses! Totally unintentional but very awesome.]

[Mr. b] estimates it was a good 5+ miles. We tried to do some more shopping back here but the stores were closing for the evening. I bought ingredients for chicken with cream of, rice, and veggies and it was OK. We wound down the night watching Eureka and playing random video games on the laptop in bed.

27 September 2007

Still beat from yesterday’s three country train tour, we legitimately slept in until nearly Noon. Leftover pizza and then the storms arrived. We sat up in bed reading, watching the rain, and drank and entire bottle of wine.


[There's no WAY we'd be able to lay around, reading and drinking while at home with Kirk on hand. We really enjoyed the chance.]

The thunder and lightning let up but the rain kept coming – we went shopping anyways. Being soaked to the bone – again – put [Mr. b] in a foul mood and so we fought for a while. No restaurants were open for dinner yet so we came back to the apartment and made spaghetti and watched The Office on the laptop. What are the stages of culture shock? We’re both missing comforts of home. I want steak and potatoes and [Mr. b] wants the History Channel. While doing our regular evening internet check on the stairs (the only WiFi hotspot around)


we were approached by some young dude who really unsettled me, though I think he was just trying to warn us about thieves. Back at the pad we took care of the credit card security business we had pending – they had called my folks on Tuesday but wanted to speak to us in person. I was shaken up after all that so we called [K] and talked to Kirk briefly. Now I’m in tears but it’s OK. I just miss him so much. Also, there are snails everywhere after all the rain.

26 September 2007

We actually got up and stayed up today. After a minor set back returning our bikes (we left them at the SeaDoo rental next door to the bike shop) we hopped on the train. The ride was lovely – the tracks are right on the coast most of the way. We saw a few surfers just west of Ventimiglia. No where else has had rough enough water for waves – hence the pebble beaches. It was raining in Ventimiglia so I bought an umbrella but [Mr. b] decided to ignore it. We stopped for some caffeine and then made our way down to some Roman ruins.


Which were closed. We took a convoluted path back, through winding apartments, and found a restaurant that had previously caught our eye. Delicious. Back on the train, stopped at Monaco. Really, incredibly cool city. Walked up and up and up on sidewalk stair cases.


Then down and down and down. Over to the palace – Rainer and Grace named everything. Old palace – built in 1533 – with a guard and it’s own old city.




Completely enchanting, stopped for a beverage and then back to the train station, this time via the marina level. Hard to capture the layers upon layers of buildings over time – ancient foundations still visible everywhere.


Train back “home”. Used rest of extra noodles (too many for tuna hot dish) with pesto for dinner. Cooking for ourselves is really nice.

25 September 2007

After getting up and having a delicious frozen quiche Lorraine for breakfast, we went back to bed. Until 1:30pm! Sex and leftover tuna noodle hot dish, then we rented bikes. We rode east for a while and explored into the village.


[The bike paths were marked in green and were not just thin borders like in the States. The entire path was painted green in spots! It made it really easy to follow as long as it didn't stop randomly for traffic pattern changes, which certainly happened a few times in our exporation.]

After learning of a local train stop right near our complex, we headed back west. We took the train to Antibes and bought our return tickets to Paris for next weekend. Then we came right back and sat at an internet café for a while before hopping back on our bikes. We ended up riding all the way to Antibes! Adorable town; we both loved it. We wandered around on foot for nearly an hour, eventually discovering the old walled city, now filled with cute shops and countless restaurants. Back where our bikes were parked we had fabulous pizzas at La Toscana. That seems to be the name of every Italian place in the area. [Mr. b] biked back carrying the box with our leftovers. My ass is killing me from the hard bike seat. But we definitely got our money’s worth!

24 September 2007

Today was the day I declared we would do nothing. And, as Peter says, “It was everything I always thought it could be.” [Mr. b] woke up and went out for a baguette and some more supplies while I stayed in bed. We ate breakfast and then returned to bed to read and nap for several more hours. About 1:30pm I got up and finalized the inventory paperwork for our apartment. I dropped that off and tried to pick up the groceries [Mr. b] had forgotten but the store was still on its afternoon break. After surfing the internet on the stairs to kill some time, [Mr. b] got up and we went down together.


Late lunch of baguette, cheese, wine, and strawberries, then down to the beach. The water was quite cool and there’s no sand – only rounded, flat rocks.


Boobies! [There were very few topless women around so I never bothered trying it out for myself. The vast majority of those topless were Baby Boomers and older, too! Leathery skin. Yikes.] We read some more then came home and [Mr. b] made tuna noodle casserole. The oven was difficult to figure out so the topping got slightly burnt but it was delicious. Winding down the evening watching Dr. Who on the laptop and drinking more red wine. My teeth will be stained by the time we get home.

23 September 2007

A restless night for both of us – I kept having dreams of weird math and [Mr. b] was up at 3am. He went down for coffee and cigarettes; I got up when he returned. Easy trip to train station thanks to prior recon. Sat in wrong car after thinking we did it right. Unexpected train stop in Aix en Provence. Train lunch of “Parisien” sandwiches – ham and white cheese, quite good. Yogurt came in crocks!


[Mr. b was highly amused by the "sleeping ghost" posted all over the train. It took us far longer than we should admit before we realized it was the turn-off-your-cell-phone symbol. Bit like our amusement at the "No Blue" no parking signs when we first encountered them in England 10 years ago.]

Passed resort on way to Nice. Cab ride much more expensive than anticipated. Crabby door man at building and lady at check-in, first “French rudeness” encountered. Explored shops at resort complex, rested, had dinner, tried to call home. Grocery shopping – hope to start cooking meals instead of going out. Have to rent linen, bought dish soap, need scrubbie and paper towels.